Are these scenarios common to us or those around us? We want to create an app that millions will download and use everyday. We want to write a blog post that will be cross-linked from all popular sites and social media accounts. We spend so much time over-planning that we postpone starting the actual work. Once we actually sit down and work, we are shocked by the stark reality and keep stumbling upon blocks after blocks. To avoid this uncomfortable feeling, we just “sit out” the situation. At the end of the day (or week, months), we find out that we are near where we started.
I have often thought that procrastination is due to either a lack of execution skills or willpower. However, I recently came across 3 books that touch the issue of procrastination from different angles that completely change my mind. The 3 books examine it from physiological and pychological backgrounds and offer constructive ways to “hack around” this problem.
Process-based view to improve output quality
According to psychiatrist Shion Kawabata who takes on a process and result-based view, many people aim for a 100% hit and perfection when they plan for a project, regardless of its scope and severity. They spend so much time in the first draft that they nearly use up all their allocated time, leaving only a tiny window for feedback and edit. They will be happy if they’ll get 70% of what they initially aimed for. So naturally they have to postpone delivery to shoot for the remaining 30%.
Instead, if they aim for a 30% draft and actually complete it in only half of the allocated time, then follow through with many minor iterations of peer feedback and refinement to improve quality, they will have a much higher chance of hitting 100% in the same time window.
Attempting to do everything right and well in one cycle just won’t cut it.
Photo adapted from “The Power of Output” book
Kawabata’s view aligns with the agile methodology (build->measure->learn) for project management/product development which aims to build in small cycles, measure the results/feedback, and learn from the data to pivot the next iteration. This contrasts starkly with the traditional waterfall model in software development, which reminds me of the 100% perfectionist scenario we illustrate above.
Agile iteration. Photo credit: Mindtools
Neuroscientific view to improve motivation biologically
Michihito Sugawara, who is a neurosurgeon, focuses on how our brain is wired and how we can align with its mechanism to achieve what we want. According to Sugawara, each task completion triggers the brain to produce dopamine, the “happiness” chemical. He suggests us to do more shorter iterations of work to get more frequent reward in dopamine, making us happy with our accomplishment and reinforcing our belief in our ability. This builds a positive feedback loop to motivate us to keep going for the next reward, and preservere when we are blocked.
Perfectionist or those who aim to complete a longer cycle for more perfect output will naturally have fewer completion to taste the fruit of success (dopamine), making the work less attractive to keep doing.
Thus Sugawara suggests that we can “hack” our brain to improve motivation by deliberately controlling our dopamine levels, and design project cycles around them.
Psychological view to overcome self-defeating thoughts
In another book by a Taiwanese therapist on low self-esteem, the author suggests that it’s often people with low self esteem who want to impress others (and themselves) by creating lofty goals. Once they start, they face the stark reality that the job is much more difficult than they think. Fearing that they might fail and hurt their already low self-image, their brain automatically send a withdrawal signal to protect their psychological wellbeing, and they stop venturing afar from the starting point. This kicks the person into a viscious cycle due to the apparent sense of failure and further depressing self evaluation, making him/her even less motivated to do anything.
Thus the author claims that procrastination might be the result of a hidden low self-esteem. To counter that, she suggests that it’s much more productive (and pychologically nourishing) to repeat small cycles and keep sensing our “have”, than to aspire for the “impressive” and falls short right at the origin.
Conclusion
It’s pointless to fix surface issues repetitively without looking at, and ultimately uprooting the underlying causes. If we want to truly realize our potentials and not be held hostage by procrastination, it’s futile to beat ourselves up for “slacking”, or listen to motivational speeches to propel us every morning.
Acknowledging what’s really blocking us inside (esteem issues), and aligning with our physiological hardware (dopamine cycles), while utilizing good project management techniques (agile, aim small, revise and iterate) might well be the key that we’ve long been looking for.