We all know that procrastination prevents productivity, but why is it so hard to quit? It seems that whenever there’s a deadline on the horizon, this famous foe rears its ugly head. Thankfully, a new study may have the answers we need to cut procrastination out of our lives once and for all. Specifically, it suggests that time categorization is the key to successful scheduling and the driving force behind proper time management.
According to the study, we tend to interpret deadlines as falling into one of two categories—present or future. Deadlines labeled as present concerns pose no problems—it’s very likely that we’ll start working on them as soon as they’re assigned. Problems arise when assignments are labeled as future concerns. In these cases, we make the quick decision to put them off as tasks to complete “someday”—a dangerously vague deadline.
So how can we apply this information to improve our time management skills? Two surprising findings may suggest the perfect time-saving tactics.
We segment time to categorize deadlines
The finding: One finding demonstrated that even when participants were given the same exact amount of time to complete a task (6 months), their timeliness on completing the assignment depended on how those 6 months fit into the calendar year. Basically, if a task is assigned in June and the deadline for completion is in December, we are more likely to categorize the assignment as a present concern.
However, if it’s assigned in July and the deadline gets pushed back to January of the next year, the task quickly changes from a present concern to a future concern. Crazy, right? Similarly, deadlines that fall within a pre-segmented amount of time from the date they were assigned (a week, a month, a year, etc.) appear more urgent to us than assignments that fall just out of that timeframe (for example, 8 days away instead of 7).
Our suggestion: If you’ve got an assignment or goal on the horizon, set milestones for its completion. For example, break up the task into smaller bits, and allocate a specific (but not random!) amount of time to complete each piece. Just make sure your chosen deadlines are within pre-segmented timeframes, such as within the next day, week, or month.
For example, if you’re aiming to lose 10 pounds total, make it your goal to lose 2 of those pounds in the first week. The Huffington Post suggests that by breaking goals down into concrete steps, they become far more realistic and far less abstract and unattainable. By dividing goals up into smaller components with quicker deadlines, they seem more urgent and present, not to mention less overwhelming and off-putting.
We can trick our minds into categorizing goals in specific ways
The finding:One portion of the study used color-coding to test participant responsiveness to deadlines. Participants were given a calendar corresponding to their assigned tasks. Different dates were shaded different colors, which in turn altered how participants percieved deadlines. If the date that the task was assigned and the due date of that assignment fell under the same color segment, participants viewed the assignment as a present concern and assessed it as something they should begin immediately. However, if the date that the task was assigned and the due date of that assignment fell under different color categories, participants viewed the assignment as a future concern and decided to put it off! Who knew something as simple as color could alter perceptions?
Our suggestion: Get your hands on a planner or calendar, stat. Once you’ve got one, make it a habit to incorporate color into your scheduling. For example, let’s say you highlight the current week pink. If you’re worried about procrastinating on a particular task you’ve just been assigned, purposely write it down in one of the pink boxes to make sure its interpreted as a present concern! Seems easy enough, right?
What’s great about this tactic is that even if a deadline doesn’t fall in a pre-segmented timeframe (such as within the week or month), you can personalize your color segments into whatever shapes and sizes you want, so if you want it to fall in the same color category as the current date, it can! Additionally, if you’re more into electronic planning, Google Calendars are great in that they allow you to assign a color to everything you schedule, so if you haven’t utilized those settings, try them out!
No matter what tactic you use—segmenting or color-coding—be creative and adaptable. Only you know what schedule works best for you, and different methods may work for different people. As long as you’re making some sort of visual representation of your goals and are breaking goals down into concrete steps, you’ll be on your way out of the procrastination danger zone in no time!