(*I use the term “pod” to describe my non-iPod mp3 player that is good enough for me, but is not worthy of an official recommendation so I won’t mention anything more about it.)

While struggling with my procrastination, I’ve been trying to resist actively investigating why I procrastinate because doing so would only take away from the other things I should be doing. Walking and listening, however, is a passive way for me to learn about procrastination. The writing I do to summarize, well, I’m sure that could be considered procrastination, but I am allowing myself to do it because I am convinced that all writing I do will help all other writing I do…(*cough* thesis! *cough*)… and writing is my dream for the future, which makes it important to me.

So, I started this series by reviewing the first and second podcasts almost three weeks ago, and now I’m back for the continuation of the ideas discussed in Part 2.

Personality and Procrastination: Recap

The third iProcrastinate podcast starts off by recapping the Five Factors, or Traits, that can be used to describe personality or potentially to predict behaviour:

• Conscientiousness
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism
• Openness to Experience
• Extraversion

The basic question is also reiterated: are there inherent personality factors that may be ‘risk factors’ for procrastination?

Personality Traits that Correlate with Procrastination

The studies to test correlation involved questionnaires that helped researchers profile the test subjects by their personality types, and there were also questionnaires and behaviour tests to gauge procrastination.

The results of the studies did show that there is some correlation between some personality traits and the tendency to procrastinate. In some cases, only a few facets of each trait were correlating. Here are the traits listed again, this time approximately in order from the weakest to strongest correlations found, as well as noting which facets were seen to correlate with procrastination.

• Agreeableness & Extraversion
  • neither shows any correlation with procrastination
  • Dr. Pychyl called this surprising, and I suppose I’d have to agree, since I had postulated that these would have some link to procrastination. Oh well! :)
    
• Openness to experience
  • non-correlating facets: aesthetics, feelings, actions, ideas, values
  • the only facet that correlates with procrastination: fantasy
    • Fantasy is involved with procrastination when we imagine that the task will be easier later, or that the delay really won’t be a problem.
• Neuroticism
  • non-correlating facets: anxiety, anger, hostility, depression, vulnerability, self-consciousness
  • the only facet that correlates with procrastination: impulsivity
    • Impulsive people cannot shield one intention from another more relevant/important/pressing intention.
• Conscientiousness
  • all facets correlate with procrastination (in a reverse sense: low conscientiousness correlates with high tendency to procrastinate)
  • the less-correlating facets include: competence, order, dutifulness
  • the two highest-correlating facets are: achievement striving & self-discipline

The interesting point of view that this breakdown provides is that there are so many different combinations of personality traits could be involved in examining one’s own procrastination. Everyone’s different, and that’s why procrastination must be a really fascinating field of study in psychology.

With that thought, I’m moving on to the part of this review that I’ve been looking foward to the most!

Facets of My Procrastination

First, it is not a surprise to me that this podcast confirmed that I have some issues with Conscientiousness. I’ve known for a long time that self-discipline is one of my major issues, and so far I haven’t figured out how to overcome that. I wish it was as simple as a switch in my head that I can flip and say, presto! I’m in self-disciplined, productive mode!!

I think one of the things that’s been getting in the way of that mode is that so often I find myself saying, “but first…” before I get started on the task I intended to do in the time at hand. It scares me to think about how much time has been lost in this way!! I’m actually feeling relieved that I now know a name for this: impulsivity. I certainly do have difficulty in “shielding one intention from another”!! And somehow, just knowing that fact is helping me become more aware of it happening. When I catch myself saying, “but first…” I am learning to ask myself if I am procrastinating the more important task by doing something else that is truly less important.

What surprises me, though, is that this idea of impulsivity is a facet belonging to the trait of Neuroticism, otherwise known as emotional instability. I suppose if I just look at it as a more general instability, I can see how it makes sense… it’s an issue of focus, of staying on task, of not getting distracted (or letting myself get distracted). But emotional? I’ve always kinda prided myself on not being very emotional at all, except I do cry at a good movie… I’m never angry or anxious, I never find myself getting freaked out by situations that are stressing other people out.

Or is my lack of stress just a denial or fantasy, one of the facets of Openness to experience that I didn’t think was one of my problems? Maybe by believing that nothing affects me, I’ve just convinced myself not to get worried when I’m procrastinating, and thus it makes my procrastination even more likely to occur.

But back to Conscientiousness, since there are still several facets there I haven’t discussed. I think I’ve been making significant progress on my achievement striving, and it’s definitely helped me want to get things done.

I’m also pretty sure my obsessive studying of task management is over, because I now (finally!) have a system that I trust, and I will definitely describe it here very soon. For now, I will just say that it helps me be more aware of things that are my duties, while keeping all the rest of my “wanna do” activities in order as well. (Yes, I’ll admit that sentence was a little contrived, to use two of the words that are facets of conscientiousness, but I think my uses were both valid!)

Is Personality the Cause or just a Description?

Some researchers hypothesize that these personality traits are causal, while others treat them as merely descriptive, and this podcast elaborates a bit more on the idea. For something to cause behaviour, it implies that the trait is a property of the individual, and that this property is the source of the behaviour.

I suppose that might mean that the behaviour is difficult to change unless the causal property is addressed, and that could explain some things about why I’ve been struggling so much. I may just be addressing the symptoms, not the cause.

On the other hand, personality traits may just a convenient way to describe behaviour patterns, and that just by practicing different behaviour, and turning the desired behaviour into habit, the traits themselves would be modified because they are only a description of what’s going on.

Heck, it could be that both approaches are true in different degrees for different people and even perhaps the different traits may manifest in different ways, and so keeping both approaches in mind might be the best bet!

