What habit did I track?
I wanted to zero in on the habit of ~procrasination~ I tend to be aware of when I’m procrasinating and what I’m doing to fill the time instead of working on schoolwork or CA work.
How did you track? For how long?
I tracked every time that I had this persistent thought of procrastinating over 2 days. I didn’t fix an interval for when I had to report. I let the thoughts come naturally and I ended up logging 3-4 times a day. I not only tracked the instance of procrastination, but I recorded what I was doing instead of work and how long I have been thinking about working.
What is your experience logging this habit? Main learnings?
I tried a less pervasive logging method (e.g. not forcing myself to log every x minutes), which was much more feasible for me and didn’t make it frustrating. There is the risk that I don’t log enough, but I was curious how many times I would actually experience this feeling of procrastination.
Surprisingly, the amount of times I experienced procrastination was lower than I thought it would be. Sometimes, I thought I was procrastinating, but I was actually handling chores that needed to be done (e.g. washing dishes, cooking, organizing to-do’s, etc). It was interesting to discern when I was actually procrastinating.
How do I procrastinate?
Another finding that I didn’t expect was I tended to fall back on the same activities for procrastination: playing my guitar, calling a friend/family on the phone, or watching media (Netflix or social media). Procrastinating with media is more obvious, but I didn’t realize that I had the urge to call my friends so much and it tended to take some of my time away from working on assignments. I want to be present when talking to my friends! But, intentionally asking my friends to co-work sometimes could help me stay motivated OR capping how much I’m on the phone with them.
Why do I procrastinate?
The intrinsic motivation needed to start working comes very late for me. Either I need to be in the perfect environment or I need the extrinsic motivation from socializing with / talking to others. For example, I logged that my feet got incredibly cold and it prevented me from focusing. I stopped working and I jumped in bed. If the environment is not comfortable, I am prone to escape. Additionally, I tend to have an easier time starting work when I have some type of social interaction. I don’t have to necessarily co-work with someone. But, I feel inspired when I’m not alone.
What would I do differently next time? why?
Because I didn’t constrain myself to log every x duration, I did not log as frequently as I thought I would. I think it’s useful, however, to determine how many times I actually feel procrastination in a day. But, I still need more data to determine when, how, and why I procrastinate. I logged over the weekend, which means my procrastination pattern will be different than during the week. I would log over a week or more and maybe set a time during the day to be reflective on whether I procrastinated or not.
Additionally, I would like to see data about what I do that gets me out of procrastination. I know that I am able to get out of procrastination using certain methods like listening to music, calling a friend, fixing my environment, working in a café, etc. But, it would be helpful to know when I am actually able to get past the ‘bad’ habit. What actually works?
Conceptual Models of Procrastination
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