Procrastination: It's Killing Me (And You)!

Ugh...  Procrastination.  Whether it's in the front of our minds or not, I think it's always there, at least often -- and to some degree -- affecting all of us.

Up front, you ought to know that I wasn't looking for help in that area when a link to a lifehacker article arrived in my inbox yesterday.  Actually, it wasn't the "Procrastination" part of its title that jumped out at me, but instead the hidden reference to Aristotle -- as in "The Akrasia Effect" -- that did.

Ya, Akrasia...  As the article states, "... ancient Greek philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle developed a word to describe this type of behavior: Akrasia."  And the author went on to describe it as "the state of acting against your better judgment.  It is when you do one thing even though you know you should do something else."  Mr Clear goes on to say that, "Loosely translated, you could say that akrasia is procrastination or a lack of self-control." 

What caused me to read even further was the author's suggestion that, "Akrasia is what prevents you from following through on what you set out to do."

Who me -- not following through? 

Ya, me, and you, too...

In what proved to be a well written, easy-to-read piece, James Clear goes on to explain that it's really not our fault, but more a matter of how the human mind works.  On the one hand, we picture some well intended long range plans, with every intention of attaining them.  On the other hand, Clear says that our brains -- kinda in the now -- prefer instant rewards rather than long-term payoffs.  If we're talking diet here, we might envision a slim, trim body, while our brain at the moment is craving a triple-decker sandwich.  Our long-term reasoning might also dream about the benefits of finishing a profitable project as soon as possible, while our thinking in the now undermines that with the urge to spend the next few hours on a computer game.

Does that resonate with you?  I know it describes my way of procrastination to a "T"!

All is not lost, though, because Clear offers an antidote to Akrasia, with 3 Ways to Beat Procrastination (which I'll paraphrase below)...

Strategy 1: Design Your Future Actions

In a way, I think this should have been titled "How To Undermine Your Underminers" -- :) .  In other words, if those huge sandwiches are your downfall, the wise thing might be to undermine such an urge by having only healthy foods available.  If you know that computer games are your undoing, delete them from your computer (hey, you can always bring them back as a reward for getting the most important work completed).

For sure, your aims and underminers might be different than I've mentioned, but they can be attacked in similar ways.  The main idea is to short-circuit the things you know hurt you, and to give them less opportunities to get in your way.

Strategy 2: Reduce the Friction of Starting

Clear begins this section by quoting Eliezer Yudkowsky, as in, “On a moment-to-moment basis, being in the middle of doing the work is usually less painful than being in the middle of procrastinating.”

Hmmmmmm...  Were truer words ever spoken?  I think not!

Of course, what Clear and Yudkowsky are both getting at is that the work isn't usually all that hard, but the getting started is.

With that, I'm going to refer to something I've written quite a bit on during my years in hockey coaching...  For, I tell other coaches that my springs and summers each year -- or my hockey off-seasons -- were all about retreating to my "bunker" to design the next season's coaching plans.

Interestingly, that's one area of my work where I instinctively knew the work was a blast, but getting started could be a headache.  So I purposely put everything I needed for that work in a shoulder bag that could be grabbed instantly, and toted to a place where my creative juices could ultimately really get flowing.  I went one better on the latter, too, knowing from experience that atmosphere was everything.  Some of my best coaching ideas came about while walking a beach, driving through mountains, lolling at poolside, or soaking in a hot tub.  Back home in Massachusetts, the everyday or every night bunker was a neat area I built in my backyard, while down here in Florida I prefer poolside or a quiet lanai.

My point, though:  Find a comfortable place to work if you can, and have an easy way to get to work almost immediately. 

Clear ends this segment by suggesting, "Put all of your effort and energy into building a ritual and make it as easy as possible to get started.  Don’t worry about the results until you’ve mastered the art of showing up.:    

Strategy 3: Utilize Implementation Intentions

Clear says that, "There are hundreds of successful studies showing how implementation intentions positively impact everything from exercise habits to flu shots.  In the flu shot study, researchers looked at a group of 3,272 employees at a Midwestern company and found that employees who wrote down the specific date and time they planned to get their flu shot were significantly more likely to follow through weeks later."

So, what he's suggesting is that we set things like a specific date, place and time to implement our future plans.   And he finishes with, "... implementation intentions can make you 2x to 3x more likely to perform an action in the future."

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Then, four things in closing...

