Procrastination is a wretched problem that causes deep anguish and suffering: It saps the life out of people, costs individuals thousands and our economy billions of dollars, and in some cases, ruins lives.
And yet, one out of five Americans suffers its ill effects.
So why does procrastination seem so impossible to overcome?
When it comes to challenge stressors–one of the three kinds of stressors that prompt the procrastination reflex–the solutions aren’t rocket science.
Remember that challenge stressors are related to workload, responsibility, and job complexity. It’s when:
You have a lot (or too much) to do and not enough time
The weight of responsibility falls on your shoulders
The task is complicated because it has a lot of moving parts
Tackling procrastination related to challenge stressors requires you to use your creative problem-solving, planning, and decision-making skills to plan, prioritize, and structure your time and effort to handle the tasks demanded of you.
The Problem With Simple Solutions to Procrastination
Using strategies to plan, prioritize, and structure your time and effort aren’t only straightforward, they’re often simply a matter of applying common sense.
Here are 20 of the most commonly recommended strategies to overcome procrastination. (They come from experts in the field and authoritative guides):
Remind yourself why you’re doing it.
Change your self-talk from a self-defeating explanatory style to reminding yourself that you are capable and that every project, no matter how big, starts with the first step.
Be realistic: Don't sabotage yourself with unrealistic expectations that you can’t meet.
Identify the tasks you are most likely to put off and address those first.
Break bigger tasks into smaller, more achievable chunks.
Use incremental deadlines to make tasks more manageable.
Focus on short-term rewards.
Get help from others.
Make a commitment to your partner, a friend, or co-worker. Tell them your goals and timeline.
Uncover the hidden barriers by asking yourself “why” questions—“why does it feel tough to do this?” and “why’s that?”
Focus on what you do want to do, not what you want to avoid.
Cut back on the amount of time you devote to a specific task until you no longer resist doing it.
List the costs of not doing the task.
Reward yourself for reaching major milestones.
Avoid getting overwhelmed with so many things to do by making sure to schedule unstructured, free time for yourself.
Be kind to yourself.
Set clear priorities.
Combat paralysis-by-perfectionism by letting the small stuff go.
Shorten the amount of time until you find a period with which you’re no longer resistant to the task — and then do it.
Get rid of distractions by turning off email, texts, and notifications.
As we said, these strategies are common sense.
Common sense activates your practical decision-making skills and ability to imagine the consequences of something you do.
Common sense stops you from making mistakes based on irrational thinking. And, it makes it easier to choose the right actions to produce the results you want.
But we often find ourselves quoting this saying when it comes to the common-sense solutions to procrastination, “If sense were common, then everyone would have it.”
When we look just a little more deeply at the issue of procrastination, it becomes clear that overcoming procrastination isn’t the lack of common sense. It isn’t:
that people do or don’t have common sense
a question of which strategy works best
dependent on which strategy you choose to do first
that you are plagued with some dark, awful personality trait or unique failing (Remember that at least one in five adults suffers from significant procrastination.)
The issue is that to make and sustain behavior change, including ridding yourself of your procrastination habit, it takes more than pulling the trigger on a bunch of random strategies, tips, or techniques.
When it comes to confronting and overcoming the challenge stressors that lead to procrastination, many factors are at play, like tight deadlines, tons of work, or a lot of details that need to be lined up in the right way. And it’s not just individual factors. It’s also the interrelationship among the factors.
So, before you pull the trigger on any one strategy, tip, or technique, procrastination and the solution to it must be put into a larger context.
That’s where the Be Your Own Best Coach Behavior Design Model comes into play.
Why You Need a Behavior Design Model
Ask a thousand people what the most important factor is that makes behavior change stick.
We promise you that 99% of people will tell you it’s motivation, drive, determination, discipline, self-control, etc.
Those are all part of the motivation story. And they are important . . . but they aren’t all.
Crushing procrastination isn’t only a matter of motivation. Motivation is a trait, a feeling, an emotion. Maybe getting motivated is also a skill.
But motivation is not action . . . and action is ultimately what it takes to get things done.
Action is not about feelings, emotions, or traits. It’s about behavior.
What makes procrastination so difficult to overcome for so many people is that they get tunnel vision and think that the cure to procrastination is motivation. They wring their hands, grind their teeth, agonize and worry trying to find some little shred of motivation which seems so elusive.
And one last problem with motivation: It’s like a muscle. It can poop out!
No matter how big you grow your muscle or fuel motivation, it’s a finite resource that can get depleted and needs to be nourished and replenished. You can’t depend on it as the single key factor over the long haul.
The good news is that with even just a little bit of motivation, you can pick yourself up off the couch and dig yourself out of the rut of procrastination; you can start moving toward action.
