5/ Which of these best depicts
your outlook on life?
A I care more about getting
ahead;Iwanttosucceed(+0)
B Icaremoreaboutgettingalong;
I want people to like me(+2)4/ You watch a favourite show.
How long are you on Netflix?
A Just for the one episode(+0)
B Atleastanhourortwo–it’s
hard to pull myself away(+1)
C The rest of the night (+2)3/ How does your office
look right now?
A Abitofpaperworkonthedesk,
butnothingtoocrazy(+0)
B All sorted, labelled, filed(+1)
C A mess – pileups on physical
and virtual desktops(+2)
Your ScoreBorderline
Temptedtostall?
Commit to five minutes
of work. Momentum
can carry you.Deadline Driven
You probably haven’t
dawdledadayinyour
life. Ease up and blow
things off sometimes.Procrastinator
Your delays may be
deadly. Don’t blame
yourself. Ask, “What do
I need to get started?”Desktop sloppiness says you’re
stressedaboutdecidingwhich
papers to dump. But according
to Sirois, being anal could mean
you’re using organisation as an
excuse to avoid doing what needs
to be done.
Delaying unpleasant tasks goes
hand in hand with being sucked
into mindless activities, says
Sirois. A tendency to burn hours
watchingHomelandis an example
of extreme escapism, which in all
likelihood transfers to other areas
of the binge-watcher’s life.At its core, procrastination has a
people-pleasing aspect to it, says
Ferrari.“Ifyou’reveryconcerned
about what other people think of
you, then you might accept – and
thenputoff–projectsyoucan’t
really take on, because you want to
make a good impression,” he says.Andthat’strue...partly. The hidden
objective is to see how they physically react
to scenarios in which they’re asked to help a
fellow procrastinator. The study, Sirois says,
is designed to build on her previous research
into the link between procrastination and
heart health.
First, she asks the students to fill out a
questionnaire to determine how often they
procrastinate. Then they’re hooked up to
finger monitors, which record their pulse
and galvanic skin response while they view
scenarios flashed on a screen in front of them.
In one, a young woman who is normally
conscientious and punctual has let time slip
away and now faces a deadline she can’t meet
without help. In another, a person is in similar
straits but is a notorious procrastinator who’s
always in a jam.
The results would seem to be a foregone
conclusion. Surely the study participants
would feel for the second person because of
their shared struggle with procrastination?
Instead, as it turns out, almost no
one hates a procrastinator as much as
another procrastinator, no matter what the
circumstances. Those who were chronic
procrastinators were less likely to want to help
out, regardless of which scenario they were
presented with.
At first glance, this lack of tolerance might
seem counterintuitive and even hypocritical.
That’s until you consider a corollary: “Most
procrastinators are also really hard on
themselves,” Sirois says. “They know they’re
procrastinating, they can’t help themselves,
and they beat themselves up about it.” Having
already established the behaviour as a kind of
moral failing, she says, they apply the same
harsh standards to others.
That was certainly the case in a 2004
study by Ferrari in which 160 self-described
procrastinators were asked to judge a peer
who delayed academic or real-world activities.
Across the board, the study participants gave
their fellow sufferers lower character ratings.
Societal stigma only deepens the shame.
Glance at the “procrastination” entry of any
thesaurus and you’ll find words like “loafer”,
“slowpoke” and “idler”. People can be very
judgmental of others who have this problem,
says Ferrari. He likens it to an all-too-common
public perception of people who struggle with
clinical depression or addiction. “People tend
to say, ‘Just cheer up’,” he says. “The sufferers
would love to, but they can’t.”SO IF WILLPOWER IS NO WEAPONagainst the
problem, what is? forgiveness, according to
the results of a 2010 study by Dr Tim Pychyl, a
psychologist at Carleton University in Canada,
and his colleague Dr Michael Wohl.
In their experiment, Pychyl and Wohl asked
students preparing for an exam to choose from
three statements: “I put off studying until
the last minute”, “I delayed preparing for the
exam by doing other, less important things
instead” and “I began studying much later
than I intended to”.
Students who answered yes to any of the
questions and who also admitted to doing
poorly on the exam as a result were also asked
how they felt about their procrastination. The
researchers observed a surprising difference in
the students who forgave themselves. Those
students not only procrastinated less on a
second test but also had higher feelings of self-
worth. And those who didn’t let themselves
off the hook? They still felt lousy and still fell
back into problematic procrastination, the
study found.
The result surprised Pychyl. “I figured
it would be a case of ‘forgive and forget’
followed by more procrastination,” he says.
What he found instead was that the absolution
created a sort of freeing effect that allowed the
kinder-to-themselves students to focus on the
upcoming exam “without the burden of past
acts to hinder studying”.
In addition, the students were liberated
from having to concentrate on short-term
mood repair to ease the doldrums brought on
by those past acts. So they were less tempted
to give in to avoidance behaviour to feel good
and instead devoted their brainpower to
preparing for the next exam.As Pychyl and Wohl concluded, the
students were giving themselves a new lease
on their academic behaviours while also
boosting their overall sense of self-esteem.
“It’s just about being a little kind to ourselves
so that we can focus our energies on trying
again,” says Pychyl.FOR CARL,LEARNING TO SILENCEthe
scolding voice inside himself was a hard-
won battle, waged in a psychologist’s office.
“Therapy taught me to push back against that
voice,” he says, “and to insist that my self-
judgments be more realistic, including being
more forgiving and more practical.”
“More practical” in this context means
recognising the procrastination and then
creating solutions. “I do that now instead of
beating myself up, which is what I used to do a
lot,” Carl says.
One of those solutions would seem almost
laughable if it weren’t so effective. “I keep a
stack of index cards,” he says. “And on each
card I’ve written a one-word or two-word
description of the task at hand. If it’s preparing
for a conference in California, for example, I
write ‘California conference’ and place that
card face-up on my desk. I don’t flip it over
and move on to something else until I’ve
completed the task.”
He’s also learned that the humble checklist
works astonishingly well when he follows
it consistently. It’s not perfect, he admits.
“It’s just a device, like the mnemonics other
people use.”
When he does find himself occasionally
lapsing into old behaviours – and slamming
himself about it – he reminds himself to take it
easy and ask a couple of questions: what is it
about this that’s making me want to avoid it?
What’s the worst thing that could happen if I
push through it?
Once he’s done that, he says, he can see his
old way for what it is: an irrational mindset
that may seem to help in the moment but
that’s really making his life hell – and possibly
a lot shorter.
The next step, he says, is easy. Just do it.APRIL 2016 103HEALTH