E1- Why Procrastination Might Be Your Secret Superpower

Joshua, the host of "Oh, That's A Fact," discusses PROCRASTINATION in the first episode. He argues that procrastination is often misunderstood, being more about emotional regulation than laziness. He identifies two types: passive/chronic and active/strategic. Active procrastination can enhance creativity, decision-making, and efficiency. Joshua cites a 2016 Stanford study showing procrastinators generate 28% more creative ideas. He also mentions Victor Hugo's strategic delay in writing "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." Joshua provides practical tips like the Two-Minute Rule, Task Decomposition/Chunking and the app, Goblin Tools to manage procrastination effectively.

Quick Quizlet Question:

How long does it typically take  to form a habit?  

   A)  21 days 

   B)  30 days 

   C).  66 days

   D)   90 days  

   E)  1,000,000 years 

Action Items

• Write down the answer to the Quick Quizlet Question about how long it typically takes to form a habit.
• Reach out to the host at OhThatsAFact@gmail.com with any feedback or questions.
• Subscribe to the podcast to not miss the next episode.
• Share the episode information with others who may find it helpful.

Sound Effects courtesy of Floraphonic, Liecio, StudioKolomna, Aviana Phoenix via Pixabay.

OTAF Music: “Happy Event Music Is”  provided by: Diamond Tunes via Envato

# Bibliography

1. Psychological Science (2018) – Neural Basis of Procrastination

2. American Psychological Association – Procrastination Statistics

3. APA.org – Rationalizations for Procrastination

4. PubMed Central – Exploring the Genetics of Procrastination

5. Fast Company – 5 Unexpected Benefits of Procrastination

6. Stanford Creativity Study (2016)

7. MIT Sloan Management Review (2022)

8. Harvard Business Review – “The Strategic Value of Delay”

9. Fast Company – 5 Unexpected Benefits of Procrastination

10. James Clear – The 2-Minute Rule

11. Cal Newport – Time-Block Planning

12. UC Berkeley – Language and Task Aversion Research (2023)

13. Daniel E Gustavson - Genetic Relations Among Procrastination, Impulsivity, and Goal-Management Ability: Implications for the Evolutionary Origin of Procrastination   https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4185275/

14. Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63(2), 81-97

(The thank you list was too long to be here. Please check out the "transcription" for The List.)

Transcript

Procrastination: An Introduction

• Joshua introduces the podcast "Oh, That's A Fact" and the topic of procrastination.
• He acknowledges the delay in releasing the episode and sets the stage for discussing the potential benefits of procrastination.
• Joshua explains that procrastination is often seen as a productivity thief but questions if it might have hidden benefits.
• He outlines the episode's structure: understanding procrastination as an emotional response, exploring its upsides, and providing practical tips.

Emotional Regulation and Procrastination

• Joshua explains that procrastination is linked to emotional regulation, not just willpower or discipline.
• He describes how the limbic system (emotional brain) can bully the prefrontal cortex (rational brain) in procrastination.
• Joshua introduces two basic categories of procrastination: passive/chronic and active/strategic.
• He mentions that active procrastination can improve creativity, decision-making, and prioritization.

Research Insights on Procrastination

• Joshua discusses various causes of procrastination, including fear of failure, perfectionism, and impulsivity.
• He notes that procrastination has increased from 5% in 1978 to 25% today, partly due to technology overload.
• Joshua debunks common myths about procrastination, such as increased stress and anxiety, and highlights its potential benefits.
• He shares a historical anecdote about how Victor Hugo used procrastination to his advantage.

Scientific Evidence and Practical Tips

• Joshua cites a 2016 Stanford study showing that procrastinators come up with 28% more creative ideas.
• He explains Parkinson's Law and the Zeigarnik Effect, which support the idea that procrastination can boost creativity and focus.
• Joshua provides three practical tips: the Two-Minute Rule, Task Decomposition, and Temptation Bundling.
• He introduces Goblin Tools, an app that helps break down large tasks into smaller, manageable ones. ( https://goblin.tools/ )

Conclusion and Next Episode Preview

• Joshua summarizes the episode, emphasizing that procrastination is a tool, not a flaw.
• He shares a quote from Mark Twain about procrastination.
• Joshua introduces the next episode's topic: Habit Forming and Behavioral Change.
• He poses a Quick Quizlet Question about habit formation and encourages listeners to write their answers in the comments section. (Answer to be provided in the next episode)

Joshua  00:00
Well, hello and welcome to the very first episode of Oh, That's A Fact. I'm Joshua, the host of Oh, That's A Fact. And I very much appreciate your listening. Today we shall talk about: PROCRASTINATION. Which I know, I suppose, makes a ton of sense, since I'm releasing this episode well after its original deadline. The good news is, I think your patience is gonna pay off. And...here...we...go....