That’s because instead of simply waiting for inspiration to strike or motivation to blossom, you can act . . . and you can do it in a way that is right for you without all the agonizing and teeth gnashing.
You do it by designing behaviors based on a model that makes positive behavior doable.
That’s where our Behavior Design Model comes into play.
It’s a complete and comprehensive model for behavior design.
First, it corrects the big misperception about motivation and puts motivation in its rightful place . . as just one part of the change process.
Then, it defines four key domains and their interrelationships that influence your behavior and that you need to account for to kick procrastination in the teeth.
But the model does more than that.
It reflects real-world situations and has predictive power.
By making sure you address each of the four domains in the model, the likelihood of your success increases exponentially.
Here is the model in its simplest form.
As we said, the Be Your Own Best Coach Behavior Design Model illustrates the four key domains of your life that you must account for if you want to create successful, sustainable change:
YOU is your intrapersonal life (everything that goes on inside you). It’s all the internal factors that make you who you are and drive you to act the way you do. You is the skills and strengths you already have that give you the ability to express--through your actions--who you are and what you stand for. It’s about your values, purpose, and dreams of where you want to go.
PEOPLE refers to your interpersonal life (all the connections you have with people around you). PEOPLE are your social connections--from your family, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances to the guides, mentors, teachers, and colleagues you learn from and who help you along your journey. People is about social norms, influences, and expectations.
ENVIRONMENT: the physical setting in which you operate. It’s the space you live, work, play, and pray in. It includes critical but often overlooked factors like light, sound, color, smell, texture, space. Environment goes beyond just the here-and-now because it also speaks to the beauty around us. In today’s world, environment includes your digital space as well.
THINGS are the physical elements you use or interact with. They are the externals that help you get where you want to go. Things can be manipulated, changed, pressed into service. They can range from the simplest reminder sticky note to more complex incentives and reward systems.
Notice that each domain in the model distinguishes between factors that drive or enable change.
Motivating factors fuel your desire, drive, and commitment to change
Enabling factors make it possible for you to take and sustain action
This reinforces the point that we made earlier: Motivation is not the only game in town!
We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to appreciate that being productive, changing behavior patterns, crushing bad habits, and overcoming procrastination depends on both desire and ability.
One without the other simply doesn’t work . . . at least for very long.
How Does the Be Your Own Best Coach Behavior Design Model Help Overcome the Procrastination Caused by Challenge Stressors?
Let’s go back to the list of strategies commonly recommended to combat procrastination related to challenge stressors and look at them through the lens of behavior design using our Behavior Design Model.
Here’s the list again, but this time, we’ve rearranged the items and grouped them under the domain to which they belong.
YOU: Motivating Factors (values, purpose, dreams)
Remind yourself why you’re doing it.
Change your self-talk from a self-defeating explanatory style to reminding yourself that you are capable and that every project, no matter how big, starts with the first step.
Be realistic: Don't sabotage yourself with unrealistic expectations that you can’t meet.
Identify the tasks you are most likely to put off and address those first.
Uncover the hidden barriers by asking yourself “why” questions—“why does it feel tough to do this?” and “why’s that?”
Focus on what you do want to do, not what you want to avoid.
Cut back on the amount of time you devote to a specific task until you no longer resist doing it.
List the costs of not doing the task.
Avoid getting overwhelmed with so many things to do by making sure to schedule unstructured, free time for yourself.
Be kind to yourself.
Set clear priorities.
Combat paralysis-by-perfectionism by letting the small stuff go
PEOPLE: Motivating Factors (cheerleaders)
Make a commitment to your partner, a friend, or co-worker. Tell them your goals and timeline.
PEOPLE: Enabling Factors (coaches, teachers, guides)
Get help from others.
THINGS: Motivating Factors (games, challenges, incentives, rewards)
Break bigger tasks into smaller, more achievable chunks.
Use incremental deadlines to make tasks more manageable.
Focus on short-term rewards.
Reward yourself for reaching major milestones.
Shorten the amount of time until you find a period with which you’re no longer resistant to the task — and then do it.
ENVIRONMENT: Enabling Factors (barriers)
Get rid of distractions by turning off email, texts, and notifications.
Do you notice that the vast majority of these common procrastination “cures” fall into the motivating category within the domain of YOU followed by THINGS?
This reinforces the point we made earlier about behavior change: Most people focus almost exclusively on personal motivation and overlook the transformational power of enabling factors, or motivating factors from more than just what’s inside you.
Even the experts, from whom we collected these strategies, fall into the motivation trap when recommending ways to cure procrastination. And falling into that trap is a direct route to overwhelm, stress, and failure . . . and more procrastination!
