Conquering Procrastination

Procrastination， the habit of putting tasks off to the last possible minute， can be a major problem in both your career and your personal life. Side effects include missed opportunities， 1)frenzied work hours， stress， 2)resentment， and guilt. It takes deliberate strategies to avoid becoming our own worst enemy by procrastinating on our intended actions. Here are some tips， all based on research that will keep you one step ahead of procrastination.

1. Time travel: How to counteract the 3)irrationality of human nature.

As Piers Steel makes clear in 4)temporal motivation theory and Dan Gilbert shows in his work on affective forecasting， we are not merely irrational but predictably so. We 5)discount future rewards as less important than a task at hand， particularly if it’s a more pleasant activity， and we really aren’t very good at predicting how we’ll feel in the future.

“Time travel” can help here. That is， we need to use 6)concrete mental images of the future more often and more accurately， to represent the future as though it were happening in the present. For example， a person who is procrastinating on saving for retirement might imagine as vividly as possible living on his or her potential retirement savings. To make a future image like this more concrete and accurate， it may be important to set out some numbers for a budget and take into account the reality of the need for， and increasing expense of， health care in old age. Planning shouldn’t be an abstract notion of “doing it tomorrow.” Think about the task in the real 7)context of the day， and think carefully about how these tasks make you feel.

2. Don’t give in to feeling good: Short-term gain， longterm pain.

When self-regulation fails， it’s often because shortterm emotional repair takes 8)precedence over our longterm goals. For example， a task at hand makes us feel anxious or 9)overwhelmed， so we “give in to feel good，”seeking immediate emotional relief， and we walk away， leaving the task for tomorrow.

Here’s where emotional intelligence is so important to procrastinating less. Learn to recognize that we can have negative emotions without 10)acting on them. 11)Stay put for a minute—don’t walk away. Don’t give in to “I’ll feel more like it tomorrow.”12)Acknowledge the negative emotions， but get started anyway. Progress on a goal provides the motivation for another step forward. Just get started; the negative emotions will pass.

3. Reduce uncertainty and 13)distractions.

Planning is one thing; action is another. In fact， what can make a task 14)aversive to us when we’re simply making an intention or planning is how meaningful a goal is. The less meaningful the goal， the less likely we’ll want to do the task. However， when it’s time to act， aversive tasks—those we’re most likely to procrastinate on—are those for which we’re uncertain how to proceed. We’re most likely to procrastinate on tasks that lack structure.

This means that in addition to making your task concrete， it’s important to reduce the uncertainty about how to proceed—and， when it’s time to act， to reduce available distractions as well. Shut off your e-mail， isolate yourself as much as you can， and make sure the environment around you is working to strengthen your 15)willpower and focus， not to 16)undermine your efforts. Speaking of willpower…

4. Willpower: How to make the most of the willpower muscle.

A great deal of recent research clearly indicates that willpower is like a muscle. You can exhaust it more quickly than you might imagine and， when you do， you lose your ability to self-regulate your behavior. One immediate method to strengthen your resolve in order to keep you on task is to remind yourself of your values. This process of 17)self-affirmation 18)bolsters our 19)flagging reserves of willpower.

戰勝拖延癥

拖延，即習慣性地把任務拖到最后一分鐘，可能是你職業生涯和個人生活的重大問題。其帶來的負面影響包括錯失良機、瘋狂趕工、承受重壓、自怨自責。拖延本打算做的事情，會使自己成為自己最強勁的敵人，要避免這種情況，我們需要采取一些有意識的策略。以下一些基于研究的秘訣，將有助于你戰勝拖延這個壞習慣。

1. 時間旅行：如何應對人性中的非理性。

根據皮爾斯·斯蒂爾的時間動機理論以及丹·吉爾伯特有關情感預測的著作，我們不僅對當下的事物具有非理性，也傾向于非理性。我們低估未來任務的回報，認為其沒有手頭上的任務重要，如果當前進行著一件更令人愉快的事情時，情況更是如此。我們的確不善于預測自己未來的感受。

在這種情況下，“時間旅行”可以幫得上忙。也就是說，我們需要更頻繁、更準確地用對未來的具體臆想來代表真實的未來，就好像未來發生在眼前一樣。例如，對于一個遲遲不為退休生活儲蓄的人來說，他可以盡可能生動地去想象自己依靠可以存到的退休金而生活的情景。要讓諸如此類的未來畫面更具體、更準確，重要的是要開始做出預算，并考慮到現實的需要以及晚年日益增長的醫療開支。規劃不應該是一個“明天再做”的抽象概念。想想現實情境中一天的任務，并仔細想想這些任務讓你感覺如何。

2. 不要屈服于感覺良好：短期收益可能帶來長期痛苦。

通常，當長遠目標被短期的情感修復占了上風時，我們的自律便宣告失敗。……