‘Procrastination’ by Sharon Roberts, Davis Dyslexia Facilitator

Rachel’s science project, worth 50% of her final grade, is due this Friday. She hasn’t even begun. There are only 3 days left, and in the meantime, she has to go to school and work at her part time job, one shift this week. She also promised to clean her room by Saturday so she can go out with her friends over the weekend. She is overwhelmed but is determined to buckle down and begin her project. She searches for the outline hidden somewhere under her piles of belongings but fails in her attempt. She quickly calls her friend for the info but an hour later finds herself still talking over the day’s events. She ends the call, only to realize she never did find out what her assignment was.

We’ve all done it… put things off. It has been estimated that the average person spends 218 minutes procrastinating every day, that means every year you might spend 55 days putting off tasks you really need to do. Procrastination is delaying or putting off tasks until the last minute, or past their deadline. Most professionals agree it is an avoidance strategy but the cause for avoidance varies.

Procrastination is caused by the same things it creates, stress and anxiety. We avoid tasks because they overwhelm us in the moment, and it feels good momentarily.  In “Davis” terms, it involves the basic instinct of humankind…to seek pleasure and avoid pain. For the moment, it’s easier and more pleasurable to avoid “that thing” and do something easier and more fun!

Dr. Linda Sapadin in her book, How to Beat Procrastination in the Digital Age: 6 Unique Change Programs for 6 Personality Styles identifies 6 types of procrastinators. The personality types range from The Worrier to The Pleaser.

The Worrier doesn’t start that important task because they don’t believe that they’ll be able to do it. Characteristics include indecisiveness and lack of confidence and have a high resistance to change, preferring the safety of the “known” over the risk of the “unknown.”  In a similar vein the perfectionist doesn’t start the task because they equate failure with not doing the task perfectly and they put forth excessive amounts of time and energy to making sure everything is done perfectly.

The Pleaser or the Over-Doer procrastinator commits to doing too many tasks and fails to prioritize. Underlying this is the fear of not living up to their own impossible standards, or the imagined impossible standards of others. They tend to suffer and take on more work than they can handle, often finding it difficult to relax without feeling guilty.

The 'Crisis Maker’ believes they need the stress or pressure inherent in last minute action to alleviate boredom and increase motivation. There is a question about the quality of work that evolves from this; whereas the Dreamer comes up with lots of ideas, but the thought of work bores or frustrates them. They avoid expressing negative feelings; instead, they convey those feelings by procrastinating.

The Defier is often viewed as rebellious and underlying this is the belief “I shouldn’t have to do it!”.  Procrastination is used to defy authority. They are pessimistic in nature, undercutting their motivation to complete tasks in a timely manner. 

You can find many suggestions and ideas to overcome or decrease procrastinating tendencies.

• One way is to break down mountainous tasks into smaller tasks. For example, the task of cleaning the house could be broken down several ways from, emptying the dishwasher, vacuuming, wiping down the countertops to making the bed. Many experts agree by listing things and checking them off when completed helps to release dopamine (feel good chemical) to the brain.

• The Pomodoro Technique breaks tasks into reasonable chunks and rewards you with regular breaks: whenever you are faced with work that you've put off via procrastination, you should tackle it in precisely timed intervals with a short break between each interval. After several work intervals have passed, you can take a longer break. By using the Pomodoro method, you're assured that the work will be broken into manageable chunks. The Pomodoro Technique is effective because it makes long-delayed items from your to-do list seem less intimidating. If you know that you'll only have to work on a task in short intervals—and that you'll be rewarded with regular breaks—you're shielded from the dread of an interminable task.

For those who are picture thinkers, dyslexic and ADD, ADHD or those on the autism spectrum, there may be an added problem. Despite all the suggestions for improvement, the intrinsic concepts behind the suggestions may be lacking. For some, time is a vacant space to be filled. There is no idea how long something could take due to lack of sensing how long 30 minutes is as opposed to 2 hours. If this is intrinsically lacking in their being, it makes it difficult to prioritize a task.

Numerous suggestions are available to overcome whatever personality type you are, but all require a rudimentary knowledge of self, change, consequence, time, sequence and order. These concepts can often be lacking with dyslexic, ADD and autistic individuals because of their disorientations and thinking process. There can be problems with starting, organizing, planning, or completing tasks. Their disorientations can also create trouble in listening or paying attention and create short-term memory issues. All of these can be dealt with in Davis Attention Mastery Programs or Autism Approach programs for those on the spectrum. When a person eliminates the cause of the challenges, the challenges cease to exist.

Sharon Roberts, Davis Facilitator, Ontario https://dyslexia.ca/