Procrastination is our response to stressors that push us out of our comfort zone. It’s not a character deficit or moral failing.
Procrastination is an avoidance strategy that makes perfect sense at the moment because it protects us from discomfort.
Unfortunately, procrastination’s momentary benefits are far overshadowed by its cost, which can be profound.
We often associate procrastination with too much to do and too little time to do it in. That’s a challenge stressor. We simply get overwhelmed by all that we have to do.
Another reason people procrastinate is that the task at hand is fraught with difficulties beyond just the amount of work and the time they have to do it. It could be that they don’t have the right equipment, the process is cumbersome, or job responsibilities and job description are inadequate. These kinds of problems fall into the category of hindrance stressors.
Hindrance stressors seem intractable. Hardwired into the job itself.
But, researchers have made a fascinating discovery. You can take a group of people, give them an arduous, even noxious task, and some will procrastinate, drag their feet, and do a barely-passable job. They walk away worn down and resentful.
Others will dive right in, become engaged in the task, and come out the other end in good spirits with a feeling of accomplishment.
Why Some People Suffer While Others Thrive in the Face of Hindrance Stressors
What distinguishes the two groups is their mindsets.
The first group has a stress-is-debilitating mindset. They anticipate negative outcomes. So, they engage in avoidance behaviors: They put off tasks, do the bare minimum, skip steps, and take short cuts. They expect to have their energy sapped and their sense of power and self-efficacy diminished. So, procrastination makes sense because it delays that negative impact.
The second group does much better because they operate with a stress-is-enhancing mindset. They act on the belief that stress can challenge you in a way that brings out the best in you. It can boost learning and nurture growth. It can enhance performance and productivity, and even health and wellbeing.
Therefore, people with a stress-is-enhancing mindset exhibit more adaptive physiological responses to stress. They exhibit an “approach-oriented” behavioral responses in the face of stress instead of backing away. They don’t procrastinate!
The Power of a Stress-Is-Enhancing Mindset in Real Life
A stress-is-enhancing mindset in the context of hindrance stressors is nowhere more apparent than in stories found in Undercover Boss, a reality TV series in which a member in upper-management at a major business goes undercover as an entry-level employee to experience the company from a worker’s perspective.
One episode features a company that manages waste: collecting and sorting recycling; collecting garbage from homes, businesses, and industry; and supplying and cleaning out portable toilets.
The work is demanding and fraught with hindrance stressors. And yet, the stories in the first episode reveal how workers’ stress-is-enhancing mindsets enable them to do better than just cope with the hindrance stressors. Their mindsets allow them to rise above the stressors and find meaning and satisfaction in the work.
They have met what Viktor Frankl refers to as the “call of potential meaning waiting to be fulfilled.”
Several key aspects of a stress-is-enhancing mindset are illustrated in just one episode.
Connect the work with your sense of purpose
One worker is responsible for running after and collecting loose paper blowing on an enormous mound of landfill. After working full-time outside, he then spends 3 nights a week on dialysis. He’s been doing this for almost 10 years.
What keeps him going? What he tells the undercover boss reveals his sense of drive and purpose: “I let my spirit tell my body what I’m going to do and what I’m not going to do. Because if I listen to my body tell me what to do, I’m not going to do very much.”
His drive to succeed is clear. His sense of purpose is fulfilled by working hard and being productive. He finds meaning in being the kind of man who people can count on, who works hard, and takes pride in his work.
Make it a game
Another worker is responsible for vacuuming out waste from portable toilets and scrubbing them down at an amusement park under high time pressure and productivity demands. His supervisor appears frequently with new directions and orders, so there’s a sense of uncertainty about what comes next.
But the worker’s stress-is-enhancing mindset is revealed in his incredible sense of humor as he says with a chuckle, “It’s not a job, it’s an adventure.”
Use humor
That same worker coaches the undercover boss on how to use a vacuum hose to suck out waste from the toilets, and teases by chanting, “Make it dance! Make it dance!”
The worker’s ability to make nasty tasks into games, and use humorous metaphors and analogies transforms the noxious work into something the boss calls “fun and funny.”
As we watch the worker, we realize that for him, the job isn’t about dealing with nasty, disgusting things. It’s about serving others because his work makes a difference to the families who come to the park to enjoy themselves and each other.
The boss is so impressed by the power of the worker’s attitude and mindset that once his true identity is revealed, the boss asks the worker to speak at a meeting with top leadership.
Nurture social connections
In another scene, the boss assists a woman who drives a garbage truck. As with the other workers, she has the common challenge stressors of time pressure and demands for productivity. She also has unique hindrance stressors. One stressor is that the company hasn’t considered how to accommodate female workers’ needs for a toilet, so the worker must use a can to relieve herself.
In spite of the stressors, the collector is dedicated to the work and has a passion for it. In part it’s because she reframed how she sees her role to focus on the meaningful relationships she has with her customers. She recognizes that her presence week after week makes a difference to them.
As she reports, “There’s people that look forward to me every week and they’ll come out. They’ll be waiting for me.”
One customer is an elderly woman, who greets the collector with a hug each week and gives her a gift of her favorite soda. Another customer is a woman with cognitive deficits who has written a little paragraph of appreciation of the garbage collector. The woman struggles to read it, but after getting through it, celebrates by hugging the collector.
The worker’s stress-is-enhancing mindset helps her do much more than just collect garbage: She plays a vital role in her customer’s lives, which aligns with her values and sense of purpose. Hindrance stressors may be present, but she discovers ways around them so that her sense of mastery, connection, and meaning flourish.
Read the other articles in the Be Your Own Best Coach series on getting things done without procrastination:
Get Things Done Without Procrastinating
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.