by Elissa Habinksy, M.A., M.S.
Many people procrastinate. Putting off a work, personal or school-related task may seem insignificant in the short-term, but in the long-term it can become a chronic problem with serious consequences. Recently, I read an interesting article published in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on this topic entitled, “To Stop Procrastinating, Start by Understanding the Emotions Involved”. It suggests an alternative conceptualization of procrastination than what is typically espoused. The article states that many procrastinators believe that they cannot get started on a task because they want to do it perfectly. However, studies have found that procrastination is not linked to perfectionism, but rather to impulsiveness. Impulsive individuals have difficulty managing strong emotions and attempt to do something else to get rid of the bad feeling. Furthermore, when highly impulsive people feel anxiety, they may shut down or engage in “moral compensation” which is when procrastinators do something to make themselves feel productive in order to avoid a task such as going to the gym or doing laundry. The article proposes that focusing on time management alone is not sufficient in helping procrastinators as the emotion regulation component must be addressed as well.
REBT would agree with this perspective and focus on targeting not only the maladaptive behavior, but also the unhealthy negative emotion (UNE). To further clarify, procrastination can be defined as “putting off a task that is in your interest to do, and putting it off beyond the time when it’s in your interest to do it.” What is necessary with procrastination, is to identify the correct ABC’s. To start, one may ask themselves, “As I think about sitting down to write my term paper/apply for jobs/pay my bill, how am I feeling?” There is no one correct answer to this question, however oftentimes people endorse feeling anxious, depressed and/or resentful. The next step is acknowledging the associated irrational beliefs (IBs) such as “It is too hard”, “I’m no good”, or “I shouldn’t have to do this”. Finally, the behavioral consequence is the avoidance of the task or the “moral compensation”. Further complicating the issue of procrastination is the fact that people frequently have an emotional reaction to the procrastination itself, and thus feel angry or depressed that they procrastinate.
Behaviorally, there are things that one can do to help yourself if you are a person who procrastinates. Pychyl, Steel & Rozenta, the researchers cited in the aforementioned article, offered the following tips:
1) Break a long-term project down into specific smaller steps.
2) Just get started!
3) Remind yourself that completing the task now will benefit you in the future.
4) Implement mini-delays that require you to make a small effort to procrastinate.
5) Reward yourself not just for completing the whole project but also the smaller steps.
In sum, procrastination is not only a behavioral problem but a combination of both behavioral and emotional difficulties. Therefore while addressing one may be beneficial, targeting both is optimal.
