Achieving Better Goals III:

Don’t you hate it when studying for that huge final gets in the way of the sudden decision to deep clean your entire apartment? Or when filling out that work application ruins your rewatching of Ted Lasso for the third time? If you do, congrats! You’re a procrastinator. About 20 percent of people identify as chronic procrastinators, but just about everyone is on the spectrum of procrastinating. Surveys in our class reveal that the average college student is on their phone, scrolling through snapchat, instagram, and Tik-Tok, 5 hours a day! A significant part of that phone use is procrastination. While the tendency to procrastinate is partly genetic, it is first and foremost an avoidance behavior. Luckily, procrastination can be unlearned. Procrastination does not benefit us long-term, often resulting in overwhelming amounts of stress/anxiety, catastrophic thought patterns, low performance levels, and decreased quality of life. 

Combating procrastination is an easier task than you think (so don’t procrastinate on reducing procrastination!). To unlearn this habit, these 4 C’s of goal achievement can help: learn to be conscious, calm, critical, and compassionate. Because procrastination often is induced by, and further induces (later on), more stress/anxiety, start by leaning into your fears. Be conscious of fears that may lurk behind the excuse of putting off your tasks until you feel “ready,” and then ask why your fears are there. Get to the bottom of them and start resolving. Be calm. Use mindfulness methods to stop catastrophizing failure and remember these tasks are temporary – your ability to complete them does not define your worth. Staying calm helps you remain focused and make earlier decisions that reduce stress. Next, be critical. Tackling tasks requires both our Rational Decision-Maker (Reflective system) and Instant Gratification Monkey (Automatic system) to work in harmony, leaning too far to either side can lead to burnout or getting nothing done. When starting a task, use your Rational Decision-Maker to create Implementation Intentions, which are clear, purposeful, step-by-step actions that require written out details of how, when, and why you’ll accomplish a goal – this will immensely improve your foresight of making present decisions with future benefits long term. Being critical also requires both Decision-Maker and Gratification Monkey to work together on habit formation, so learn to use healthy habit techniques we learned from Lecture 6. And lastly, always be compassionate with yourself. Forgive yourself for past mistakes and failures, develop a growth mindset to keep going, and learn to celebrate yourself for every step made, big or small. The cycle of procrastination can end, why put your dreams on hold for tomorrow when we are truly only guaranteed today? Today is a gift and never a burden - share with the world what we know you have in you. We cannot wait to see your greatness!