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hey there everybody and welcome to this video on the hidden reasons you procrastinate and guess what it's not always fear of failure. I'm your host Dr Donnelly Snipes
procrastination is something we all do sometimes but why do we do it
the reasons we procrastinate can be physical we may be tired they can be interpersonal fear
of failure or rejection they may be emotional we're just we're not motivated or cognitive we
don't have the skills procrastination can be environmental because there's too much stuff
going on around us or even spiritual so let's take a look at these a little bit more in depth
lack of proper rest and Disturbed circadian rhythms can cause fatigue lack of concentration
which both contribute to procrastination if you're tired it's going to be harder to
get motivated that's just a fact hyper vigilance which is often associated with trauma can lead to
a state of constant worry and make it difficult to focus on other things like the task at hand so you
may be distracted from focusing on what you're doing these are both physical or physiological
reasons why people may procrastinate if you're just too overwhelmed or exhausted
interpersonal reasons you may procrastinate as I mentioned the fear of rejection or criticism
from others might lead to avoidance of tasks particularly those that involve collaboration
or judgment by peers when you're getting ready to work on a group project for example you may
procrastinate or if you are needing to study for an exam that you're going to have to take
and if you fail it what does that say about you so fear of rejection failure criticism
those are all important but when we talk about interpersonal you're thinking about
that person's reaction what is that teacher going to think about you if you fail the exam
what are your peers going to think about you when you give them this project or product
low self-esteem and lack of confidence in one's abilities can also create hesitation and delays in
starting or completing tasks if you don't have the belief that you can do this then you may
kind of resist doing it because you're afraid of rejection if you don't believe
that you're a good person and you're lovable even if you screw up even if whatever this is
that you're procrastinating on even if you screw it up all right I mean just screwed
it up it doesn't mean you're a bad person so procrastination can deal with a fear of your
own self-criticism of that inner critic that's in there going see I told you you'd never measure up
emotional reasons that you procrastinate can include depression or anxiety about other things
if you need to do a task but you're worried about this here and this here and this here
that task is not really motivating you're having difficulty focusing on that because your anxiety
is more potent more powerful your anxiety is saying hey there are these threats or possible
threats over here why are you focusing on that that we know is not a threat if you want to
stay safe and survive you need to address the threats it's important that we recognize that
emotions and feelings are not facts but it's also important to address those
feelings of anxiety or anger or whatever it is that's distracting you so you can
free up your neural resources if you will to focus on the task at hand
if you have anxiety about the task at hand or its potential outcomes you may procrastinate if
you're like oh I don't know if I can do this or I remember when I was working on my dissertation
it just wow I was anxious about doing it I was anxious about whether I would actually pass my
oral boards I was anxious about a lot of things so it was hard for me to get motivated and get
started to work on such a big project that had so much hanging on it and grief about losses that
will occur when you accomplish the task this is one we don't talk about a lot but when you turn
in a project if you're working on a group project and you turn it in you may not be interfacing with
those colleagues as much anymore and that may be sad you may grieve the loss of that activity
because you really enjoyed working on that Grant or that thing and you're not really looking
forward to going back to the run-of-the-mill stuff you got to do at work or at school
you may procrastinate doing things because you really enjoy being in a learning environment and
your experiencing what we call anticipatory grief about losing that about moving on about
having to graduate and then find an entire new cohort to belong to
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to the task can also reduce motivation if you just cognitively you're not interested in it
it's just oh gosh then you're probably going to procrastinate we are motivated to do things
that trigger dopamine dopamine is a chemical that says I want to do that and I want to do that again
and if you're not if you don't have a connection to it if you don't see the point in it then you
may not have the motivation to get started so one hack you can do is try to figure out
how does it make sense to get started with this and sometimes the only answer is it makes sense
to get started with this so I get it off my plate and I don't have to think about it anymore
brain fog can cause you to procrastinate whether it's brain fog due to a hangover or brain fog due
to not getting good quality sleep or maybe having a new baby in the house or whatever
it is when you have brain fog it's hard to think clearly your memory is kind of crap when you're
trying to think of something instead of being right there on the tip of your tongue it takes
a minute and you feel like you're thinking a lot slower and you have difficulty coming up with the
brilliant answers you normally would cognitive distortions thinking in terms of all or none I
either get an A on this project or I failed the project that can really cause you to procrastinate
because there's a lot of pressure on you to to pass or to complete the project effectively
it or being in a relationship you know having a discussion with somebody about things that need
to change in your relationship you may put it off well number one you may put it off because
it's probably going to be uncomfortable and that's not you're uncomfortable the way things are right
now but that's going to be more uncomfortable so you may be putting it off for that reason
but you also may be thinking in all or none terms they're either going to agree with me or
they're not and there's no middle ground and we're going to break up so that can be anxiety provoking
catastrophizing is another thing that makes us put things off if we think that hey if
