Overcoming procrastination –  What is procrastination?

Typically dictionary definitions define procrastination as ‘to put off or defer a task’. For our purposes we will use a definition which explicitly includes the idea that to procrastinate is detrimental to the self.  A typical example would be a student who puts off writing an essay and then has to stay up all night swigging on endless energy drinks to avoid failing.

This kind of behaviour is all too common with one study (Solomon & Rothblum 1984) find that as many as 46% of students delay work. But procrastination may not always be bad. In an oft quoted statement Bernstein (1998, from Steel 2007) wrote, “Once we act, we forfeit the option of waiting”. More than one student has pointed out to me that the less time they have the more efficiently they work.  Which is fine, until your broadband fails. The available research on procrastination is damning. Studies show that procrastinators experience both more stress and higher levels of illness. (Tice & Baumeister 1997)

 Overcoming procrastination – Causes of procrastination?

There are several causes of procrastination.  A person may experience different ones at different times and to varying degrees. Below I give the four most commonly identified by research.

·         Fear of failure (Solomon & Rothblum 1984, Steele 2007). –  Nobody likes to fail even though getting things wrong is inherently a part of the learning process. Fear of failure can be due to a general lack of confidence or a lack of confidence in a specific situation. Whichever at its base is the logical “If I don’t do anything I can’t get anything wrong”.

·         Self-efficacy (Solomon & Rothblum 1984, Steele 2007, Wolters 2003) – This refers to a person’s ability to do the task. This differs from fear of failure in that the task at hand will always be in a stretch where efficacy is the issue, whereas fear of failure can occur even with task is within the procrastinators abilities. Typically self-efficacy issues arise when the person does not know how the task should be conducted, or the task is too large from them to see how it will end, or because it is so far beyond their abilities that they cannot see themselves doing it.

·         Aversion to the task (Solomon & Rothblum 1984, Steele 2007). – This means that the task is unpleasant in some way (boring, dirty etc) and as such people delay doing it.

·         Achievement motivation and impulsivity (Steele 2007, Wolters 2003). – With this there are two personality characteristics which may affect a person’s ability to get things done. A person who is ‘achievement motivated’, actively interested in obtaining qualifications, skills, trophies and knowledge is less likely to procrastinate. However, someone with low impulse control (who could be the same person) will have higher levels of procrastination due to being easily distracted, sometimes onto things which have a secondary effect on productivity.

Overcoming procrastination – strategies

 How you might approach tackling your procrastination may change with the cause of that procrastination. Below is a list of possible strategies which you may find helpful, and for which causes they are more likely to be better.

Overcoming procrastination – Goal setting

How you might approach tackling your procrastination may change with the cause of that procrastination. Below is a list of possible strategies which you may find helpful, and for which cause they are more likely to be better.

·         Goal setting – Imagine seeing yourself when the work is done. Visualising a reward: a good grade, the time you have released by finishing early, may help. In addition, imagine yourself overcoming the challenges along the way to completing the task. This is as important as seeing the end result as it is often one of the stages along the way which is the true barrier. This is good most of the time but especially when self-efficacy and fear of failure are the causal factors.

·         Task planning – work through the entire project/task and break it down into small ‘Bites’. This can prevent the task from being overwhelming. In addition, it is good at providing a sense of understanding and ownership over the task, which will make it easier. This is good when self-efficacy issues are a problem. 

·         Self-imposed deadlines (Ariely & Wertenbroch 2002). – Putting your own deadline in ahead of an external deadline has been demonstrated to reduce procrastination. This is especially true when there is some punishment attached to missing your own deadline.  

·         Desensitization. – If you have something short but unpleasant to do you will find that the old mantra of “do it!” is often the best. However, should that prove ineffective then calming yourself down with a recording of relaxation or Mindfulness and then imagining going through the process will help. Should this not, you may have to consult a therapist.

·         Regular breaks – If you have a long dull task to complete then giving yourself regular breaks can help. This both breaks the task up, making it less intimidating, but also allow for a resurgence of mental energy. With most work 50 minutes with a 10 minute break is a good formula.

·         Developing resilience – If you feel that fear of failure is the issue then a cognitive approach may be best. This involves identifying what you currently believe, for example “if I get it wrong that would be awful” and reworking that to something more resilience orientated “if I get it wrong that would be bad, but it’s not the end of the world”. Then repeating this as a mantra as you head into the task. You may find it helpful to write it down and on your break reminding yourself of this.

·         Reduce distractions – this is really for those people who feel that they are highly impulsive. It may require you to; turn off your mobile (check in on breaks), go to the library, put a ‘do not disturb’ sign up, put on music to cut out external noise (I usually recommend instrumental music as lyrics can in themselves be distracting). Plan work for times and days when others are likely to be engaged elsewhere.

These techniques are only a few which could be of benefit, the trick is to identify what is the major cause of your procrastination and that will help you to address it. In the worse cases get in touch with a therapist who will help you through it (try – www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk )

The author – Matt Krouwel is a hypnotherapist with extensive experience of confidence and anxiety work.

