How to hack habit formation to overcome procrastination

Up until now we have looked at how the bright side of goals can motivate us to get started, how a perception of perfection can immobilize us and lead to procrastination and how certain factors can undermine our drive to achieve our goals and lead us to procrastination. In this last segment of the procrastination series, we will look at the habit of procrastination – specifically how habits form and what we can do to break or replace the habit of procrastination.

What is a habit? We all have habits; everyday behaviors that do not require intentional thought or decision-making. Think about the start of your day, what is your morning routine like, and how many of the activities require you to think about them? According to Benjamin Gardner, founder of HabitAT (Habit Application and Theory Group) a habit is formed when a cue triggers a certain behavior which is then repeated to a point when that cue will automatically trigger the behavior. James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits describes the Habit Loop; stages through which habits form i.e the cue, the craving, the response and finally the reward.

There are many reasons why we procrastinate some of which are rather common such as fear of failure, stress over the task, perfectionism, just to name a few. While the triggers for procrastination may differ, the outcome is the same – an immediate reward. I know I procrastinate because I fear failing. This fear has led to me waste not hours, or even days, but a whole year on procrastination.

I had the simple task of creating an online prayer group where ladies can come together and pray for each other, I started off very strong and got confirmation from majority of the participants and was about the create the group when I encountered the first question: Which platform will we use? Suddenly fear struck – what if I try and fail. I had so many false starts because the moment I set out to begin the project, questions about how, when, and security started to flood my brain. Fear nestled in and in an effort to avoid failing, I picked up my phone, or crochet hook and started doing something else to take my mind of the fear and suddenly I felt better.

Looking at the process of habit formation or The Habit Loop, my cue was fear, my craving was to run away from the fear, my behavior was whatever activity that would distract me, and the reward was instant release from the fear. Now that we know how the habit of procrastination forms, we can use that same information to replace that habit.

Next time you find yourself procrastinating, ask yourself the following questions:

What caused my procrastination?

• What am I trying to achieve (or running away from) by procrastinating?

• How can I change my behavior? Make it simple.

• How can I gain the same reward by completing my task? (what will be a good, tasty reward)

In my case procrastination was driven by a fear of failure. My craving was to run away from failing by creating a scenario where I can’t fail - which was avoiding the task altogether. I was able to change my behavior by breaking the project down in simple tasks that was easily overcome. For me it started with brainstorming the questions with someone else. Finally, by breaking the project into small easy steps, I was able to overcome fear of failure by making the steps so easy, I couldn’t fail.

Coach U

Take time and identify what triggers your procrastination. Take a project that you are currently procrastinating on and find the smallest step that you feel achievable to take. Find a reward for that step and see if this motivates you enough to take one more step. Repeat until the project is finished. (These steps can help you with any project or area of your life you are procrastinating on.)

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