this happens then the sky is going to fall if I fail this test then I'm going to fail out of
school well if that's true then you definitely need to be worried but for most people yeah
that is an exaggeration if I fail this test I may not get an A this semester in this class
is that going to prevent me from graduating and getting a job no the availability heuristic
focusing on things that are most Salient in your mind most emotionally Salient and generally those
are the bad things so you may remember tests that you failed relationships that went bad
um speeches that you gave where you didn't do very well and start thinking about all of those
times that it didn't work out the way you wanted and that may cause you to procrastinate but it's
important to remember that those were distressful situations and your brain remembers distressful
situations a lot more readily than it remembers the times things went really well because you
need to be worried about the Vipers and not the bunny rabbits so it's important to step back and
look at the totality when I look at all of the relationships I've had how many times has it
worked out badly when I've had a discussion versus how many times did it work out okay when I've
taken a test or applied for a job how many times did I fail versus how many times did I succeed
and personalization we may put things off because we take it too personally we assume
that if we don't do this right it means that we are stupid it means we are a failure and
no it means you're not good at that one thing or you didn't do that thing well has nothing to do
with who you are as a person so we need to make sure to unhook from it and recognize that we are
people we are not behaviors we are people who do behaviors some of those behaviors
may be great and some of them may be regrettable but we are people
pessimism is another cognitive reason you may procrastinate it's like well if I turn
this in I'm just going to get piled on with six other projects so why should I get started or
if I turn this in nobody's going to actually ever do anything with it so what's the point
address the thoughts identify the thoughts that are keeping you from getting started
if you're having obsessive thoughts or ruminations about other things like what your significant
other is doing or the vacation that you're going to be taking next week or whatever it is
that can cause you to procrastinate if you are
doing that it's important to explore the function of those behaviors one is anxiety
based the other one is enjoyment based okay if you want to go with it that way
you can address the anxiety-based things with what is your significant other doing right now you can
text them you can deal with that thought in some way so you can put it aside or you can write it on
a piece of paper and put it aside and say when I get this finished I will call them or do whatever
in terms of the vacation reminding yourself well if I get this done now then I won't
have to think about it when I'm on vacation or I need to get this done so I can go on my vacation
using that carrot if you will that's out there to motivate you to get it done now and to get started
UA Also may procrastinate because of skill deficits you may be getting ready to do something
and you're like I have no idea to where to begin I have no idea how to do this and yeah you're going
to procrastinate if you don't feel like you have somebody that you can turn to who can mentor you
or provide you guidance if you have skill deficits you don't know where to start then it's important
to step back and go okay who can I ask where can I get assistance in figuring out exactly what to do
and poor goal setting skills is the final cognitive reason some people may get overwhelmed
with the tasks they've got to do because it's so incredibly monstrous I'm working on one of those
things right now creating or recreating the 360 hour addiction counselor certification curriculum
and that's a huge task and I've been procrastinating on it I'll give you that
so it's important to recognize that and break it down goal setting means being able to set
larger goals but also being able to set sub goals small goals so you don't feel
overwhelmed and you can feel like you're making progress toward that ultimate goal
environmental reasons you procrastinate may include too many distractions making it hard
to procrastinate whether it's cats or dogs or television or your roommate coming in and out
or whatever it is really hard to get started and stay focused on something when you're constantly
being interrupted similarly but not exactly the same is too many Temptations and I struggled with
this when I first started working from home all of those Temptations to go down and get some more
coffee or to watch TV or to do laundry or dust the baseboards or just about anything other than
what I was probably supposed to be doing and it's important to exercise or learn how to exercise
some self-discipline and use those Temptations If you will as rewards for when you finish
one of your sub goals when I once I finish this little part of this task then I can
do whatever this is and I guess make it a game if you will but rewards are important
and spiritually and I know this is a kind of an odd one to throw in there but spiritually
has to do with your sense of connection and of what you're getting ready to do doesn't connect
to your values then it's really hard to get motivated to do it if you are
getting ready to do something that you don't feel is right that you know it's just
disconnected from what's important to you then you're not going to get motivated
and if there's a lack of a clear purpose for what you're doing all right you're having me do this
is it just busy work or is there a purpose for it and you we need to understand the why when
I worked in residential I used to tell my staff when clients ask us why we're asking them to do
something whether it's write an autobiography or do chores when they ask us why they need to do
it we need to have an answer for them we need to have a purpose for everything we ask them to do
in order to help them understand the meaning and also understand that we are respectful of them and
trying to encourage them to do things that are helping them move toward their goals for a rich
and meaningful life like most other behaviors procrastination is a form of communication
and serves a purpose you just gotta identify the reasons you procrastinate why am I doing this what
am I communicating to myself by procrastinating and then start taking steps to address the problem