Procrastination Bites

I like to keep things moving. So despite the fact that I’m putting a book out November 1st (the first book in Hiro’s trilogy, buy early and often!) the fact that I work full time and I’m a single mom to a really special needy high maintenance teenager, that I’m starting an anthropology class next week (Human Origins and Pre-History, whoo!) and maintaining daily practice in Spanish and now German on the wonderful DuoLingo, I decided to take a free online course as well.

Possibly I’m actually an idiot.

But hey! The online course doesn’t actually start until mid-September, which will let me get everything else in line! Except I’m able to preview it now, and the prepared student is the one who learns more of the subject matter (I’d say “learns more” but I think the unprepared student learns “DON’T BE UNPREPARED” and that’s probably more important than anything they learn about the class itself)

Also possibly I’m a bit babbly today, but I’m in a hurry because I have editing to do.

ANYWAY.

The course is on Coursera, Learning How to Learn. I”m taking it because it will HELP with all those things I’ve decided I need to learn. I hope. Anyway, that’s the plan, and I have already learned one VERY IMPORTANT tip that yesterday helped me get LOTS done. Not surprisingly, it was a connection of stuff I actually sort of already knew.

Yesterday while previewing a lecture, I learned that when we try to bring ourselves to do something we’ve been procrastinating, our brains LIE TO US. Or just take a shortcut, whatever. (my exact thought was “that lying sack of ***!”) Apparently, when we are starting a task we’re dreading, the areas in our brain controlling PAIN are activated. Avoid the thing by doing something fun, and you’ve just rewarded your brain twice!

However, if we keep on, the “pain” associated with the attempt at avoidance goes away. If it’s an awful thing to have to do (cleaning hair out of the shower, doggie doo in the backyard, et cetera) then that “pain” remains, but the dread just kind of goes “oh, well, if you’re going to IGNORE ME” and wanders off to diddle itself in a wash somewhere.

So how do you fight your way through the pain? The pomodoro technique.

Which is a fancy way to say “set a timer.”

Yeah, I already knew about timers. I’m a big proponent of Flylady’s “I can do anything for fifteen minutes.” I have timers and I use them, though probably certainly not as much as I should.

Set a timer, focus for a while, then go do something else for a timed while. When the break is over, come back and jump right in.

Okay, it seems simple. But if it were really that simple, no one would procrastinate. Right?

Well, as I’ve been learning with my attempts at healthy eating, the big trick is catching my brain in the act. For instance, I noticed some time ago that I actually don’t really like most donuts. A hot fresh Krispy Kreme is pretty good, but a cold one isn’t. A well-made buttermilk bar is worth the calorie-budget-busting, but good ones are few and far between, and pretty much NEVER found in the places I’m tempted by donuts (convenience stores, grocery stores, that box a co-worker brought in.)

The problem is, I forget that most donuts aren’t even tasty, and I don’t remember until I’m halfway through a donut, and then I might as well just go on and eat the rest.†

It’s so annoying! If someone offers me a donut, or I’m in view of a donut, then I want one. Even though I know very well it will be both unsatisfying and guilt-inducing. My brain is convinced that we love donuts. Doesn’t EVERYONE? All cupcakes are good. The best a salad can be is okay, and definitely it can’t be filling. Only a cheeseburger can end this desperate hunger! Not even that–we need a cheeseburger and a large fries with ranch dressing.

LIES. All of it, lies. I don’t want most donuts. Few cupcakes are actually tasty. Salads can be yummy as hell and also hold me for hours. Timing my work and taking breaks makes me work better, not less. And no, dammit, I don’t want fries with that.

And while editing is hard, sometimes bewildering work, it is actually way preferable to pulling hair out of the shower drain.

Honest. Here’s proof. Here’s my To DONE list from yesterday, and you’ll see that editing is on it, but pulling hair out of the shower drain is not.

† Yes, this is also an error in logic, known as the sunk cost fallacy. Or some slightly different fallacy.