Over coming procrastination – Reference 

Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K. (2002). Procrastination, deadlines, and performance: Self-control by precommitment. Psychological science, 13(3), 219-224.

Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of counseling psychology, 31(4), 503.

Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological bulletin, 133(1), 65.

Tice, D. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (1997). Longitudinal study of procrastination, performance, stress, and health: The costs and benefits of dawdling. Psychological science, 8(6), 454-458.

Wolters, C. A. (2003). Understanding procrastination from a self-regulated learning perspective. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(1), 179.

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One of the most popular forms of anxiety treatment is hypnotherapy. In this article we look at some of the research to come out in 2015 into hypnotherapy is an anxiety treatment;

• One study into treating Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), a particular type of anxiety that has historically proven extremely resistant to treatment, found that nearly half of the participants dropped their anxiety score to normal (as defined by 5 or less on the GAD scale short form) (Tajeri & Jahanshahi 2015) in only 5 sessions of treatment.
• Further evidence for the combination of hypnosis with Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) approaches is found in Turturean’s (2015) over view of existent treatments.
• We also have strong evidence for the beneficial effects of hypnotherapy at reducing anxiety amongst patients on chemo therapy. (Sakiyan 2015)
• And last but not least we have a thesis by Mary Elizabeth Brooker who used hypnosis as an anxiety treatment for Grade 8 pianists at the Universities of Leeds with excellent results which were still there when she retested them two years later.

2015 showed some excellent results in anxiety treatment, we look forward to all the new research in 2016

The author

Matt Krouwel is a hypnotherapist in Birmingham who specialises in the treatment of anxiety and related conditions

Reference

Brooker, M. E. (2015). Music performance anxiety: an investigation into the efficacy of cognitive hypnotherapy and eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing when applied to grade 8 pianists (Doctoral dissertation, University of Leeds).

Sakiyan, S. (2015). Action Research: Hypnotherapy to Overcome Pain and Anxiety in Colon Cancer Patients. Muhammadiyah Journal Of Nursing, 2(1), 61-78.

Tajeri, B., & Jahanshahi, S. V. (2015) Investigation of the Effectiveness of Hypnotherapy on Generalized Anxiety Disorder. International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Research. Vol., 4(2), 245-249, 2015

Turturean, M. A. (2015). Hypnotherapy for Anxiety Disorders–Theoretical and Practical Approach. Available at SSRN 2659842.

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What is a goal?

A lot of people will tell you that its S.M.A.R.T.*, and often they will be right. However, really it’s any benchmark of achievement which you work towards. This can be anything from aiming to get out of work ahead of the traffic to curing cancer. There are two major categories of goal;

1. Performance – the classic task orientated goal. To give an example; I will process four case files by lunch or I will publish a blog post by 15.30.
2. Mastery – these are goals that apply to long term complex tasks. A mastery goal might be becoming an engineer or a musician where flexibility and occasional failure (i.e. learning) is part of the process.

Neither of these is better than the other, they are just different. Mastery goals encourage long term resilience and are often associated with long term success, performance goals are associated with high productivity and high grades.

Does goal setting work?

Yes! Well 90% of the time if the analysis by Locke et al (1980) is to be believed, and other support it (Tubbs 1986). In particular goal setting was found to;

• Direct attention.
• Mobilised effort.
• Increased persistence.
• Motivated strategy development.

In short, people with goals tend to get focused, start to do something, stay at it longer in the face of adversity and are more creative in finding ways to achieve it.  However, it is not universally successful, with some areas such as weight loss only producing moderate benefits (Shilts et al’s 2004) and only about 10% of people actually completing self-imposed goals by the intended time (Wiseman 2009).  Overall the act of setting goals increases the chance of achieving goals, but that is not all there is to it.

Achieving goals – now the magic

Anyone can set goals and plenty of people do, but some just do better at them than others … and here’s one of the reasons why.

Achieving goals is about how you get there

For a long time it has been considered sufficient to think about the end result, to dream big. However, there is a growing body of evidence that it is thinking about the challenges to be overcome on the way may be more important. Consider these two studies;

1. Pham and Taylor’s experiment (1999) into exam grades with college freshman. 5-7 days prior to an exam students were asked to either imagine achieving a high grade (goal focus) or studying hard (challenge focus). The challenge focused group increased both quantity of study and grade outcomes over the goal focus group.
2. In a 2002 study (Oettingen) people were classified as having either ‘fantasy’ goals (with no reference to how to get there) and ‘positive expectation’ goals (optimistic but acknowledging difficulties). The ‘fantasy’ group was associated with lower levels of effort and success than the ‘positive expectation’ group. Possibly this was because the mind on some level believes that the goal need has been satisfied.

Another interesting factor in goal setting is that of visualising achieving goals.

Visualising goals

In a now classic study Libby et al 2007 got groups of registered voters to either imagine themselves in the first person (associated) casting their vote or to see themselves in the third person (dissociated) casting a vote. Those who watched themselves voting (dissociated) were later found to be significantly more likely to actually vote.

