The essence of procrastination is very well reflected in this quote by Bernard Meltzer:

“Hard work is often the easy work you did not do at the proper time.”

Procrastinators tell themselves lies, such as, “I’ll feel more like doing this tomorrow.” Or “I work best under pressure.” In reality they do not get the urge the next day. In addition, they protect their sense of self by saying “this isn’t important.”

Procrastinators actively look for distractions, particularly ones that don’t take a lot of commitment on their part. Checking e-mail is almost perfect for this purpose or reading the news online.

Maybe you tell yourself you perform better under pressure. Or that you have to be in the right mood at the right time. Or you think that you can’t do anything well unless you’re feeling at the top of your form. Even though you might not feel like doing a work you still need to make efforts to start. No matter in what mood you are, the more involved you get into your work, the less you are going to think in other problems.

There are many ways to avoid success in life, but the most sure-fire just might be procrastination. Procrastinators sabotage themselves. They put obstacles in their own path.

So, are you a procrastinator? According to Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago, real procrastinators tell themselves five lies. Answer these questions honestly and see how you measure up.

• Do you overestimate the time they have left to perform tasks.

• Do you underestimate the time it takes to complete tasks.

• Do you overestimate how motivated they will feel the next day, the next week, the next month — whenever they are putting things off to.

• Do you think that succeeding at a task requires that they feel like doing it.

• Do you believe that working when not in the mood is suboptimal.

How did you score?

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Availability might be threatened by limited quantity, a time deadline, or by competition. Whatever the reason, the item in question becomes more attractive to us if we think we can’t have it. Whether it’s a potential mate, a used car, or an item on sale, once its availability is threatened we WANT it!

Even more interesting is the second way in which scarcity affects our thinking and ultimately our behaviour. As opportunities become less available, we lose freedom and boy do we loathe to lose freedoms we already have. Psychologist Jack Brehm has been researching this to explain the human response to diminishing personal control – Reactance Theory.

According to the theory, whenever free choice is limited or threatened, the need to retain our freedoms makes us desire them (as well as the goods and services associated with them) significantly more than previously. So when increasing scarcity – or anything else – interferes with our prior access to some item, we will react against the interference by wanting and trying to possess the item more than before.

Along the same lines as scarcity, telling someone that they can’t have something plays even deeper into their greed. You see this all the time at a shop when a child throws a tantrum over something he can’t have.

So how do we use this interesting piece of information about the human psyche? The first is when providing bonuses to employees or indeed anyone in order to increase their motivation to behave in a desirable way.

We need to be cautious of making the bonus too frequent or too consistently. If we do use this technique too often then the receiver may well get used to having it – they might even begin to EXPECT it. And what if they expect it? Well, if they expect it, then it is no longer working as a motivator.

In fact, if for some reason the bonus does not come, then it will become a huge de-motivator. Those who were expecting what did not come will feel aggrieved, hard-done-by and angry. They will spend significant time moaning about what they have not been given..about what they were ‘due’. It will not cross their minds that they did not receive it because their results were below target.

Advertising companies use the psychology of scarcity all the time: “Limited supply, limited time offer… only 3 left at this price!” If there aren’t many left, you better get yourself one right now or someone else is going to snap it up and you’ll be jealous! We all know how this one works….certainly I’ve fallen to this selling ploy.

Ever heard yourself say about sending a prospective date a text message…”I’ll leave it a few hours, wouldn’t want them to think I’m too keen”…hmmm? or “I mustn’t tell them I’m free at this notice for the weekend, mustn’t make myself too available.”

So what other ways does this principle persuade us to behave or not behave in certain ways?

How can we use this information to change our results?

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Learning from experience and observation is useful but not conclusive…drawing conclusions based on this can have severe limitations. One single observation can invalidate a general statement based on decades of research and trillions of observations.

The idea of the Black Swan is to remind us that just because it has not yet happened does not mean that it cannot..

In 1895, Lord kelvin, a mathmetician & physicist and president of the British Royal Society said “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible”

In 1977 Ken Olsen, founder and CEO of Digital Equipment Corporation, said, “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home”.

I wonder how they would feel about those comments today?

