For some people, procrastination is related to their depression tendency and attention deficit disorder (ADD). It is recommended that people who suspect that they have such problems go to a reliable psychological clinic/hospital psychiatric department for medical treatment. Make a clear diagnosis and prescribe the right medicine.
Procrastination is also often associated with lack of self-control. Modern scientific research shows that self-control is related to human prefrontal cortex. Omitting those complicated scientific theories and psychological experiments, there are several points to understand: willpower itself is a limited resource (after being consumed in some things, it will affect willpower in other things), but it can be improved through exercise; Sufficient energy will make the prefrontal cortex work better. In order to control procrastination, we need to ensure energy and nutrition, arrange things that are easy to procrastinate during the energetic period, and supplement sugar before starting work. It is best to get enough sleep (average > 7 hours) and exercise every day (30 minutes a day, more than four times a week).
Meditation is also a way to improve willpower and physical attention. Practicing meditation every day is equivalent to mental exercise. The simplest meditation is to sit quietly with your eyes closed in an undisturbed environment, slow down your breath and not think deliberately. The time can be from 5 minutes to 20 minutes. There is a lot of knowledge about meditation, so I won't discuss it here.
Psychological reasons:
The psychological factors of procrastination can be traced back to childhood in many people. You can't choose what kind of cognition you came into contact with in childhood, so you shouldn't take procrastination as your own fault. However, the primary purpose of recognizing the source is not to shirk responsibility, but to dig out deep-seated misconceptions that were rarely questioned in the past. For example, "self-blame and guilt can make you act", in fact, many times self-blame and guilt actually increase stress and worsen procrastination. For example, "If I delay any longer, I will be finished." In fact, things are either black and white, success or failure. A person's "failure" in some fields cannot deny the value of the whole person.
If we ignore the history of childhood tears and only look at the current manifestations of procrastination, the psychological causes of procrastination can be summarized as: low expectations (that is, lack of self-confidence), low sense of value (that is, thinking that what you want to do is meaningless), and high impulse (that is, pursuing immediate satisfaction and return). (According to procrastination psychology II).
I once made a survey in a QQ group, the theme of which was war procrastination (a set of self-test questions in the book). Most members belong to impulsive procrastination, which is probably related to their natural characteristics ("Hunter in Evolutionary Psychology? ) is related to all kinds of feedback on the road to growth. However, further contact with them revealed that the procrastinator's low expectations and low value may have been so ingrained that he didn't even realize that he was unusually low. Or you don't usually feel low expectations and low value, but when you procrastinate, these two characteristics stand out and people can't climb out of the mire of procrastination. We should pay attention to these blind spots when looking for solutions.
Perfectionism procrastination can also be included in this system-trying to do things perfectly and make preparations perfectly is actually thinking that "imperfection means failure" (low sense of value) and "imperfection means I am not good enough" (low expectation), disdaining the initial trial and error (low sense of value) and unwilling to face the unknown possibility of failure (high impulse).
In order to solve these problems, procrastination patients need long-term self-reflection and cognitive adjustment. These subconscious psychological activities that easily lead to procrastination need to be discovered and corrected in time. Perhaps the most effective thing is to "find what you really want to do". Then increase your self-confidence through continuous small progress. At least, add meaning to what you want to do and affirm your efforts in time (even if you just find that your previous efforts are useless). Another skill is to "gamify" the task and reward yourself in time (the reward content is best controllable, such as a good meal; Don't be another black hole to kill time), turn the defect of "high impulse" into the source of power. (For more detailed methods, please refer to 10 self-discipline).
External factors include direct inducement, others' influence and macro-social factors.
Direct motivation includes the nature of the task itself, such as scientific research, papers, etc., which has far-reaching and uncertain influence. You can use pomodoro technique to divide tasks into manageable parts. It also includes the temptation of the surrounding environment, such as mobile internet access. You can take some skills to control it (learn time management methods, restrict internet access, or simply change the environment-go to the library and other places to study). In addition, the effect of stress on procrastination patients is to quench thirst by drinking poison. Sometimes procrastinators are anxious for fear of failure, and the next time they have a task, they will delay even more because of anxious associations. Sometimes procrastinators are allowed to avoid tasks, indulge in entertainment, rush to finish or never finish. Learning to relax seems to be an excuse for procrastination at first glance, but if you really relax mentally, instead of relaxing by avoiding or making meaningless preparations, procrastination will have a chance to improve. If you really can't relax through cognitive adjustment, you can also try meditation, or the simplest deep breathing.
The influence of others actually works through the procrastinator's own cognition, but people who are not psychologically strong enough are easily influenced by long-term authority and trusted objects. For example, parents try to use criticism to make their children progress; Mentors have low tolerance for mistakes and failures; Partners/relatives have misunderstandings about procrastination. I think the best attitude to this problem is not to argue. Most people will think that you are making excuses and labeling; A few people will support you, but the way they help you may be counterproductive. It is best to find peers who have the same language and knowledge as procrastination in active communities and get objective feedback; Or at least use a diary to reflect on your behavior and psychology (not self-criticism! )。
Finally, social pressure and single value orientation are also encouraging impetuous mentality, which is not conducive to psychological adjustment. In fact, the procrastinator's behavior itself is also reacting to society, so that many major events are the result of last-minute work, but this may not be the scope that procrastinators can control, so I won't say much.
"How to deal with? 」
The same four sentences: get through the temptation point, remind the temptation state, store the self-abandonment point, and create the regret point.
Get through the temptation point: block: isolate the source of temptation; Sparse: cultivate interest in business and reduce the degree of temptation. I didn't do it, hmm. )
Remind the state of temptation: You will forget the time when you are in a state of temptation, so set an alarm clock and vibrate it every half hour to remind yourself to check whether you are in a state of temptation.
Store the point of self-abandonment: the emergence of the point of self-abandonment means that the current temptation is too strong, such as seeing an attractive answer and especially wanting to see it. The way I can think of is to record this on paper, store it and continue it in my spare time.
Make regret: You have set the alarm clock for half an hour before, so you can use this reminder time to review your progress, learn from the painful experience and force yourself to enter a state of regret every half an hour.