The Internet, Procrastination and Productivity: The Truth

I am waiting. After a long delay, neuroscience, and psychology is finally beginning to understand the complexities of procrastination and.......

I am waiting. After a long delay, neuroscience, and psychology is finally beginning to understand the complexities of procrastination and Mental Inertia. It is thought that an amazing 25% of adults around the world are chronic (long term) procrastinators. There are (apparently) two types of procrastinators out there:

those who delay making decisions, and
those who delay taking action.

A long time ago, a man approached J.P. Morgan, held up an envelope, and said,‘Sir, in my hand I hold a guaranteed formula for success, which I will gladly sell you for $25,000.’ ‘Sir,’ J.P. Morgan replied, ‘I do not know what is in the envelope; however, if you show it to me, and I like it, I give you my word as a gentleman, that I will pay you what you ask.’ The man agreed to the terms, and handed over the envelope. J.P. Morgan opened it and extracted a single sheet of paper. He gave it one look, a mere glance, then handed the piece of paper back to the gentleman and paid him the agreed upon $25,000. The contents of the note:

Every morning, write a list of the things that need to be done that day.
Do them.

Believe it or not, the internet and cat memes did not give rise to procrastination. I know that may shock some. People have struggled with habitual hesitation going back thousands of years. Around the time of Homer in ancient Greece, Hesiod, writing around 800 B.C., cautioned not to,

‘put your work off till tomorrow and the day after’.

The Roman consul Cicero called procrastination, ‘hateful in the conduct of affairs’. What’s become quite clear since the days of Cicero and Hesiod, is that procrastination isn’t just hateful, it’s harmful. In research settings, people who procrastinate have higher levels of stress and lower well being. I hope you will agree that concentration is a finite resource with which we all struggle sometimes. When our minds start to wander from that document, that business plan or crucial essay, the first place we go to tends to be the most conveniently located area of procrastination. The wonders of the web, which at the worst of times, can be the black hole for productivity.

The internet can be a wonderful tool for productivity, but also for distraction. The majority of adults in the UK admit to being distracted from their work by theinternet, as well as feeling less productive. Over half of the 2,500 individuals surveyed by Stop Procrastinating, admitted that checking their emails and social media when trying to do work revealed a worrying lack of impulse control. Over 60 per cent (63 per cent) said they lost their chain of thought because they checked and responded to an email or social media alert while they were working on a report or longer piece of written work.

When you interrupt a task, it can be difficult to pick it up again. Sometime it is called inertia (or Mental Inertia). Newton’s First Law tells us that the velocity of a body remains constant unless the body is acted upon by an external force. Some people are quite content to be potted plants lined up on the windowsill; staying in place without much movement. Others are like hamsters on the training wheel – happily jogging at a steady pace, until there’s a change in their hamster-haven environment. Have a watch here if you doubt this feeling.

How many times have you…

opened books you couldn’t wait to read, but never actually finished?
started projects you started that petered to stagnation?
had brilliant ideas that never moved into actual conception?
Created new projects, creative ideas, daily tasks, half-written emails?
and that thing you stopped working on just now until you clicked on Linkedin?

That resistance to completion of a task can be very powerful. It can take the form of physical, emotional, conscious or unconscious response. The Creativity Research Journal studied the working habits of a particularly intelligent group of people, winners of the Intel Science Talent competition. They found that some groups procrastinated productively. They used procrastination as a trigger for a helpful amount of stress needed to ignite positive action.

That trance feeling you can go into when finding yourself scrolling through Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter or memes has a name and it was first coined by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi: Flow. The concept was and was originally considered a good thing because it’s a state of deep engagement and absorption, as he abstractly explains in a Wired interview. Now here is some ‘obvious scientific research’ bit. There is, apparently, a strong link between procrastination and problematic internet use, according toJournal of Computers in Human Behavior. They also found that when someone was in a state of flow while engaged in a non-work related activity, they were more likely to end up with problematic internet use. No really.

Back to some practical physics. If you’re at rest, you tend to stay at rest. What causes a change in state? This happens when you introduce an external force.Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion (including a change in direction)… Inertia comes from the Latin word, iners, meaning idle, or lazy. (from Wikipedia). However, we’re not talking about physics we are discussing people. What is this external force that can get us going when we’re stopped, speed us up when we’re moving, or bring us to a crashing halt?

It’s our glorious mind that is our internal and external force. Our minds are incredibly productive and original structures. As such, they require constant, meticulous care. Have you ever felt like you’re on top of the world? You were being amazing every day? It’s that feeling that comes when everything is firing on all cylinders, and you know things are going your way. Then, a problem arises, and one of two things happens. In one version, you power through the problem, changing and adapting to the new circumstances. You deal with the problem and move forward with renewed vigour, assured and confidence. In the other scenario, the problem hits you like the proverbial ton of bricks. You can’t think straight. It feels like the whole world is crashing down around your ears and nothing you do seems to make a difference. The problem stops you in your tracks, and you can’t figure out how to make things right.

Recently the behavioural research into the problem if procrastination has ventured beyond cognition, emotion and personality, into the realm of neuropsychology. There is a structural part of the brain and a protective mechanism for the mind, that we callMental Inertia (MI). MI is a part of our lives, and not just as it relates to the physical laws. MI is a constant issue for some employees. So how can they break out of the MI hold and start being productive?

Just Do It Now. Make a (good) decision and do it. If Not Excellence, What? If Not Excellence Now, When? Dump your MI and take action.
Pick Up The Phone and Call Now. Make That Three-Minute Call! Today! Now! Yes it is all about relationships. And ever so many are off track or under-nourished—at any point in time. As Tom Peters says, in short, a three-minute call made today (NOW!) to deal with a “slightly” bruised ego or a “minor” misunderstanding can go a long way toward helping you avoid a trip to divorce court, the loss of a billion-dollar Client or an employee lawsuit tomorrow.
You Are Your Product Now Develop It. Being held back by metal inertia is no longer an excuse. You are capable of so much more.Remember this, The last of human freedoms, the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances. —Viktor Frankl, psychologist and Holocaust survivor, on concentration camps
Being a Perfectionist is No Excuse. We can’t be perfect and it is better to make a wrong decision than none at all. Use the power of your mind and think bullets then cannonballs.

When it comes to our roles as leaders or followers, it’s important to understand Mental Inertia. It is time to take control of this external force and use all our skills to convert inertia to action. Churchill said, It is not enough to do your best—you must succeed in doing what is necessary.

Be Amazing Every Day

Strive for excellence. Ignore success.

Categories: : blog