This post was going to be written a couple of weeks ago, but rather ironically I kept putting it off. I knew it had to be done, but for some reason I never felt quite ready to engage with it. Other posts got planned and some even written…but this lay floundering in the desert sunlight with only the odd drop of water to keep it on this side of survival. When it comes to writing I often don’t put pen to paper until the eleventh hour. Not because I have some strange desire to watch myself anxiously perspire while I try to make copy as the ticks of the clock appear to become faster and more amplified…but because the story needs time to develop and drag itself out of the shallows to the water’s edge. Once the idea is there, things flow easily as the words begin to draw gentle and hopeful breaths till the last full stop.
But something different was going on here. I actually knew what I was going to write, but still…I delayed. I tried to understand why this might be happening, and at the risk of diving into a digital rabbit hole, causing yet more delay, I opened the web browser and hopped in. A couple of hours later, I emerged with greater understanding….and a rather nice recipe for Trinidadian Doubles (see link below)!
It seems that there are different types of procrastinators. Weirdly I apparently fall into the “performer” type. This performer thankfully isn’t someone who stands and acts out a part in front of an audience (my worst nightmare), but is someone who claims they work well under pressure whilst putting things off in case the work they eventually produce is not perfect. The theory seems to be that if I appear to have less time to complete a task, then I somehow provide myself with an excuse for falling short of my own expectations. However while I watch my precision dwindle, I see and feel a rise in my stress levels.
If I’m totally honest, I think there was something else going on here too. I am a PhD researcher in my write up year. In a sense I was worried about owning up to being a procrastinator. I’m not supposed to be looking up recipes and all of the versions of Gershwin’s “Summertime”. I’m supposed to be pulling my thesis into shape ready for a fairly imminent submission. It felt a bit like I was putting myself on the line.
However, further reading also showed that this procrastination is something that lots of people do. In addition, it wasn’t an indication that I might be lazy…in fact, procrastination is seen as an active problem. In order to avoid doing one particular thing, people choose to work through a list of many alternative actions.
Looking further at ways to begin to manage this tendency of mine…and thankfully others…I found that one way of preventing a delay to a project is to focus on the start of it rather than the end of it. In other words, don’t look to the finished project, but instead plan a time to sit down and begin the task. I was a little sceptical but thought I would give it a go. I sat at my desk, and placed the first words on the page. About an hour later I had the basis of this blog post. It wasn’t quite perfect, but it was started. A bit of tinkering, and a further hour or so later, I was able to finally tick it off the “to do” list.
I hadn’t shifted from my desk to make a coffee, bake a cake or paint the bathroom wall. I had simply started, and had let the writing coast along. My anxieties started to subside as I knew my deadline would be met, and I had produced what I intended to create. In addition to owning up to being a procrastinator, and showing my attempts at overcoming it, I had also provided a recipe to save you the time of looking should you fancy trying it!
Further reading:
How to stop procrastinating https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_96.htm
Recipe for doubles https://www.simplytrinicooking.com/doubles/
Workshops:
Doing a research degree is hard work. You need to stay motivated and are often working in isolation. Dr Who? discussion meetings offer you the opportunity to meet with others in a similar situation to help, support, understand and encourage each other.
Join us at the online session: Dr Who? Let’s talk about…procrastination