Procrastivity and Procrastination.
What it is and How to Help Yourself.
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If you have ADHD then procrastination is likely something that you struggle with. Criticizing yourself gets you nowhere! Procrastination is a complicated issue and the roots of it are different for each person.
What is procrastination? Putting something off repeatedly even though you know it will hurt you.
You may find yourself procrastinating by doing something fun to escape something more important.
What is procrastivity?
#Procrastivity is a version of procrastination where you procrastinate on a less important, but useful task. It's a subset of procrastination.
For example, you may sit down to write a paper.
Instead of writing you may find yourself emptying the dishwasher. The dishwasher needed to be emptied, but the paper was actually the priority.
When you choose a task to procrastivate on you choose the task that is not as urgent. Often it's even something you in the past have procrastinated against.
Sometimes people who procrastivate may tell themselves they will be in the mood after they do the first task to do the more difficult thing .
You may say something to yourself like
"First, I'll get the little things done and then the bigger things done and that's how I build momentum."
If that's the case and it works than its not procrastination. Often that does not work.
What tasks do people use procrastivity with?
If you find yourself using procrastivity often, you can help yourself to understand your procrastination problems by analyzing it.
Why can you do some tasks and not others? What makes a task a procrastivity task?
In studying people who procrastivate it appears that people choose procrastivity tasks choose them because they are often:
1) Manual
2) Have clear steps
3) Have start and stop times ( even if they take longer)
It seems that the procrastivity tasks give ADHDers a clearer sense of you having made progress and are less overwhelming
What Kind of Tasks do People Procrastinate against
In contrast tasks that ADHDers procrastinate against are:
- Broader and overwhelming
- Less clear as far as having a start and stop time
- Less clear as far as having a sequence
- Require a higher cognitive load
- May be emotionally overwhelming
One good example of something that ADHDers often procrastivate with is TAXES.
So for example, someone might use procrastivity to mow the lawn when what they need to do is do the taxes.
Help yourself with Procrastivity
If you find yourself using procrastivity as a strategy to procrastinate there are some things you can do to help yourself with the procrastination.
1.Make the task more manual or physical so you have a better chance of getting it done.
2 Break the task down into sequences or steps so it isn't so overwhelming and you don't feel the need to avoid the task any longer.
3. Move the task from an idea in your head to any step that requires the actual physical doing of a task.
4.Turn the idea into a visual of actionable or achievable steps.
5. Set a time boundary or a task boundary.
6.Personalize the task by targeting those things that are helpful.
7. If the task is a big project you may need to chunk it and set appointments with yourself in your calendar to continue the task.
8. If you need to continue the task you may need to leave yourself a note about where you left off.
9 Leave yourself some clues as to how to sequence the steps to rengage in the task.
More Tips to help You with Procrastination
- Remind yourself why you want to do tasks. What is the ultimate value that it is tied to?
- Remember to visualize how you feel when you get done. Try and remind yourself of another time when you finished that task or a similar task and felt great.
- What does it feel like to be free from the nagging sense of something you have to do? Once you are done there will be no more clouds hanging over your heads. You will be free to do the fun things.
- Define the actionable step.
- Ask yourself What is the smallest most actionable step I can take that will increase the likelihood that I will do it?
J. Russell Ramsay, Ph.D.
ADHD Procrastivity and Lessons Learned
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Medical information obtained from this website is not intended as a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you have a problem, you should consult a healthcare provider.