WEBVTT - BONUS: How to Stop Procrastinating

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, welcome to sign Stuff, your production of iHeartRadio. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>hoor Hitcham, and in this bonus mini episode, we are

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<v Speaker 1>answering the question how do you stop procrastinating? Hopefully you

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<v Speaker 1>heard our main episode about the Signs of procrastination, in

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<v Speaker 1>which three experts weigh in on what procrastination is, why

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<v Speaker 1>we do it, and what consequences it has. Now we're

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<v Speaker 1>going to talk about what happens if you want to

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<v Speaker 1>stop procrastinating, and as it happens, each of our experts

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<v Speaker 1>suggest a different strategy. Fir Stop is doctor Pierce's Steel,

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<v Speaker 1>a professor of organizational psychology at the University of Calgary

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<v Speaker 1>who's written several books on procrastination and has even programmed

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<v Speaker 1>a chat GPT app to help you stop procrastinating. You

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<v Speaker 1>can find all his work at procrastinus dot com. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>if you recall, doctor Steele explained that when we procrastinate,

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<v Speaker 1>it's really our frontal cortex finding it out with your

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<v Speaker 1>more primitive limbic system.

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<v Speaker 2>Like a lot of people struggle with this because it's

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<v Speaker 2>really the mind is set against itself. You want to

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<v Speaker 2>do it, but you don't want to want to do it,

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<v Speaker 2>or you want to want to do it, but you

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<v Speaker 2>don't want to do it right, so people like struggle,

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<v Speaker 2>why can't I get myself going? And partly is the environment.

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<v Speaker 2>It's totally stacked up against you. If sometimes there's nothing

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<v Speaker 2>wrong with your goals or you, it's about your environment

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<v Speaker 2>and accessibility of distractions of temptations.

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<v Speaker 1>Tuctor Steele says one of the best things you can

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<v Speaker 1>do to stop procrastinating is to durun off your phone

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<v Speaker 1>or hide it in another room.

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<v Speaker 3>Make sure you.

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<v Speaker 1>Have a distraction free space in which to work. And

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<v Speaker 1>according to doctor Steele, the number of ways for us

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<v Speaker 1>to get distracted has only gotten worse over the years.

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<v Speaker 2>And it's just gone up and up and up, like

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<v Speaker 2>a five hundred percent increase in product procrastination last twenty years. Wow,

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<v Speaker 2>And I haven't even checked it recently.

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<v Speaker 1>In his books and website, Tuctor Steel has lots of

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<v Speaker 1>techniques to help you stop procrastinating, but the main one

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<v Speaker 1>is to make it hard to get distracted.

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<v Speaker 2>And there's like twenty five different techniques, right, but the

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<v Speaker 2>fundamental one, the easiest one, is distancing your temptations, make

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<v Speaker 2>them harder to get through. I would always start with

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<v Speaker 2>that before moving down to the other ones.

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<v Speaker 1>Next up is doctor Fuschia Sira, professor of psychology at

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<v Speaker 1>Durham University. If you remember doctor Curras, is that at

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<v Speaker 1>the heart when we procrastinate is an emotional reaction. There's

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<v Speaker 1>always something about the task we're avoiding that gives us

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<v Speaker 1>a negative emotion. Maybe the stakes of the thing you

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<v Speaker 1>have to do are high and that stresses you out,

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe you are secretly afraid of doing it because

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<v Speaker 1>then people might judge you and think you're not good enough,

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<v Speaker 1>or maybe you just find it unpleasant, and then the

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<v Speaker 1>negative emotions can pile up and you start to feel

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<v Speaker 1>shame or panic about the fact that you're procrastinating. So

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<v Speaker 1>doctor Ciro says to avoid all those emotions, which works

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<v Speaker 1>in the short term but not in the long term.

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<v Speaker 3>So you get that immediate reinforcement. You've just engaged in

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<v Speaker 3>short term mood repair. But it's what we all go

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<v Speaker 3>through when we procrastinate, and I do prostate myself too. Occasionally.

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<v Speaker 3>For me, it's because I'm very future oriented with thinking.

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<v Speaker 3>I start imagining how difficult something's going to be, and

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<v Speaker 3>that's enough to make me go no, I don't want

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<v Speaker 3>to get into that right now, So I put it aside.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, the trig doctors Ros says is that whenever

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<v Speaker 1>you feel yourself procrastinating, you sort of can't figure out

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<v Speaker 1>why you're doing it. Take a step back and try

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<v Speaker 1>to pinpoint the negative emotion that's making you procrastinate. You're

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<v Speaker 1>saying the correct response should be to basically cope with

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<v Speaker 1>our emotions or dig into our emotions.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you have to first of all, recognize that there's

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<v Speaker 3>an emotion driving this dysfunctional behavior and keeping you from

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<v Speaker 3>reaching your goals and you know, making your dreams a reality.

