As mentioned in my last post, this week I will be covering the 'why' of procrastination. What exactly goes on in our mind and body that makes us say "I'll do it tomorrow". What makes us put off that paper, cram all the studying the night before the exam, just avoid any task in general. I'm diving head first into the science behind procrastination.
So after intensely researching this topic for a good 5 minutes, I came across this video:
The video was posted by a Youtube channel called AsapSCIENCE and it very effectively went through the 'why' of procrastination. Also, the video began with the narrator saying "you're likely watching this video in an effort to avoid some other task. You're procrastinating to learn how to stop procrastinating." I found that really funny, and although that wasn't the case this time, I can definitely say that has happened to me before. There have been many times where I have been procrastinating to get a task done, realized it, and have gone on the internet to learn how to not procrastinate. What I find unbelievable is that the best thing to do in that sort of situation would be to not be on the Internet and just get the task done, and although I clearly know that, I always fail to do just that.
Alright enough procrastinating, lets get to it. In the video the narrator presents us with a phenomenon known as "Temporal discounting". You might be thinking "okay... but the the heck is that?" Don't worry, I thought the same thing and it took me a few tries to understand it, but I think I finally understood it. So the video used the following example: "If I offered you $100 dollars today or $110 in a month, most people would take the $100 and run. But what if instead I offered you $100 in a year or $110 in a year and 1 month? Suddenly you might say to yourself "if I can wait a year, I can wait the extra month." But the time and value difference are the exact same in each example."
I really liked this example because it really put in to perspective how our brains work when it comes to procrastinating when completing a task. So basically what I gathered from this short video is that if we are presented with reward, we judge it's importance based on how close it is. This way of thinking also translates into our working habits, when completing a task.
For example, let's say you have to write a paper and it's due in a month. You'll probably put it off for a long time and tell yourself "nahh I've got lots of time to finish that paper, it's not that urgent." (Since you have a long period of time your brain is convincing you that its not that important.) But let's say you step into class and your teacher says "You have to write a paper, it's due tomorrow." In that case you'll probably tell yourself "I don't have a lot of time to finish that paper, it is very urgent." (Since you have a short period of time your brain is telling you that it is very important.)
After thinking about this for a while, I've realized that I do this ALL the time! I can't even begin to think of the countless times that I've put off projects because I had large periods of time to complete them. I remember this one time for a religion project, I had to fill a scrapbook with 10 different articles, each one having to do with 1 of the 10 Beatitudes from the Bible. And each article had to be resumed, plus a whole lot of other writing. In other words, it was a very BIG project. We were given 6 weeks to get it done, and me being me, I put it off for as long as I could. I kid you not, I left the ENTIRE project for the day before. It was absolutely ridiculous, this was a project that should've taken at least a week to do. Crazy enough, I managed to get it done all the day before, with the help of my mom and sister. Moral of the story: don't procrastinate.
So after intensely researching this topic for a good 5 minutes, I came across this video:
The video was posted by a Youtube channel called AsapSCIENCE and it very effectively went through the 'why' of procrastination. Also, the video began with the narrator saying "you're likely watching this video in an effort to avoid some other task. You're procrastinating to learn how to stop procrastinating." I found that really funny, and although that wasn't the case this time, I can definitely say that has happened to me before. There have been many times where I have been procrastinating to get a task done, realized it, and have gone on the internet to learn how to not procrastinate. What I find unbelievable is that the best thing to do in that sort of situation would be to not be on the Internet and just get the task done, and although I clearly know that, I always fail to do just that.
Alright enough procrastinating, lets get to it. In the video the narrator presents us with a phenomenon known as "Temporal discounting". You might be thinking "okay... but the the heck is that?" Don't worry, I thought the same thing and it took me a few tries to understand it, but I think I finally understood it. So the video used the following example: "If I offered you $100 dollars today or $110 in a month, most people would take the $100 and run. But what if instead I offered you $100 in a year or $110 in a year and 1 month? Suddenly you might say to yourself "if I can wait a year, I can wait the extra month." But the time and value difference are the exact same in each example."
I really liked this example because it really put in to perspective how our brains work when it comes to procrastinating when completing a task. So basically what I gathered from this short video is that if we are presented with reward, we judge it's importance based on how close it is. This way of thinking also translates into our working habits, when completing a task.
For example, let's say you have to write a paper and it's due in a month. You'll probably put it off for a long time and tell yourself "nahh I've got lots of time to finish that paper, it's not that urgent." (Since you have a long period of time your brain is convincing you that its not that important.) But let's say you step into class and your teacher says "You have to write a paper, it's due tomorrow." In that case you'll probably tell yourself "I don't have a lot of time to finish that paper, it is very urgent." (Since you have a short period of time your brain is telling you that it is very important.)
After thinking about this for a while, I've realized that I do this ALL the time! I can't even begin to think of the countless times that I've put off projects because I had large periods of time to complete them. I remember this one time for a religion project, I had to fill a scrapbook with 10 different articles, each one having to do with 1 of the 10 Beatitudes from the Bible. And each article had to be resumed, plus a whole lot of other writing. In other words, it was a very BIG project. We were given 6 weeks to get it done, and me being me, I put it off for as long as I could. I kid you not, I left the ENTIRE project for the day before. It was absolutely ridiculous, this was a project that should've taken at least a week to do. Crazy enough, I managed to get it done all the day before, with the help of my mom and sister. Moral of the story: don't procrastinate.
So to conclude this post, I hope I succeeded in making you understand what goes on in your head when you procrastinate. Blame it on Temporal discounting, I say. I'm sure I can't be the only one who's had a crazy bad experience while procrastinating on a project, so feel free to share one of your stories in the comments section! And stay tuned because in my next post I will be tackling the other factors of procrastination.
I like this post very much, it taught me a lot of the science behind it. I liked the video, it was funny but I was really interested in it. I am a HUGE procrastinator and I never really understood how to manage it but now I know that if I follow the method that the guy used in the video, it maybe could help a lot. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi Corinne! First off, thanks for commenting, it is much appreciated. I'm glad you liked the post, and I'm glad you gained awareness of a way to deal with your procrastination. Even though the video offered a seemingly good way to fight procrastination, I will be making a post addressing specifically ways to avoid procrastinating. I believe this post will help to solve the problem that you and I seem to have in common.
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