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(TED4) - Script - Why You Procrastinate Even When It Feels Bad

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cdicurseyou
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61 views

(TED4) - Script - Why You Procrastinate Even When It Feels Bad

TED script

Uploaded by

cdicurseyou
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Why you procrastinate even when it feels bad

[1] It’s 5 p.m. and you’ve just realized that report you’ve been putting off is due
tomorrow. It’s time to buckle down, open your computer... and check your phone.
Maybe catch up on your favorite YouTube channel? Actually, you should probably
make dinner first. You usually like cooking, though it’s hard to enjoy with this work
hanging over your head, and oh— it’s actually pretty late! Maybe you should just try
again in the morning? This is the cycle of procrastination, and I promise you, we
have all been there. But why do we keep procrastinating even when we know it’s bad
for us? To be clear, putting something off isn’t always procrastinating. Responsible
time management requires deciding which tasks are important and which ones can
wait. Procrastination is when we avoid a task we said we would do, for no good
reason, despite expecting our behavior to bring negative consequences. Obviously,
it’s irrational to do something you expect to harm you. But ironically, procrastination
is the result of our bodies trying to protect us, specifically by avoiding a task we see
as threatening. When you realize you need to write that report, your brain responds
like it would to any incoming threat.

[2] Your amygdala, a set of neurons involved in emotional processing and threat
identification, releases hormones including adrenaline that kick off a fear response.
This stress-induced panic can overpower the impulses from your prefrontal cortex,
which typically help you think long term and regulate your emotions. And it’s in the
midst of this fight, flight, or freeze response that you decide to handle the threat by
avoiding it in favor of some less stressful task. This response might seem extreme—
after all, it’s just a deadline, not a bear attack. But we’re most likely to procrastinate
tasks that evoke negative feelings, such as dread, incompetence, and insecurity.
Studies of procrastinating university students have found participants were more
likely to put off tasks they perceived as stressful or challenging. And the perception
of how difficult the task is increases while you’re putting it off. In one experiment,
students were given reminders to study throughout the day. While they were
studying, most reported that it wasn’t so bad. But when they were procrastinating,
they consistently rated the idea of studying as very stressful, making it difficult to get
started.

[3] Because procrastination is motivated by our negative feelings, some individuals


are more susceptible to it than others. People who have difficulty regulating their
emotions and those who struggle with low self-esteem are much more likely to
procrastinate, regardless of how good they are at time management. However, it's a
common misconception that all procrastinators are lazy. In the body and brain,
laziness is marked by no energy and general apathy. When you’re feeling lazy,
you’re more likely to sit around doing nothing than distract yourself with unimportant
tasks. In fact, many people procrastinate because they care too much.
Procrastinators often report a high fear of failure, putting things off because they’re
afraid their work won’t live up to their high standards. Whatever the reason for
procrastination, the results are often the same. Frequent procrastinators are likely to
suffer from anxiety and depression, ongoing feelings of shame, higher stress levels
and physical ailments associated with high stress. Worst of all, while procrastination
hurts us in the long run, it does temporarily reduce our stress level, reinforcing it as a
bodily response for coping with stressful tasks.

[4] So, how can we break the cycle of procrastination? Traditionally, people thought
procrastinators needed to cultivate discipline and practice strict time management.
But today, many researchers feel the exact opposite. Being too hard on yourself can
layer additional bad emotions onto a task, making the threat even more intense. To
short-circuit this stress response, we need to address and reduce these negative
emotions. Some simple strategies include breaking a task into smaller elements or
journaling about why it's stressing you out and addressing those underlying
concerns. Try removing nearby distractions that make it easy to impulsively
procrastinate. And more than anything, it helps to cultivate an attitude of
self-compassion, forgiving yourself, and making a plan to do better next time.
Because a culture that perpetuates this cycle of stress and procrastination hurts all
of us in the long term.

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