So if you want to achieve your goals

1)    Set a reasonable goal.

2)    Identify the barriers and obstacles.

3)    Imagining seeing yourself overcoming those barriers.

One last thing; keep goals to a minimum as too many at once can produce ‘goal fatigue’ (Ordonez 2009)

*SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound – meaning that it has clearly defined parameters in time / space and is actually doable for example – loss 1 stone in 2 months.   These are great for anything with known factors but are problematic when achievable & realistic are unknowns.

The author

Matt Krouwel is a hypnotherapist in Birmingham.

References

Libby lisa, Eric M. Shaeffer, Richard P. Eibach and Jonathan A. Slemmer (2007) Picture Yourself at the Polls Visual Perspective in Mental Imagery Affects Self-Perception and Behavior  Psychological Science March 2007 vol. 18 no. 3 199-203.

Locke, Edwin A. ; Shaw, Karyll N. ; Saari, Lise M. ; Latham, Gary P.(1980) Goal Setting and Task Performance: 1969-1980 Psychol. Bull. 90:125-52, 1981.

Oettingen G and Gollwitzer P.M. (2002) Self-regulation of goal pursuit:turning hope thoughts into behaviour’ Psychological Inquiry, 13 pages 304-7

Ordonez L, Schweitzer m, Galinsky A, Bazerman M (2009) Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Overprescribing Goal Setting ACAD MANAGE PERSPECT February 1, 2009 vol. 23 no

Pham L, Taylor S (1999) From Thought to Action: Effects of Process-Versus Outcome-Based Mental Simulations on Performance Pers Soc Psychol Bull February 1999 vol. 25 no. 2 250-260

Shilts MK , PhD, Marcel Horowitz , MS, CHES, and Marilyn S. Townsend , PhD, RD (2004) Goal Setting as a Strategy for Dietary and Physical Activity Behavior Change: A Review of the Literature Am. Jou. Health promotion vol19. Iss.2 2004

Tubbs, Mark E. (1986) Goal setting: A meta-analytic examination of the empirical evidence. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 71(3), Aug 1986, 474-483.

Wiseman, R (2009) :59 Seconds  Chapter 4 Motivation p 84-112

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We all know that increased testosterone builds muscles mass, you may also be aware that it is associated with;

• Reduced body fat (Marin et al 1992)
• Increased sexual performance in men (Jain et al 2000)
• Increases strength (Urban et al 1995)
• A higher number of sexual partners (Peters 2008)

Unsurprisingly a lot of people are interested in pumping up their testosterone levels. In addition to more exercise to raise your testosterone you could try one of these scientifically tested novel boosting approaches.

1. Dress to impress!

In a 2014 study male subjects were given either high status clothing (Business suit) or low status clothing (sweatpants), the men in the suits were found to have higher levels of testosterone (Kraus & Mendes 2014). So, upping your sartorial game may up your testosterone.

2. Remember you’re a winner!

A study of elite hockey players found that watching videos of previous victories boosted their testosterone, interestingly watching videos of loses appeared to have no negative effects (Carré & Putnam 2010). So, revisiting your successes, be that via video or simply taking time to remember them may have a testosterone boosting power.

3. Live new girls!

Ok this one is probably only good for heterosexual men, and is based on a study of rats, but a classic study from 1975 (Macrides et al) found that testosterone in male lab rats increased dramatically when they spent time with a novel female….and all I’m going to say about this guys is that high testosterone is associated with higher divorce rates (Cash & Putnam 2010).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             References

Carré, J. M., & Putnam, S. K. (2010). Watching a previous victory produces an increase in testosterone among elite hockey players. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 35(3), 475-479.

Cashdan, E. (1998). Why is testosterone associated with divorce in men?. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 21(3), 366-366.

Chapman, L & Pratsides, L (Unkown) Muscle mass and testosterone: what is the link?

Cumming, D. C., Brunsting 3rd, L. A., Strich, G. I. D. E. O. N., Ries, A. L., & Rebar, R. W. (1986). Reproductive hormone increases in response to acute exercise in men. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 18(4), 369-373.

JAIN, P., RADEMAKER, A. W., & MCVARY, K. T. (2000). Testosterone supplementation for erectile dysfunction: results of a meta-analysis. The Journal of urology, 164(2), 371-375.

Kraus, M. W., & Mendes, W. B. (2014). Sartorial symbols of social class elicit class-consistent behavioral and physiological responses: A dyadic approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(6), 2330.

Macrides, F., Bartke, A., & Dalterio, S. (1975). Strange females increase plasma testosterone levels in male mice. Science, 189(4208), 1104-1106.

Mårin, P., Holmäng, S., Jönsson, L., Sjöström, L., Kvist, H., Holm G., … & Björntorp, P. (1992). The effects of testosterone treatment on body composition and metabolism in middle-aged obese men. International journal of obesity and related metabolic disorders: journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 16(12), 991-997.

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