1) I'm going to add one more strategy to those outlined by James Clear -- call it:

Strategy 4: Tell Someone Else About Your Intentions. 

Beginning this January 1st, I decided to do something unique for the first time ever, this having to do with my so-called New Years resolutions.  Ya, what I've done is post something like the nearby photo every single day (that's not the specific new home I'm seeking, so I rotate several pics).  If you get what I'm really doing, I'm telling my 16,000+ social media friends what I'm shooting for, and I know I'll be rather embarrassed if I don't attain that portion of my dreams sometime during 2016.  You might not want to blast your aims all over the Internet, but even telling a friend or two could bring about the same effect.

2) Because all of our long-term goals are different, the above strategies obviously have to be adjusted to meet our own needs.  So will you have to analyzing your failings, or those things you know are delaying you from getting to work.  There definitely isn't a one-size-fits-all with the above process, but it doesn't seem all that difficult to adjust.

3) Interestingly, I think, is that just reading that article seems to have changed me quite a bit.  I mean, knowing what's happening in my brain -- or knowing that it's a human problem -- eases my conscience more than a little.  I especially feel helped by understanding my need to get over the typical delays and just get to it.

4) I'm re-introducing one of my favorite Internet gurus here -- Sean D'Souza was the feature of an earlier post having to do with attaining "happiness".  Below you'll find a link to an awesome audio about procrastination by Sean.  What I love about this one is mentioned in the title, "The 70% Principle..."  For, what he's suggesting is that, "If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing 70% right."  :)  That's right, because it's our search for perfectionism that's killing us a lot of the time, and it's also one of the reasons we put off starting -- as if we're not quite ready to do it perfectly yet.

Here's a link to Sean D'Souza's audio -- give a listen when you get a chance (it's worth it):   "The 70% Principle: Why It Knocks Procrastination Out of the Ball Park".

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If you'd like to read James Clear's article in its entirety, just click here:  "The Akrasia Effect: Why We Make Plans but Don't Follow Through"

Three Obstacles To Happiness

Aaaaaah, happiness...

It's a funny thing, in that I think most of us grownups (and maybe some younger folks) spend a lifetime searching for "something" that will bring us happiness.  I sense some think wealth will do it, some believe a certain kind of freedom will do it, while others might feel a different job or different living circumstances will do it.  All along, I sense that few of us can really define the word "happiness".

Dictionary.com defines happiness as a noun - 1.  the quality or state of being happy.  2.  good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy.

I'd buy that second one, in that it might represent good fortune, pleasure, contentment and/or joy.

With all that, an email arrived today from one of my favorite Internet marketers, Sean D'Souza, a native of  Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand.  For those who don't know him, Sean has a special way of simplifying many things, including the meaning of happiness.  I knew right away that I wanted to share the following with my readers.  Moreover, there are personal reasons I promise to explain right after you listen to his latest podcast...

Sean says early-on that, "We go around trying to find the purpose of life, when the answer is right in front of us all the time. The purpose of life is to be 'happy.'"  Hmmmmm...

Suggesting we NOT jump around, from one thing to another, in search of happiness, he goes on to say that, "No one thing makes us happy."  Then, getting closer to my personal experiences, Sean describes his "... current moments of bliss..." as walks to the cafe with his wife, the coffee, and the time he spends with his nieces.  Even closer to my feelings, he notes how much he loves his work (man, can I associate with that).

True enough, that few people actually write down what it is that makes them happy.  So, he suggests doing it as an exercise...  And, getting even closer to the way this old hockey coach has been thinking over recent years, Sean say, "... the funny thing is that it will consist of rather mundane things."  He continues, "Making the list enables us to know what we really want from life, so we can start heading in that direction."

With that, he goes on to the three obstacles that are "... frothing, right in front of us..."

Yup, they're inefficiency, greed, and self-doubt.

Ugh...  I know the inefficiency thing (I'm often guilty there).  Here again, though, Sean suggests making a list -- this one aimed at ways we might become more efficient.

Next, Sean suggests that some greed can be good...  "But there’s a point of enough," Sean advises us. "Again, this comes down to a definition, perhaps even a list. What’s your enough? Do you know?"

Which brings us to Obstacle Three, self-doubt...  As Sean says, "... it’s terribly inefficient..."  Or, as he continues, "It fills your brain with a load of nonsense that keeps you from being happy. And there’s nothing much you can do it about it, because the damage isn’t new. It’s something that has been part of you for a good chunk of your life."  (I don't know about my readers but, I'm not liking that thought.  Oh, I know it's true, but I don't have to like it.)

