By Glynnis McDonnell, M.A.
As a fourth year doctoral student, I am nearing the end of the academic requirements of my program. I have spent the past four years taking classes, not to mention the two years of classes I took to get my master’s degree before I started my current program. Unsurprisingly, I am VERY tired of taking classes…I have a major case of senioritis! I am eager to transition into my full-time clinical internship.
This weekend, I had to start working on some essay questions for the take-home portion of a mid-term, and I was NOT happy about it. I procrastinated a bit (which is unlike me)….I checked social media, I played with my pets, and I watched TV. I also did more than my fair share of complaining. I repeatedly told my husband (and myself) that I REALLY didn’t want to do these essays. The more I told myself how much I didn’t want to do them, the more things I came up with other things I could do instead. I was experiencing some serious frustration intolerance! I didn’t use the words, “I can’t stand it,” but that was definitely the implicit message under my complaints about how much I didn’t want to do the essays.
Once I identified that I was experiencing frustration intolerance, I knew what I had to do. First, I asked myself if it was helping me to repeatedly tell myself that I couldn’t stand having to write those essays. It definitely was not helping. It was leading me to procrastinate, to feel cranky, and to waste the day on social media and watching TV instead of getting the work over with and then doing something more fun. Next, I asked myself what evidence I had that I couldn’t stand writing those essays. I definitely did not have any evidence. I have written countless essays, some of which I had no interest in writing, and I am still alive to tell the tale.
So, it seems like my irrational belief that I couldn’t stand writing the essays was inconsistent with prior evidence about my ability to tolerate writing essays. Plus, it was actually getting in the way of getting the work done that I needed to pass the class, and it was ruining my mood for the day. Clearly, this belief wasn’t working for me. I decided to develop and rehearse a more rational belief: I really don’t want to write these essays, but I can tolerate the discomfort of doing something I don’t want to do. I still felt a little cranky after I worked on this belief, but I was able to sit down and get the work done. What are some of the strategies that you use to combat procrastination?