00:36 
While I don't want you to put off listening to this podcast, what if purposely putting off some other tasks might make you more creative, improve your decision making, and maybe make you better able to prioritize things in your life? What if procrastination has an unfairly bad rap? Today, we're going to chat about the if and how procrastination might just be your superpower. Let's go! 

01:04 
Face it... Procrastinating can make you feel like you're being lazy, and occasionally make you feel ashamed, and it definitely makes me feel guilty. In fact, procrastination is regularly called a productivity thief. And how many times in my life have I heard my mother say, "you're letting it get in the way," or, "if you just did a little at a time?" While that's not always false, it isn't exactly true. 

01:31 
First in this episode, we're going to dig into why procrastination isn't what you think. It's about emotion, not laziness or willpower. 

01:40
Then we're going to discuss some evidence about the surprising upsides to procrastinating. 

01:46
Finally, you'll get some practical ways to use delay as a boost in your life, and I'm going to pass along some simple but game changing life hacks. 

01:56
Have you ever put off a task and felt guilty? What if that guilt is misplaced? At its core, procrastination just means delaying a task, (any task) for any length of time. But there's a bit more to it than Webster or Oxford definitions. Procrastination is a complex behavior linked to emotional regulation and not willpower or discipline. So why is that important? And what's the big deal? Procrastination isn't about slacking. It's about you feeling actual discomfort or pain, and your brain attempting to dodge that discomfort. 

02:38
Functional MRIs of the brain have shown that in procrastination, your limbic system, which is the part of your brain that handles your emotions, is pretty much bullying your prefrontal cortex. That's the rational portion of your brain that's in charge of planning and logic. 

02:54
In my research, I found several different names for different kinds of procrastination, but in reality, there are really only two basic categories, category number one, passive or chronic and seemingly uncontrollable procrastination. This is where delays generally cause total derailment of a task. 

03:15
And then there's category number two, active or strategic procrastination. This is the type of delay in which the London School of Economics notes that you may unlock or improve your creativity, help to conserve resources, clarify decisions and help to truly prioritize what actually matters. Oh, and it possibly might increase your efficiency under pressure. 

03:40
We don't have time to cover everything here, but here are just a few highlights of some other considerations I found during my research. Procrastination may be caused by fear of failure or perfectionism. Another article notes that procrastination is a brain glitch tied to impulsivity, and they go so far as to say that 46% is due to genetic inheritance. Blame your parents! While I haven't exactly made up my mind, there is plenty of evidence out there that procrastination has jumped from 5% in 1978 to 25% today, fueled by technology overload. 

04:22
The myth out there is that procrastination always increases stress, causes anxiety and depression, and makes you make mistakes. Dirty. Lies. Actually, strategic delay can have a massive payoff. 

04:39
Take the case of Victor Hugo story time 'twas August 1830 and a glorious time to be wealthy, famous and French. And almost nobody in Paris, France would pass up the chance to attend a dinner party at the self-proclaimed and insanely famous home of Victor Hugo. He's the author of Les Mis; the play. Not...the movie. After all, how many authors live on a street that's named for themself? Monsieur Hugo was known to have nightly dinner parties with 30 some odd guests at a time, and was having the most raucous of times, performing dinner tricks with oranges, ladies of the night and living the life. What he wasn't doing was writing and completing the manuscript for Notre Dame de Paris. His publisher got rather miffed with his behavior, and famously announced that Mr. Hugo would only have until February 1831, six months, to complete the project. Recognizing his having delayed just so he could play, Hugo ordered his assistant to lock up all of his clothing, save for a single, extremely large and rough-spun, gray shawl. It itched. At least, I like to think it itched. He decided to outsmart his procrastination and avoid the ability to attend or host any dinner parties at all by remaining nearly naked, alone in his study, with pen and paper. Until at last, on January 15, 1831, nearly two months ahead of his deadline (the new deadline), he completed writing what we now call, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

06:20
That scientific evidence that I promised you.... Try this one. Stanford did a 2016 study that noted procrastinators were able to come up with 28% more creative ideas than people who turned their things in early thanks to the idea of what they called subconscious incubation, meaning unconscious processing of problems while focusing elsewhere; which also explains why I have some of my best ideas when I'm in the shower. 

06:50
More science? Okay, how about this? Parkinson's Law proves that work shrinks to fit the time you have to do it in, and how procrastinators generally ditch their perfectionism when they're under pressure.

07:05
More?! The Zeigernik Effect keeps unfinished tasks in your head, naturally sorting priorities while you're busy doing something else. So, what this means is procrastination isn't your enemy. It's a signal. Harness it, right? And it boosts your creativity and your focus. It may even save you from burnout on low value tasks. 