I'm going to have to try Sean's answer to this, however, as in just saying, "Thank you!"  Ya, "That’s it," he says.  "Even just the thought of saying thanks is making you smile right now, isn’t it?"  And, doing away with what I call "the guilties", Sean goes on, "The thank you is your way out of the mess, every single time."

I'm big-time in favor of Sean's approach, and his feeling that just recognizing the things that get in our way is a huge step in the right direction.  

As for my personal approach, well...

Some months ago, I thought it a good idea to follow an inspirational message found on my Great Motivational Quotes page.  In effect, an old Chinese proverb says that walking a hundred steps after every meal will help one live to be one hundred.  (Ya, those old proverbs stretch things a bit, but maybe not a lot.)  So, almost every night since, Brenda and I have reminded each other that it's time to take our nightly walk (after our biggest meal).

More recently, something else struck me -- days before Sean's newsletter arrived in my inbox.  Maybe a week ago, Brenda and I decided to start spending an hour or so each midday afternoon taking advantage of the awesome Florida weather.  So, we started going to the pool -- sometimes to do a little paperwork or to hash over ideas, and sometimes to do absolutely nothing but soak in the warm, Florida sun.  I think we missed one day since then, and I felt that miss take a tiny toll on my psyche.  I mean it.  I've tried to remind Brenda of the fact that my somewhat-retirement and freelance writing has given us the luxury of taking breaks pretty close to when we want.  Oh, I am still a keyboard-working fool, but that doesn't force me to punch a clock.

Now, let me tell my readers something, and I'm dying for Sean D'Souza to comment on this one, too...  For, I don't think his walks to the coffee shop each morning -- or my time at the pool -- would supply nearly as much happiness if our significant others weren't also enjoying it, or helping to make such events happy ones.  So, from my side of it, at least, I'm thankful Brenda seems to be enjoying both the walks and the pool time as much as I am.          

Oh, our little buddy Raggs, at over 16-years old, requires lots of walks -- about twenty times through the day and night.  Most of the time we make those walks together -- the three of us, and we're laughing all the while.

Then, there's my work...  It's mainly writing nowadays, with the occasional audio or video production mixed in between.  I've said it often, too, that I could get lost in that work -- just keep me supplied with cold soda or hot coffee, toss me an occasional sandwich, and I'm as happy as a lark.

Want to know when I'm not enjoying my work?  It's when I'm forced to have other things on my mind.  I mean, let's face it, one can't get lost in even the most enjoyable project if there's a ton of crap being dumped on his or her head.  

From a personal perspective, I've learned to "compartmentalize" all I need to pay attention to -- as in dealing with the un-fun stuff for a time, and then eventually blocking that out and freeing my mind so I can dwell on my creative work  If anything can go wrong with that, it's having someone interrupt me with gut-wrenching stuff while I'm trying to be creative..

Over at least 40-years in coaching, I've depended on a hardcopy diary for my appointments, obligations, lists of todos, etc.  Only months  ago, however, I switched to Google's online Calendar.  And, you'd better believe that our daily time at the pool and our nightly walks are plotted right in there.  In a way, they're meant to be obligations, just so I'm not so apt to get rapt in my work and forget what just might be the most important times of my day.  Said yet another way, I'd have to ask, Why am I working long hours if not to free myself for occasional moments of happiness?

Lastly, Brenda and I laughed out loud at Sean's use of the word "mundane".  That was one of my favorite terms when we first met.  For, I told her that anyone can get along during exciting times, but the test would be when all the mundane times came along.  Really, almost everything we do over the course of 24-hours is mundane.  I mean, few of us experience constant excitement.  In a way, our time at the pool qualifies as mundane, as do the nightly strolls, and the walks with Raggs.  So, can we laugh most of the time?  The answer, without question, is a resounding, "Yes!"  As a matter of fact, we laugh nearly all the time!

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Visit Sean D'Souza's website for much more awesome advice...

Click this link for Sean's podcast and article on Three Obstacles To Happiness (plus many more podcasts).

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Want to know what I'll be doing tonight -- after our nightly walk?  Visit CoachChic.com, my Hockey Podcast, and the rest of my posts here in Coach Chic's Hockey Diary.