We procrastinate because we get an instant reward. Understanding these rewards and where they come from helps us to manage this behaviour.
Video:
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Podcast:
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Video Transcript:
Hi. John Paul Fischbach here, the CEO and Chief Alchemist of the Auspicious Arts Incubator with this week’s Hot Tip. I want to dive into the reward of procrastination. The reason that we’re focusing on this is because I actually confess, here now, I confess to being a great procrastinator so I have been a keen student of procrastination in my desire to understand my predilection for procrastination.
I want to look at a couple of things. Let’s look at the reward that actually comes from procrastination. What do we get from procrastinating? Why do we do it? Then I want to look at where that reward comes from.
Our partner in procrastination is actually a trusted friend. In my case he’s my instant gratification little brother, right here. He’s on this side of me. I dont know why he’s on this side but he is. Let’s say that you have a task that needs doing that isn’t fun. Maybe you’re anxious about that task or maybe you’re scared that it might not actually work. Completing that task actually has the reward of satisfaction but there’s another reward and that is the relief from the anxiety of that looming task.
The adult me understands the reward of satisfaction and my instant gratification little brother; he understands the reward of the relief form anxiety. Two rewards: satisfaction of completion and release from anxiety. Here’s what happens. If you procrastinate you get that second reward faster. In fact you get it right now. My instant gratification little brother says to me hey, John Paul for the next five minutes, maybe 30 minutes you dont have to worry or feel any anxiety. Look, let’s procrastinate. You dont have to do the thing that you want to do.
Here’s what you do. Check your Facebook. Clean the fridge. That will give you the remove the anxiety reward right now so I take the reward. Instant gratification. Absolutely. The key here is to honor the instant gratification little brother and get both rewards.
We have experiences where we completed a task and got both rewards but here’s the rub. Did you then once the task was completed reward yourself with letting your instant gratification little brother or little sister find you some instant gratification right then once the task is done? I bet you didn’t. I have a saying in my life. It’s no fun if there’s no fun.
Another great reward of procrastination is continual improvement. Sometimes we call that perfectionism. If we wait until the 11th hour we have maximized the time to learn, to find relevant new things, to make continual improvement. We have allowed the ideas to gestate for as long as possible. As an artist we know that we can improve that thing forever. We can tinker with it forever but as an artist in business we also know that done is good. Getting it out the door, getting in the clients’ hands, getting it up for sale, on to the stage, that is a great reward. That feeling of accomplishment, that feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment.
It’s also going to help to understand that many of us are actually hardwired for procrastination and that’s because we’re artists. We value pleasure and perfection and we can learn to manage our procrastination behavior in order to have the rewards of finding the pleasure of the current moment plus the satisfaction of completion for both our adult self and our instant gratification little brother or sister. Okay? That’s it.
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