07:29
Alrighty, then. So how can we work with it? I promised you one. So here are three practical tips to try and apply.

07:40
The Two-Minute Rule - Knock out small and quick tasks that are under two minutes at the start of our workday. This will help us clear mental clutter and make room for the bigger issues that need our attention. We're going to come back to this one in another episode shortly. 

07:57
Task Decomposition or Chunking - Now, this is the practice of breaking down larger tasks into smaller ones. So basically, don't write a 2500-word essay due in a month, all at once. Instead, try writing x25 100-word parts to an essay daily. 

08:19
(Just a very brief reminder, I have no paid sponsors, truly. And when you hear my excitement about this next crazy, great find, you'll know it's because it is just that cool, and not because I'm being paid to say so.)

08:33
There's an app called Goblin Tools. That's right,.Goblin Tools. You basically put in a big picture task. Then, you tell it how much time you have to complete the project. You click a button and it will break it down for you into smaller and smaller tasks...using whatever time constraints you gave it. You can also even give it a priority of what you think is most important in the tasks it lists. This is an awesome find! And it is a ton of fun to play with. 

09:02
Temptation Bundling - Pair a specific task that you need to do with the treats that you like to do. For instance, only exercise when you listen to audio books, or only allow yourself to put on your most comfortable pajamas when you're reading and responding to your personal emails. 

SimB  09:24
I need to remember all these! 

09:26
So, we've now taken a look at how active and strategic procrastination has emotional roots and creative perks. We've talked about how authors like Victor Hugo wield it. It's not about avoiding the work. It's about working smarter. Because procrastination is a tool and not necessarily a flaw. 

09:45
But I think I like what Mark Twain had to say about procrastination. He wrote, "Never put off until tomorrow...what we can do the day after tomorrow." 

09:56
A small word about our next segment near the end of each episode. I'm going to provide you a knowledge-based question about our next episode's topic, just so you can get a preview of one of the next episode's takeaways. And, it may just be fun. Oh, don't forget to write down the answer to today's question in the comments section next to your review. Ready to play?! 

10:18
Here's today's Quick Quizlet on our next episode's topic: Habit Forming and Behavioral Change. Today's question: How long does it typically take to form a habit? How long does it typically take to form a habit?

10:37
A. 21 days, unless you get distracted and forget to start. 

10:42
B. 30 days, or one day of effort, followed by 29 days of guilt and Netflix. 

10:50
C, 66 days, assuming you forget to set the alarm and reminders for the first month. 

10:57
D. 90 days, because you have to mentally prepare yourself before you can get truly motivated to prepare in person. 

11:08
E. 1 million years. Hey, Darwin said things may take a few era to change. Am I right?! 

11:17
To you, my listener, I sincerely appreciate your time, and I look forward to reading your reviews on each and every episode as they come out. If you want to reach out to me directly, I can best be reached at: OhThatsAFact@gmail.com And don't worry, this email address, the source material for the episode and some other little gems are all in the show notes. 

11:41
If you like what you're hearing, please help support the show by subscribing wherever you're listening so you don't miss the next installment. 

11:50
And of course, if you felt like this information was helpful to you, please feel free to pass it on to a friend in need, a group of procrastinators, maybe a neighbor who's delayed giving you back your band saw, or maybe just some rando in the produce section of your supermarket...named Bill. 

12:06
That's it for procrastination. 

12:09
Join me next time to hear more about Habit Formation and how to Change Behaviors. 

12:15
For now: Learn as much as you can, about as much as you can.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Thank You!

Well, here it is; episode numero uno has finally been published. Although I am a one-man shop when it comes to the content creation, research, recording, production, mixing and mastering of the information presented in the episode, I am thankful for my extensive OTAF support system: The Choosers: Marcy, Keith, Erin, Scott, Jare, Ronni, Eli, Ron, Mikey and SimB. 

For the best deodorant I’ve ever owned AND also gifting me her voice in response to presented life hack shockery, I thank you, SimB

My audio guru and trouble-shooting voiceover master - Mark Herscovitz. 

I appreciate the human sounding-board and staunching of my incredibly pathetic whining - Professional Patient Kimi-lou. 

For brave critiques from professionals who know oh so much more than I and which have shaken this episode and those yet to come, thank you Jonathan Marsh, Dave Campbell and Sharon Worsley. 

To Victoria Cuore and Michael Solomon, thank you for telling me to just be wonderful; I really wish it worked that way. 

And their counsel on all things pod, production and research, Victoria, Naza and Rebecca Dentist (Yes, I’m talking to you). 

Thank you Brian for your pressure (but moreso your brisket).  

And of course, Toots! Your support never seems to wean, and your excitement always keeps me going.