Take a moment now….and look at your own life. Count the significant events, the technological changes, the inventions, the social norms…and compare them to what was expected. What about your job, the work you do…meeting your partner, being betrayed, winning a life changing sum of money? How many of these things are predictable? How many transpired the way you thought they would?

How about playing on the stock market? How many of your portfolio managers would produce a definition of risk? Would it include the possibility of the Black Swan? Unlikely, as it has no greater predictability than astrology or peeling an apple, throwing the long curved skin over your shoulder and expecting to see the intial of our true love.

The more complicated the world becomes the less predictable it becomes.

Even when impactful events happen, do we learn from them? Rarely. For example, the French, after the Great War built a wall along the prevoius German invasion route to prevent reinvasion. Hitler however, just went around it. After 9/11, did learning take place about the unpredictability of certain events? No, and what learning we did glean did not help us prepare for the London underground attack…we couldn’t predict it!

Why is this? Well, we are not quite as set up for thinking as we think we are. If our ancestors had been more inclined towards thinking then they might have missed the lion waiting to pounce and been eaten, rather than ran for cover!

So, why do I even bring up the subject of the Black Swan? Simply to remind everyone of the uncertainty of life. That the rare event is one that may change our lives forever…but we have little chance to prepare. To explain that although almost everything in life appears to fit on a bell curve, that the bell curve by its very nature ignores the outliers. It cannot handle large deviations. So we are left with the Black Swans not being recognised or taken into account.

The logic of the Black Swan makes what you don’t know much more important than what you do know. Something we know has a great deal less chance of hurting us than something we don’t. If something is conceivable then we can plan for it, we can even prevent it from happening. If not, then we are in the realm of the unknown unknown . . .

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Procrastinators can change their behaviour—but doing so consumes a lot of psychic energy.

Knowing why procrastination happens can help us overcome it.

For example, procrastination comes when we think a lot about what we need to do and how difficult is, we start thinking of multiple other thinks we can do or have to do before starting the work. Focusing on a limited number of activities at once can improve your completion success rate.

Therefore, just focus on accomplishing your goals. Anytime you think of something else you should ask yourself “Is this going to help me accomplish my goal now?” If not then don’t get sidetracked with that thing and continue with your work. Seems simple, but focus takes practice and this takes proper engaged focus.

Playing to what we know about human beings may aid our avoidance of procrastination.

As human beings we will always do much more to avoid pain than we will do to gain pleasure. So, how can we make the procrastination more painful than the task? If we can focus on the negative consequences of not doing a task then the potential pain may actually motivate us to complete the task.

If being more knowledgeable about the origin of your procrastination, increased self-awareness and focusing on limited goals doesn’t work…then you need some more hints on how to tackle procrastination?

1. Make a list of everything you have to do.

2. Write a statement of intention.

3. Set realistic goals.

4. Break it down into specific tasks.

5. Make your task meaningful.

6. Promise yourself a reward.

7. Eliminate tasks you never plan to do. Be honest!

8. Estimate the amount of time you think it will take you to complete a task. Then increase the amount by 100%.

Once you complete one task, keep that as motivation going. Before you know it, you will have overcome the challenge of procrastination!

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People procrastinate for different reasons. Below is a brief description of Dr. Ferrari three basic types of procrastinators:

Arousal types, or thrill-seekers who wait to the last minute for the euphoric rush.

Avoiders who may be avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success, but in either case are very concerned with what others think of them; they would rather have others think they lack effort than ability.

Decisional procrastinators who cannot make a decision.

These types highlight some of the common causes as to why people procrastinate. Though first we need to ask ourselves if we have properly considered the time required to complete a task successfully. It is procrastination of time management?

Also, there are so many distractions today, not least the social networking sites, that we can easily get sidetracked in to something that we didn’t intend to do or spend considerable time upon.

The most common cause of procrastination stem from three key concerns.

What if I do it wrong?

This is a reasonable concern. When we do things wrong, will it be fixable, expensive? But if this is your fear you have a few choices – you can hire someone else to do it for you, you can learn how to do it or you can let it go. Try to see this objectively – without the guilt about what you should do. What makes the most sense? No more procrastination.

What if I make the wrong decision?