The answer isn’t to dismiss motivation. Remember: It’s important, but not the whole answer. The key is to use as many motivating and enabling factors as possible from all domains so that you cover all the bases.
What Does the Be Your Own Best Coach Behavior Design Model Look Like in Real Life?
So how might the Be Your Own Best Coach Behavior Design Model apply when it comes to procrastination related to challenge stressors?
Here is the list again, but this time, we’ve made sure to include motivating and enabling factors in all domains. (We added items that might be helpful in a work setting.)
YOU: Motivating Factors (values, purpose, dreams)
Remind yourself why you’re doing it.
Change your self-talk from a self-defeating explanatory style to reminding yourself that you are capable and that every project, no matter how big, starts with the first step.
Be realistic: Don't sabotage yourself with unrealistic expectations that you can’t meet.
Identify the tasks you are most likely to put off and address those first.
Uncover the hidden barriers by asking yourself “why” questions—“why does it feel tough to do this?” and “why’s that?”
Focus on what you do want to do, not what you want to avoid.
Cut back on the amount of time you devote to a specific task until you no longer resist doing it.
List the costs of not doing the task.
Avoid getting overwhelmed with so many things to do by making sure to schedule unstructured, free time for yourself.
Be kind to yourself.
Set clear priorities.
Combat paralysis-by-perfectionism by letting the small stuff go
YOU: Enabling Factors (skills, deliberate practice, simulation & feedback)
Take a skills inventory to identify strengths and skills that you may need to develop to boost your ability to manage complex tasks efficiently.
Based on the inventory, chart a learning path to improve key skills.
Use deliberate practice.
PEOPLE: Motivating Factors (encouragement & social norms)
Make a commitment to your partner, a friend, or co-worker. Tell them your goals and timeline so you hold yourself accountable.
Let people around you know the challenge you’re facing and your plan to tackle it. Ask them to support your efforts.
Distance yourself from family or friends who may tempt you to stray from the course you’ve set for yourself, minimize your problems with procrastination, or who don’t take your intentions seriously.
PEOPLE: Enabling Factors (coaches, teachers, guides)
Get help from others.
Join a support group.
Take a course on time management, productivity, or organization.
THINGS: Motivating Factors (games, challenges, incentives, rewards)
Break bigger tasks into smaller, more achievable chunks.
Use incremental deadlines to make tasks more manageable.
Focus on short-term rewards.
Reward yourself for reaching major milestones.
Shorten the amount of time until you find a period with which you’re no longer resistant to the task — and then do it.
THINGS: Enabling Factors (equipment, tools, gear; props and aids)
Do an assessment to determine if you have everything you need to do the job effectively.
Based on the assessment, gather the things that can enable you to do the work or make the job easier to do.
Get a scheduling app or tool that is easy to use and helps you stick to your work schedule.
Use a standing or treadmill desk to help you stay alert.
Large computer monitor to ease eye strain and support good posture.
ENVIRONMENT: Motivating Factors (beauty & awe, stimulate the 5 senses, cues)
Take frequent, short breaks outside so you can look at the sky and other nature around you. Focus on appreciating the natural world.
Play quiet music, light a scented candle, surround yourself with art and objects that please you.
Keep a photo close of something you find meaningful and that reminds you of why you’re doing the task.
ENVIRONMENT: Enabling Factors (autopilot & defaults, physical surroundings, distance & barriers)
Schedule emails, texts, and notifications to automatically shut down during focused work times.
Make sure you have good light, fresh air, with a comfortable temperature setting.
Clear your workspace so it’s free of distracting clutter.
Arrange your workspace so everything you need is easily accessible.
See how the Behavior Design Model accounts for the many factors that can support (or jeopardize) the way you work?
By marshaling your internal, social, external, and environmental factors, you’ll have the best shot possible to complete whatever task you face, even if you have a lot to do, in very little time, and it’s complicated.
Procrastination doesn’t have to be a monkey on your back. With our Behavior Design Model, you can craft strategies that work in ways that are exactly right for you.
And, in case you ever are tempted again, you can look at the urge to procrastinate like it’s a bird flying overhead. Wave at it, smile, let it pass, and know that you don’t have to let it land in your life because you have a better option for getting things done.
To free yourself from procrastination, CLICK HERE to take your first step: creating a Personalized Procrastination Profile.
Read the other articles in the Be Your Own Best Coach series on getting things done without procrastination:
Get Things Done Without Procrastinating gives you everything you need to take a big step toward crushing procrastination. Instead of being filled with stress, anxiousness, or nauseating dread, you can face each stressor, regardless of the kind, with a sense of possibility and optimism.