Procrastination

I’ve been meaning to find interesting/informative articles to send out on at least a monthly basis. Last time I succeeded in that was November.  I’ve also been meaning to write an article on procrastination since the idea occurred to me back in December.  Where has the time gone?

I think it’s safe to say that we all deal with this process.  I realize/decide that I NEED to do something. I can’t get to it right away, something comes up, I get distracted and forget about it, or I feel stressed and do something else so that I can “get to it when I feel ready”.  The list of excuses and distractions is long and colorfully varied.

A week, a month, a year passes and I come back to the task on my mental or physical checklist.  I feel a pang of disappointment that I still haven’t gotten to this and then almost instantly come up with another extremely plausible “reason” why I can’t address it right now.  And the cycle repeats.

I find that the VAST majority of people procrastinate when it comes to financial matters.  They are just never front-burner issues until they’re crises.  So they procrastinate, knowing that they should do something but just never really getting around to it.

I could go into the psychology of WHY we do this but don’t think that’ll help anything.  Instead, I’ll focus on its impact on my (your) life and then some potential solutions.

To a greater or lesser extent, we all avoid unpleasant experiences.  There’s a tremendous TED talk painting this dilemma in colorful, entertaining terms1.  I certainly found myself both laughing and relating to his story and analogy.

While the TED talk touches on the toll that procrastination took on him physically, it only looked at the very immediate consequence: pulling two consecutive all-nighters to write a 90-page thesis.  I’d like to talk in more detail about the actual consequences of procrastination, particularly in the long term, because they are so very damaging.

We all have a mental To-Do list that is tracked by our unconscious brain.  I could go on about the battle between your conscious self and your unconscious self and how that impacts your life, but it’s already been well-addressed in Thinking Fast and Slow, by Nobel Prize-winner Daniel Kahneman.  

Once we have decided/realized that we MUST do something, it gets added to our mental To-Do list.  Your internal discussion about MUST vs NEED vs THINK and the terminology that you use may vary but this realization/decision is also accompanied by a gut feeling of surety. 

After we add something to our mental To-Do list, it doesn’t come off until it’s done or our life has changed so significantly that it’s no longer relevant.  Even then, it won’t stop weighing on you until you consciously reevaluate the decision and get the gut feeling of surety that it needs to come off the list.  That’s both the beauty and tragedy of our unconscious mind – like an elephant it never forgets, even if the task has become irrelevant or slipped from our conscious mind.  A long mental To-Do list comes with a variety of costs. 

One of the tolls of a long mental To-Do list is on our decisiveness.  Psychologists have done studies that showed that someone who is preoccupied with their financial existence (IE many things on their mental To-Do list) loses on average 15 IQ points2.  Like a computer with too many processes running, worrying over all those items on your mental To-Do list takes up your mental power even when you aren’t consciously thinking about them. 

Have you ever found yourself feeling completely unable to make even a seemingly simple decision?  That’s what’s happening.  I would argue that being unable to make decisions at all is an extreme.  However, making decisions with only part of your facilities is like shopping drunk.  So many regrettable decisions…

On the other side, shortening your To-Do list can energize you.  I’m reasonably sure that it’s common knowledge that getting things done leads to getting more things done.  If you have any doubt, do a quick Google search for “getting things done” or “productivity”.  That will probably lead you down a rabbit-hole of life-hacks and thinly-veiled advertising – you’ve been warned. 

While that applies to all things, it applies even more with major items, things on your mental To-Do list.  I have numerous personal examples where getting a big thing done, something that had been weighing on me for a while, led to remarkable productivity.  Physically, I felt as if an actual weight had been lifted off my shoulders and now could run faster and jump higher.

Have you ever gotten into a “productivity high”?  Chances are good that at least one of the things you got done was on your mental To-Do list. 

Another toll from too many To-Dos is on our health3.  Let me cut right to the point – a lot of things on your mind leads to stress.  Stress causes your body to release cortisol.  Cortisol doesn’t hurt your body in the short term but long term it essentially turns your body toxic4. 

