Advice from a Neuropsychologist1
General information about beating procrastination is on this page. If you need specific help or guidance on how to overcome procrastination, please contact us directly.
How to beat procrastination for life! This is obviously a game-changing concept, but one that requires some context. Current surveys report that up to 9 out of 10 college and university students procrastinate. However, despite a wide range of techniques, psychological theories and self-help guides, the procrastination crisis is growing.
Mindtraining is one of the few disciplines that offers the potential for a lifelong solution; changing the way you think to alter brain function and structure. However, mindtraining requires effort and commitment; you have to want to change. If you are experiencing problematic procrastination and are prepared to work towards a solution, then read on.
At a preliminary level, procrastination is a regular human activity; it can support creativity and limit exposure to burning out. There are many different processes that distract us from our task focus; we all experience daydreaming, a slow start to the working day or resistance to jobs we really would prefer not to do. While mindtraining can lessen the impact of these processes, we’re never going to eliminate them; it’s part of being human. What I’m concerned about here is helping people who are struggling to complete everyday tasks regularly, even with activities that are enjoyable or important.
In recent surveys, almost all College and University students (up to 95%) reported procrastinating some of the time, and 88% of employees reported losing at least an hour a day through procrastination.2 So what can be done?
The claim that procrastination is universal to humans has been evidenced throughout history. In 700 BCE, the Greek poet Hesiod warned his brother Perses against delaying work, writing: “Do not put your work off till tomorrow and the day after; for a sluggish worker does not fill his barn…” In the 1st Century BCE, the Roman statesman Cicero called procrastination “detestable in the conduct of most affairs,” especially in matters of war and governance. So if we’ve always been like this, you might ask, what’s the problem? There’s clear evidence that more people are suffering more severe forms of procrastination than we’ve ever seen before.
So far, psychology has been relatively unsuccessful in making significant inroads into this issue. There are many top-down psychological theories that attempt to explain procrastination: Emotion Regulation Theory, Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT), Expectancy Theory and Hyperbolic Discounting, to name but four. All offer some insights, but none convincingly demonstrate how to resolve the problem in real life. On the other hand, there are hundreds of apps, books and techniques that claim to lessen procrastination without engaging with the neuropsychology underpinning the behaviour. Many people find themselves caught between these two approaches, failing to understand the mental processes that foster and exacerbate procrastination.
Mindtraining takes a different view; we create a compassionate paradigm where science and experiential knowledge are integrated. By understanding why one person procrastinates and supporting them to overcome the worst elements of the problem, bottom-up solutions are identified and evidenced. These, in turn, form the basis of potential solutions. Experimental Psychology tends to use statistical analysis to make sense of what is a deeply personal issue. There may be as many as 40 separate factors that influence why someone procrastinates.
Our experience is that only by thinking of each person as an individual and understanding the unique conditions they face is lasting change likely to be achieved.
Experimental Psychology tends to use statistical analysis to make sense of what is a deeply personal issue. There may be as many as 40 separate factors that influence why someone procrastinates. Our experience is that only by thinking of each person as an individual and understanding the unique conditions they face is lasting change likely to be achieved.
As a Consultant in Applied Neuropsychology and expert in mindtraining, I have helped hundreds of people to reach their goals by beating procrastination. Over time, a methodology to successfully tackle the problem and its underlying causes has been developed and tested, it’s called the Five-Step Procrastination Shift.
- Personal Responsibility
- Physical Presence
- Mental Presence
- Acceptance
- Individual Differences
By skillfully applying the five components of the Procrastination Shift on a person-by-person basis, is procrastination can not only be managed, but the most problematic elements can also be overcome.
If you’d like to train in the Procrastination Shift or find out more about how to beat procrastination, please get in touch.
Notes:
- Dr Stephen Gene Morris PhD, holds a MSc in Neuropsychology, has 25 years experience of mind training
- https://worldmetrics.org/procrastination-statistics/
Mindtraining for Life 
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