Do you realise that in life there is rarely a right or wrong decision? It’s usually more about what is right for the people involved in the situation. With that in mind, we can learn from it when we make the wrong choice and then try again. What feels like the right choice for you? Again, no more procrastination.

What if I fail?

The fear of failure is one common cause of avoiding doing a task. We think of the different problems and weakness we have and how complex the work is. As we think in our mind the complexity of the project, we start thinking of the different reasons why we can’t accomplish it and the many other things that you need to do it. What if you do fail? Think it through. What will happen if you fail? Often when we procrastinate, the things we tell ourselves reflect epic failure, huge mistakes and earth shattering damages. Thankfully, most of the time we are wrong in our imaginings.

The next time you see yourself putting something off, take a moment to determine why. Try to address the fear and you may no longer feel the need to procrastinate.

Procrastinators are made and not born. This is good news as, because it’s a learned response, what’s learned can be unlearned.

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She reminded me of a suggestion I was once given which helps us measure how mad our procrastination of this type is and motivate us to postpone procrastination and act!

“Draw a black dot on a document or email each time you handle it”.

Simple. Easy. Effective?

Well, it certainly surprised me how many black dots appeared on my documents. It was a visual demonstration of ineffective working. And its surprising the effect that mild shame will have on motivation

Procrastination can cause us anxiety, sleepless night…or put us in a perpetual state of catching up. There is even evidence to suggest that it damages our immune system.

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Many would agree that a person’s attitude has a real and measurable impact on behaviour. Many managers think that it is the employee’s poor attitude that causes them to produce poor quality work or a good attitude makes a person a better worker.

How would you feel if I told you that it is impossible to observe attitude?

To demonstrate what I mean, lets start with the dictionary definition of ‘observe’.

Ob-serve

to see, watch, perceive, or notice. “He observed the passerby in the street.”
to regard with attention, esp. so as to see or learn something. “I want to observe her reaction to the judge’s question.”
to watch, view, or note for a scientific. official, or other special purpose. “To observe an eclipse.”

So how do we observe an attitude? For example, someone enters a room in a raging temper, obviously incredibly upset and fuming about something that has happened. Did I observe the raging temper? Some of you might be saying ‘yes’, but what did I actually observe? I saw the person enter the room, their face was contorted, they had tight closed fists held stiffly at their sides. They were walking briskly and were mumbling about something I couldn’t quite make out.

I inferred from my observations that they were in a raging temper. Inference? Let’s check the definition.

In-fer

to derive by reasoning; conclude or judge from premises or evidence. “They inferred form his cool tone of voice”
to guess; speculate; surmise
to hint; imply,suggest

That inference, the conclusion about the meaning of the observations, says as much about me the observer as it does about the person under observation. I cannot prove that the person was in a foul temper, I can only use the specific examples of their behaviour that evidence my conclusions.

So what does this mean? Why is it important to note this differentiation?

Conclusions about attitude or personality are subjective, and people are very easily offended when their attitude or personality is attacked. Focusing on your conclusion or judgement of the behaviour very rarely results in improved performance. In fact, it’s one of the best possible ways to achieve ill feeling.

So what do we do? You think (due to observations of behaviour) that someone has a bad attitude – how are we to let them know (because without feedback we cannot expect an improvement) without including our own perceptions and judgements?

We concentrate on the observable behaviour. OK, an example. You think John has a bad attitude and that it’s affecting the quality of his work. When providing him with feedback, you need to ask yourself which of his behaviours is causing the problems – his lateness and arguing with his colleagues – and let John know about those, don’t mention attitude.

This way, we avoid building barriers to be heard and provide specific information about behaviour that can be improved. John can concentrate on being on time, which is measurable rather than be offended and wondering what exactly a bad attitude means.

Remember, feedback is supposed to be helpful. Determine whether what you want to say will help or not by asking yourself, “Will my comments be specific enough and non-threatening enough to help them improve?”

Distinguish between what you observe and what you infer. This distinction is very important.

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I was reading about how Descarte came upon this thought when I noticed that the English translation is not in fact how Descarte meant it to be understood. Being french, he unsurprisingly would have written in french – with the first work that mentions this thought being Discourse on the Method (1637). The quote – “je pence, donc je suis”, in English “I am thinking, therefore I exist”.

