The Instant Gratification Thief
Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash
Today is the first day in a while that I am sitting down to write. It's been almost two months of being my own boss and yet all the time I thought I would now have has quickly gone to other things; even with a more flexible schedule the task of writing is one that still remains difficult for me to start. I used to think it was that I didn't have enough hours in the day but now I can clearly see that time is not the problem but rather instant gratification.
While time is a beloved scapegoat, it is instant gratification that is the true enemy; we all have more time than we realize but like a thief in the night instant gratification sneaks in and repurposes every minute we have to something less worthy. We ask ourselves where did the time go? But in truth we know exactly where it went: tv, scrolling through social media, rereading Harry Potter for the 20th time… Time is not the problem but rather all the gratifying things that stand between us and the thing we want to start.
When we are procrastinating, it is usually because the task we need to do is unpleasant in some way. Tim Pychyl, author of Solving the Procrastination Puzzle, identifies 7 "triggers" that lead to procrastination: he says we procrastinate when a task is boring, frustrating, difficult, ambiguous, unstructured, not intrinsically rewarding, or lacking personal meaning. For me, writing certainly contains personal meaning, is intrinsically rewarding and is not boring, frustrating, or difficult. However, it is a bit ambiguous and unstructured.
While I enjoy writing very much, getting here, to this moment, takes significant effort. Like the runners high that doesn't grace us with its presence until a few miles of energy has been expended, I don't feel the joy of writing until I am in it. When we can recognize this about something we want to do in our life - recognize that the gratification that comes with it is delayed - then we can stop expecting it to come so easy and start factoring the difficulty into the equation.
Delayed gratification activities will always be hard to start. Always. But they will also always be worth it.
The only way to stop procrastinating and get past the instantly gratifying distractions is to build yourself an onramp over them which will include specific things you can start doing now. In Tim Urban's post, How to Beat Procrastination, he reminds us that "A remarkable, glorious achievement is just what a long series of unremarkable, unglorious tasks looks like from far away." In other words, the big thing you are trying to do and keep putting off is easy to put off because you're looking at it from too far away. When you get closer and break it down, that's when you find your onramp.
"A remarkable, glorious achievement is just what a long series of unremarkable, unglorious tasks looks like from far away."
When I have trouble starting to write, I break it down by asking questions. What will I write about? Is always a tough one to start with because I don't always know. So I make it easy: Where will I write? I'll write in my favorite coffee shop which will give me something gratifying a little sooner. How will I get there? I'll walk which will check off my exercise box for the day. Is there any other way to make this enjoyable? I'll get a little treat to eat while I'm writing. Yes, I realize that I am like a parent bribing a toddler, but sometimes our onramp is steep and so a little treat will give us a boost.
There will be things we want to do in our lives that are boring, frustrating, difficult, ambiguous, unstructured, not intrinsically rewarding, or lacking personal meaning, and trying to just will ourselves to do them is pretty much the hardest path there. The next time procrastination starts to creep in and something shiny steals your attention from the thing you want to be doing, remind yourself that all you need to do is zoom in a little and find your onramp.
