Workplace
MANAGEMENT
Prevail Over Procrastination
Is constant delaying slowing you down? We spoke to the experts to find the tried-and-tested ways to stop putting things off and get the job done
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME you tried to start a not-so-enjoyable errand when — wait — there’s an interesting Twitter thread to read, that new series on Netflix is calling your name, it’s definitely snack time and, yeah, the laundry isn’t going to do itself. The adage “if it weren’t for the last minute, I wouldn’t get anything done” defines those of us dubbed serial procrastinators. Our mantra? Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? Fellow heel-draggers, let’s commiserate. Procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing. So when you really need to make a dental appointment but it keeps getting pushed off today’s to-do list and onto tomorrow’s, you’re following the
16 | CPA MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2017
procrastinator’s mantra to a T. Here’s why: we procrastinate, says Timothy Pychyl, an associate professor in the department of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa and director of the school’s Procrastination Research Group, because we use avoidance to cope with the negative emotions that are associated with the job we’re sidestepping. “When we face a task we don’t feel like doing — it’s boring, frustrating, difficult or all three — we can escape these negative emotions by putting it off. Seen this way, procrastination isn’t a time-management problem; it’s an emotion-management problem.” (In other words, it’s not that you don’t have time to book a dental appointment, it’s that you fervently want to avoid the negative feelings you have
when you’re in your dentist’s chair.) It makes sense, but there’s a problem, says Danielle Molnar, an assistant professor in the department of child and youth studies at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont. Deferment, it just so happens, is a flawed strategy. Molnar, who also describes stalling as an issue of emotion regulation, says, “While avoiding or abandoning the aversive task may provide relief from these negative feelings in the short term, it oſten results in long-term negative consequences, including lack of productivity, anxiety and ultimately shame.” Pychyl adds that early in life we learn that avoidance has some short-term benefits. “We can escape, at least for the moment. Given that this is rewarding, it can become a habit, hence serial procrastination. The key here is to learn other coping responses. Avoidance, because it is so self-defeating in the long run, is not the only or best strategy.” Procrastinators not only use avoidance,
Jeannie Phan
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