Sleep, weight, frailty, mental health, fertility, cardiovascular, and respiratory problems have all been linked to prolonged high levels of cortisol.  You can even get into a self-destructive loop where one stress problem causes you more stress, leading to more stress problems. 

I’m not saying that all long term stress is caused by a long mental To-Do list.  Actually, yes I am.  Anything that causes you stress is added to your mental To-Do list.  Your unconscious mind processes To-Do items and vague stressors the same way. 

Procrastination leads to stress that never truly goes away.  Stress leads to numerous health problems.  In fact, aside from making you feel better at the time, I would say that there is absolutely no positive benefit from procrastination. 

It may seem like I buried the lead by planting that bombshell midway through the article. In part, it was to get you to pay attention to the points about decision-making.  It was also a revision – I started listing out all the physical impacts of a long mental To-Do list and realized I was beating around the bush.  Also, the only C I ever received in school was in a writing class, so there’s that too.

So, how do we avoid procrastinating? Here are three ways:

-       Share the item

Fundamentally, we are social animals.  Accountability partners in all walks of life lead to tremendous results because we will work harder to avoid failing someone else than we will for ourselves.  Someone else will be able to call BS on our excuses, keep us from forgetting about something, and might even be able to offer advice/encouragement to help with the task. 

Here’s the catch – it has to be someone that we respect5.  If we don’t respect the person, we won’t mind decreasing their opinion of us by not following through.

-       Reframe the consequences

Some people respond better to sticks than carrots.  If one of the negative effects of procrastination and long term stress is particularly poignant to you, consciously reframe the item to focus on that outcome as the result of not getting this done. 

It doesn’t even have to be a scientifically verified result.  Will not finishing your basement will lead to dreaded hair loss?  Probably not but if that’s the stick that gets you moving, maybe that’s what you need to tell yourself.

The trick is that you have to BELIEVE that it will happen.  An empty threat is not an effective motivator against your unconscious mind.  It knows what you know and isn’t fooled by you.  I will warn you that this will also serve to increase your stress levels until you get the item done.

-       Just do it

No, this is not a Nike commercial.  Sometimes I hate that they trademarked that phrase.  It detracts from the power and simplicity of it.  Stop thinking about it.  Stop making excuses.  Just tighten your belt and get it done.

We can’t do that with everything.  However, it can be a great tool for getting that first item off the To-Do list and on the path to productivity.

Part of this article is me working through my own issues.  I tend to procrastinate and it has negatively impacted my life.  Simply knowing something doesn’t always translate into it popping into my mind when I’m working through a problem.  Sometimes I need to regroup, reflect, and refocus my thoughts. 

That is my hope with this article.  I doubt anything in it was earth-shattering news to you.  I hope that by discussing this topic, its consequences, and my own struggles you might reflect on your own and see them with a fresh perspective.  It might provide context to what you’re currently wrestling with, let you know that you aren’t alone in your struggles, and maybe give you a new/refreshed idea for moving forward.

And seriously, stop procrastinating on financial matters.  Money impacts everything else in your life and is probably causing you stress.  We already talked about this: stress is bad.

Written by David Bennett

This article is for educational purposes only.  Registered Representative and Financial Advisor of Park Avenue Securities LLC (PAS).  Securities products and advisory services offered through PAS, a registered broker/dealer and investment advisor.  Financial Representative.  The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America (Guardian), New York, NY.  PAS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Guardian.  Alliance Financial Group is not an affiliate or subsidiary of PAS or Guardian.  PAS is a member FINRA, SIPC.  CA insurance license #4080632.  2021-117147 Exp 03/23

1 - “Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator”. https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator

2 - “Poverty impedes cognitive function”. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6149/976

3 - “The effects of stress on your body”. https://www.healthline.com/health/stress/effects-on-body#1

4 - “5 things you should know about stress”. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/stress/index.shtml#:~:text=Over%20time%2C%20continued%20strain%20on,such%20as%20depression%20or%20anxiety

5 - “Share your goals – but be careful whom you tell”. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190903084051.htm