How to Beat Procrastination
A new approach to motivation
The vision behind Catalist simple: to allow people to do their best. Best can be defined as the ability to achieve one’s productive potential. In a previous post, I had discussed how one can take advantage of pacing to maintain flow & keep a productive rhythm to get basic tasks done immediately. This works great for tasks due tomorrow but what about tasks due weeks from now. We must adapt our motivation to tackle these tasks with different psychological burdens.
Let me know if this situation sounds familiar. You have a big assignment due the next day and it’s the last thing you want to do. You use that finite energy from that pending doom to vacuum, do laundry, wash dishes, and everything else irrelevant to your assignment. That initial motivation leads to completion of needless chores. In response, our brains release chemicals (e.g. dopamine) that produce feelings of satisfaction, the physiological reward. That assignment though is still unfinished and the stress is exacerbated by the fact that you now have less time and are now worn out.
Why do we let ourselves get to these situations? Although procrastination has symptoms of a serious affliction, it is an accepted practice in society. People use it to motivate themselves to get work done. Often, people state that they work better under pressure and procrastination is the catalyst. With such behaviors, it becomes abundantly clear that we are no more than primal beings that prefer play over work, or more importantly short-term gain to long-term gain. This is partially due to our evolutionary risk/reward evaluations.
When you think about it, procrastination is a habit that leads capable workers to complete tasks only when they are stressfully close to a particular due date. When does this point actually occur? An inflection point must exist where a worker has not made sufficient progress relative to the remaining time allotted. Although the worker may implicitly recognize this stage, he or she still accepts the impending workathon. It’s especially rare that an external incentive exists to complete the work earlier. So bring on the all-nighter fueled by caffeine, negative reinforcement, and urgency!
The goal then is to track progress leading up to the inflection point where all hope is lost. This earlier stage is thus where the decision to make meaningful progress on the task is crucial. Catalist seeks to alleviate this problem once and for all.
Step 1: Assess
When a task is assigned to you, you must examine how long the task will take to complete (e.g. 5 minutes or 3 hours). This self-assessment is just a hypothesis, your best guess at the time expense needed. It allows you to determine how expectations will match reality. You will be forced to mentally break down the components to create a more accurate number. Just to note, this is different from when (e.g. date and/or time) the task needs to be completed by.
Step 2: Act
Depending on the severity of the task (a function of urgency and importance from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), you may need to act promptly on the task. Catalist orders tasks in your feed accordingly so you know which task you are best suited for at a given moment. With checklists most people merely reference them just for initial viewing and then upon completion. In contrast, Catalist forces you to hit Start on a particular task. This basic action directly reinforces personal accountability while maintaining focus on the task at hand.
Step 3: Track
As you begin work on a task, a gauge continuously displays your progress towards your goal. If your task is 30 minutes long and you have spent 10 minutes, it is easy to see that you are 33% of the way towards the time limit you set BUT not necessarily towards completing the task.
That is the beauty of this system. By assessing subjectively and measuring objectively, you are able to easily see if you are making real progress. Or in other words, time reflects effort, which reflects completion towards the goal. You are rewarded when you are realistic in terms of time allotted since your effort is accurately & consistently tracking towards the set goal.
By front loading the urgency and motivation of procrastination, Catalist helps you tackle complex tasks earlier and with more ease.
Sumedh Jigjinni is a productivity expert whose insights have led to Catalist. Know exactly what you need to do now. Delegate tasks, prioritize more effectively, and focus on the important things. Ideal for small businesses, startups, and busy professionals. Sign up to learn more about the beta & other productivity insights: Catalist — Do Your Best
