You're Not Lazy, You're Avoiding a Feeling

Putting things off even when you know it will hurt you? This video explains why procrastination is usually not laziness or bad time management but a way of escaping an unpleasant feeling: how researchers define it (Piers Steel), why researchers Fuschia Sirois and Timothy Pychyl describe it as short-term mood repair, why a task seems bigger the longer you avoid it, the three feelings behind most procrastination (boredom, fear and fog) with a fix for each, including Katy Milkman's temptation bundling, and why forgiving yourself (Wohl, Pychyl and Bennett) helps you procrastinate less next time. Sources: Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65-94. Sirois, F. & Pychyl, T. (2013). Procrastination and the priority of short-term mood regulation. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(2), 115-127. Wohl, M. J. A., Pychyl, T. A. & Bennett, S. H. (2010). I forgive myself, now I can study: How self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(7), 803-808. Milkman, K. L., Minson, J. A. & Volpp, K. G. M. (2014). Holding the Hunger Games hostage at the gym. Management Science, 60(2), 283-299. Chapters 00:00 Hook 00:40 What Procrastination Really Is 01:17 Your Brain Sees A Threat 01:58 Feeling Better Now 02:40 The Task Grows While You Wait 03:19 Not Lazy Often Caring Too Much 04:03 Name The Feeling 04:37 The Fix For Boredom 05:19 The Fix For Fear 05:56 The Fix For Fog 06:33 Forgive Yourself 07:17 What Are You Avoiding Slightly Better Daily: simple ideas from psychology and great books to get one percent better every day. #selfimprovement #habits #motivation #slightly