Cognitive reframing - a way to avoid procrastination?

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I'm normally a terrible procrastinator. The idea of doing something I think will be boring or difficult makes me want to put it off as soon as possible.

Today, though, I tried something different. I told myself that something that I normally consider unpleasant would be easy. The weird thing is, this seems to have worked. I found myself enjoying doing the task.

Does anyone else do this? Have you had success stories with this? Is this the way to transform from a procrastinator to a go-getter, to give myself exactly the amount of J I need to get what I want out of life?

I'm about to run through a gauntlet, where I have to spend time on my job search daily, throw out crap in my apartment so that I can move, and apply for a graduate program within the next 15 days.

Forgive me if nobody else cares, but the thought that I might actually be able to pull it off excites me.

 

[Smilephantomhive]

Hmm, I'll have to try this. Yesterday, I really cleared my mind, put away my phone, and was able to focus on my work. I think the hard part is truly believing that the task will be easy. Procrastination is a way to run away from the pain, so I try to tell myself that anxiety only postpones pain, and makes it worse.

But yeah, I think reframing your mind is the way to deal with procrastination.

 

[Amargith]

Yup. It helps me to avoid Ne-escapism, by being open and curious about the moment and the experience.

 

[Smilephantomhive]

Oh another way is to procrastinate on a huge project, and rush to finish it, and vow to never procrastinate again. Or make your schedule to busy that you literally do not have time to procrastinate.

 

[Larix]

Or make your schedule to busy that you literally do not have time to procrastinate.

This works for me. But it has its drawbacks. Keeping myself busy with interesting and fulfilling tasks makes it easy to keep getting things done [and telling myself I can do it], but if my life situation changes and the things I find myself doing seem less compelling, I find I'll have short bursts of motivation followed by long periods of lethargy and feeling too dead inside to do anything. Plus, I sometimes experience burnout while in the middle of doing something I actually enjoy because I push too hard when I'm doing those things.

As with so many things in life, I tend to best when there's some kind of balance. Somewhere between keeping my mind sharp and optimistic enough to find something exciting to do that's worth my time (which requires a lot of creative effort), and then once I've built the kind of lifestyle I want to keep, I have to:
1) remember that it might not be permanent and that things will change and I'll need to re-motivate myself at some point in the near future.
and 2) use that knowledge to conserve energy while I'm doing the thing I enjoy doing. If I expend too much energy "getting the most out of" a good stretch of life where I feel motivated and productive, I won't have any creative energy left to re-motivate myself when things change.

One example: My first semester of this school year I had a healthy attitude about my classes. I was realistic about my expectations and patient with my shortcomings. I got to work meaningfully with people, which exhausted me, but found creative ways to spend a good chunk of time doing productive work, another chunk interacting meaningfully with other people, and another chunk recharging alone. I had a rhythm that worked, but I eventually started feeling like in order to keep up the rhythm, I had to keep "pushing myself" or I'd lose momentum. (Possibly a combined soul child issue where 1,3 and 8 make me want to "challenge myself" constantly ?)

It seemed to be going well until the holidays, when my exhaustion kicked in. Throw in a couple of uninspiring classes, no energy to change my outlook or perspective, and an increasing tendency to withdraw and feel disappointed in my almost embarrassing loss of momentum, and I was almost like a whole other person. Completely withdrawn and prone to last-minute panic over every responsibility. I slowly had to find a new rhythm- not too busy, not too self-indulgently restful, but steady and easy on myself. Telling people about my disappointments and accepting affirmation helped a lot, too- and also having people remind me to take it easy when I take on too much.

I'd say that it's great to be excited about moving in a positive, productive direction. But it can be disappointing if you can't keep it going. I don't know about anyone else, but I think reframing can only be sustained if you're willing to monitor how much energy you're putting into creating positive change. Too much exertion all at once, and the downswing could inevitably follow.

 

[Agent Washington]

All the above methods don't work for me and would only result in long-term burnout.