Procrastination
A lot of procrastination comes down to something simple but sneaky:
Your brain is running a cost-benefit analysis without telling you. This comes from the Temporal Decision Model (Zhang et al., 2019).
It basically says your brain is comparing: how aversive the task feels right now vs. how far away the reward is if you finish it.
Next time you’re procrastinating, take 1 minute and answer these questions:
- What am I procrastinating on?
- Why am I avoiding it? (Naming the emotion is the key - anxiety? overwhelm? boredom? dread?)
- What are the benefits of finishing it?
- What’s the easiest first subtask I can do?
- How long will that subtask take me?
- What reward will I give myself afterward?
Why this helps (based on the model + the study):
- Naming the emotion reduces the emotional load (affect labeling).
- A tiny subtask lowers the entry barrier your brain is resisting.
- Choosing a reward brings the “benefit” closer in time.
- Listing benefits shifts attention away from aversion.
In the actual study (1,000+ participants): The reflection increased task-start likelihood, improved mood, elevated outcome utility, and increased the utility-aversion gap compared to controls.
It’s not a miracle cure - but it consistently gave people enough activation energy to get over the initial resistance.
“Why am I avoiding it?” - that ended up being the most revealing part of the whole dataset.