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<v Speaker 3>But what is that emotion? You have to name it

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<v Speaker 3>before you contame it. Is it boredom? Is it frustration?

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<v Speaker 3>Is it anxiety? Is it stress? Is some combination of

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<v Speaker 3>these things? What is the emotion I'm feeling? And then

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<v Speaker 3>what are the thoughts that are contributing or past experiences

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<v Speaker 3>that might be attributing.

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<v Speaker 1>And once you identify the emotion that's making you procrastinate,

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<v Speaker 1>you can deal with it. You can think about whether

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<v Speaker 1>it makes sense for that emotion to be holding you back.

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<v Speaker 1>If you need extra help, Doctor Sirah has written a

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<v Speaker 1>book and a toolkit to help people deal with their

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<v Speaker 1>procrastinating emotions. The link is in the episode description. All right,

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<v Speaker 1>now we get to our last expert, doctor Lisa Boylka,

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<v Speaker 1>a researcher in psychology at Tubingin University. As you mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>in the main episode, we all tend to procrastinate less

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<v Speaker 1>over time, partly because we get better at dealing with

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<v Speaker 1>things and partly because the world puts more constraints on

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<v Speaker 1>you as you get older and have more responsibilities. So

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<v Speaker 1>if you're looking to do less procrastination in a way,

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<v Speaker 1>you don't have to worry about it that much because

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<v Speaker 1>the world will sort of do it for you. But

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<v Speaker 1>the other big tip about how to stop procrastination is

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<v Speaker 1>to realize what one of the big problems with procrastination

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<v Speaker 1>really is.

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<v Speaker 4>There's another big component, which is that you actually have

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<v Speaker 4>like this guilty conscience that in the back of your head,

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<v Speaker 4>Like for instance, when you have a task which is

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<v Speaker 4>really difficult or it's just boring and you don't want

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<v Speaker 4>to do it, and then you procrastinate, you watch cat videos,

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<v Speaker 4>or if you do something that's more fun like on

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<v Speaker 4>short term, you feel much better about it, you feel

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<v Speaker 4>much better about yourself. But in the end, you have

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<v Speaker 4>in the back of your mind maybe I should have started,

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<v Speaker 4>Maybe I should do it now.

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<v Speaker 1>Interesting, it seems like maybe the difference in is this

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<v Speaker 1>idea of guilt. Yes, guilt. The real problem with procrastination,

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<v Speaker 1>it seems, causes all the anxiety and stress is feeling

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<v Speaker 1>guilty about it. So one thing all our experts agree

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<v Speaker 1>on that could help you out is to cut yourself

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<v Speaker 1>some slack. Otherwise you just keep falling down that spiral

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<v Speaker 1>of negative emotions. I mean, I asked all three of

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<v Speaker 1>our experts if they still procrastinate, and they all said

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<v Speaker 1>they do. So, even procrastination experts procrastinate.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, it's a human tendency. Like we live in

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<v Speaker 3>a culture that is so focused on productivity, and if

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<v Speaker 3>you've got this as a backdrop, and you know you're

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<v Speaker 3>not doing what you're supposed to be doing, you're immediately

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<v Speaker 3>feeling like, I'm not doing what everybody else is doing.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm not contributing to society. I'm a bad person, right,

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<v Speaker 3>There's something wrong with me.

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<v Speaker 1>And then that feeds back into their negative emotions, which

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<v Speaker 1>makes them want to avoid it even more.

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<v Speaker 2>Exactly what I would want people to do is to

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<v Speaker 2>give themselves a little more self love, you know, forgive

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<v Speaker 2>themselves for being human, but also understand their human I see,

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<v Speaker 2>they're not robots or angels of perfection, and this is

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<v Speaker 2>really baked into our brain's architecture. If we wanted to

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<v Speaker 2>eliminate that, we'd have to be other than human. What's

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<v Speaker 2>your understand it? Life gets a lot easier and a

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<v Speaker 2>lot more fun to.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, So to recap, the three biggest things you

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<v Speaker 1>can do assuming you want to stop procrastinating, are get

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<v Speaker 1>rid of potential distractions, dig into your emotions and try

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<v Speaker 1>to figure out why you're really putting something off. And

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<v Speaker 1>go easy on yourself. Approach your inner procrastinator with love.

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<v Speaker 1>You are, after all, only human. Thanks for procrastinating with us.

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<v Speaker 2>See you next time.

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<v Speaker 1>You've been listening to Science Stuff. The production of iHeartRadio

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<v Speaker 1>written and produced by me or Y Cham credited by

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<v Speaker 1>Rose Seguda, executive producer Jerry Rowland, and audio engineer and

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<v Speaker 1>mixer Jasey Pegram And you can follow me on social media.

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<v Speaker 1>Just search for PhD Comics and the name of your

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<v Speaker 1>with another episode.