My french is appallingly poor but I read that the quote in french utilises the continuous present tense. And it is only in this tense that the force of his argument is brought out.

Now, why am I talking about this? What on earth has this to do with anything that matters in our practical real life?

Descartes was saying that when we are in the process of doing something that we truly exist because in order to do that something, we must ‘be’. It made me think about how we perceive ourselves and how we describe our behaviour. To use the tense of the first quote, we have no urgency, no movement…no action. Whereas in the continuous present tense we are actively progressing towards our goals, involved in life or living in the moment.

It struck me that the latter provides more opportunity for satisfaction and if we concentrated on doing and thinking we would glean benefits. How many of us when asked what we like to do in our spare time tell others something that we used to do – perhaps still desire to do – maybe even still believe we do – but in actual fact, it’s been a very long time since we did. Read? Cooked from scratch? Me, I used to paint…and really want to be able to say, ‘In my spare time I am painting a picture’. I recently bought an easel, some canvas and paints with the intention to become fully absorbed but have not yet gotten around to doing anything. I could say “I paint” because I have painted but I cannot say “I am painting” because I have not done so in years and have no half finished painting upstairs and – for the nit-pickers amongst you – yes I am currently (and in the present tense) writing this post.

How important then is it for us to think in the present tense, the continuous present tense – so we motivate ourselves to be doing things now and in the future. I wonder what tense we typically use and if it impacts on our accomplishments?

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Recent experimental research shows that the print font we use can have a profound effect on our understanding of information. This happens because the print fonts influence how fluently we process the information, even though the font has no actually relationship with the information it is displaying. How much consideration do you give to the font that you use?

Take for example a recipe – how easy the steps are to read will have a significant effect on how easy we presume the recipe is to follow and meal is to prepare. This is above and beyond the link we place on complex recipes being difficult to prepare. A recommendation than would be for restaurants to display their menu in a harder to read font as customers will presume that they are more difficult to prepare, taking additional skill and effort. It might even prevent the hobby cook from trying the dish at home.

Another point is highlighted with regards to how quickly the reader will make a decision related to the information. The more difficult to read, the longer the reader will take to make a decision based on it and they may not make a decision at all. Novemsky and colleagues presented the same information about two cordless phones in easy to read or difficult to read formats. They observed that 17% of their participants deferred choice when it was easy to read whereas 41% did so when the font was difficult to read. Pretty clear results! So if you want your reader to act on what you are writing about, you need to ensure the print font is clear and easy to read.

The effect is also evident when the name of a product or offering is difficult to pronounce. For example, amusement park rides with difficult to pronounce names are perceived as being more adventurous than rides with easy to pronounce names – and are also perceived as more likely to make you sick! The fluency of the name having a effect on how we understand the product.

Taking this knowledge into the stock market the effect is repeated. Companies that had difficult to pronounce names were seen as more risky than company names that were easy to say. In fact Exchange, Alter and Oppenheimer found that companies with easy to pronounce ticker symbols actually performed better than those with difficult to pronounce ticker symbols.

Next time you need to present written information…how much care will you take to make it easy to read – and thus be seen as easy to implement and understand?

PS. If in doubt use Ariel print font…its known to be the easiest to read!

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He said that the way he manages his staff is based on his observations of two foremen that he worked with when he was learning his trade. His story was so simple yet so insightful that I thought I would tell it again here and let you decide which foreman you want to be.

Foreman A was always shouting at his staff, never provided any encouragement and never recognised the hard work being done by his staff.

As a result the man I was speaking to told me that he would never go out of his way for that foreman. That he would have left him standing alone rather than help him out. He didn’t like him.

Foreman B regularly praised his staff. He took time to explain tasks when necessary and provided opportunities to learn new skills. He spent time with his staff, working along-side them.

As a result, I was told that ‘backs would be broke’ making sure you did a good job for Foreman B. That he ‘wanted’ to do a good job and would put himself out just to do a good job. He liked him.

The guy I was talking to said he decided to be Foreman B, because that’s the type of person he wanted to be and that’s the type of workforce he wanted to have. He told me that the difference it has made to his business is huge.

Seems common sense? Pretty obvious story eh? What results do you want? Are you being the type of Foreman that will glean those results?

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