One thing I know for certain is that the knowledge itself really seems to help me understand what’s going on in my head. I am really seriously pursuing increased awareness of my actions, and awareness of my continual progress towards my goals. I may have lofty goals, but every little step in the right direction is bringing me closer!

What’s next?

I don’t think I’m going to write about the fourth podcast particularly soon, because there have been several other topics building up in my to-blog-list. Until then, here’s hoping anti-procrastination conquers all! :)

It was actually the second episode that drove me to blog about the series, so I’m going to get right to it.
UPDATE: As of March 14, 2008, I have revised some of the wording in the review, and added a few images.

Personality and Procrastination: “The Colour Wheel of Traits”

What if I am a procrastinator just because it is part of my personality? What a frightening thought! However, I believe that personality traits are just descriptive of a person’s current state of being, not the cause of why we are the way we are, so I shouldn’t be afraid. Instead, I think this knowledge will help me pinpoint what aspects of myself I need to work on.

The “colour wheel” concept mentioned in the title of this podcast is used to compare the blending of primary colours to the blending of primary personality traits to give all sorts of different mixtures and possibilities.

Dr. Pychyl mentions the classic colour wheel (shown at right) where red, yellow, and blue are the primary colours. This depiction of colour mixing is fairly dated, and there really is much more to colour theory .. but that’s not important in this discussion. What is useful, however, is a model of colour mixing that takes into account more dimensions…

In this model, not only is the hue determined by way of three primary colours (in this case, the primary colours of light: red, green, and blue) but there are two other traits: saturation (intensity of colour), and lightness (blending of a colour with white or black). Thus we can see how five concepts can be used to describe different colours, which makes it easier to see how the five personality traits can be used to describe different personalities.

Note that there are differing opinions of how useful or important these primary traits are considered, as well as whether they cause our actions or just describe our actions. Dr. Pychyl also emphasizes that we can’t ignore the fact that all personalities are different and unique and are subject to situational variation.

With that in mind, we are asked to consider the following five basic personality traits (as defined in the podcast, with additional aspects obtained from Wikipedia):

• Conscientiousness - a trait of people who are self-disciplined, organized, and follow through on things; a tendency to act dutifully, aim for achievement, and preferring planned rather than spontaneous behaviour.
• Agreeableness - a trait of people who are altruistic, helpful, and easy to be around; a tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic.
• Neuroticism - sometimes called emotional instability, and has to do with the content of our emotions (positive vs. negative) and the style of our emotional experiences (intense vs. mellow); a tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, or vulnerability.
• Openness to experience – open to new ideas and experiences such as food and travel; intellectually curious, having an active fantasy life, interested in trying new things; having an appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, imagination, curiosity, and variety of experience.
• Extraversion – gregariousness, sociability, surgency, energy, high activity level.

So which personality traits would be most likely linked to procrastination? The podcast leaves this open for contemplation until next episode. I haven’t listened to the third episode yet, because as I mentioned above, I wanted to write about my thoughts!

Personally, I would think that maybe E (extraversion) and O (openness to experience) would be traits that could encourage procrastination through being distracted from the tasks at hand. A (agreeable) might be the opposite of competetiveness, which can drive some people to be very productive. N (neuroticism) surely must have something to do with the inability to inspire oneself to make progress. But the most obvious correlation I would guess would be between CC (conscientiousness) and procrastination; low- could almost be a definition of procrastination!

So I’m going to guess that all the aspects will relate to procrastination in different ways.

How These Traits Relate to Me

First and most obviously, I really seem to have low-C, and maybe that’s making me more prone to procrastinate. The only C aspect that rings a bell with me is that I do love planning… or is that just a way I convince myself that I’m making progress? HMMM! As for the others, I’d say I’m highly Agreeable, not very Neurotic, very Open to experience, and only a bit Extraverted.

But I’m perplexed by this notion of Conscientiousness. I wonder if I can start treating my procrastination as if it’s an issue of conscientiousness rather than just some obscure weakness that I can’t put my finger on. I definitely believe (and feel like I have to hope!) that these traits are things that can be adjusted with practice, because I’d really like to use this idea to make myself less likely to procrastinate.

Now that I think about it, if my conscientiousness is low, does that mean I have little or no conscience?! I suppose there are different aspects of the notion of conscience, and in particular, that “doing what’s best” isn’t necessarily the same as “doing what’s morally or ethically best”. It can’t possibly be immoral or unethical to not be productive… could it? Hmm… maybe this line of thinking can help me put more importance on conscientiousness.

That brings me dangerously close to considering the meaning of life. Why am I here? I’m here to do the best I can, with the time I have. Except, uh, when I’m on facebook… yeah… (*pause for dramatic effect*)

That’s enough guilt to dwell upon for now. I can’t change the past, only the future. But I must also be aware of each moment as it happens, too — in fact, hey! Come to think of it, it’s only the present that I can change, and the future is just the direction I’m travelling!

With that thought, I must switch modes and start using the present as an opportunity to make progress with the things I’m procrastinating.

This series about the iProcrastinate podcasts will continue. Stay tuned!

Yes, I am a procrastinator. I’ve been researching the phenomenon of procrastination partly so I can help myself, and partly so I don’t have to worry that I’m alone in my struggles or that I’m abnormal. I’ve tried getting counselling to help me stop procrastinating, but I was not convinced that my guilt over not being productive is the reason I procrastinate… that’s just a symptom of the problem… isn’t it?

I’ve tried a lot of things, including making my goals really relevant and exciting, so feel more in control of my destiny, or more in touch with it, or better suited to my future, or some combination of those three things. And yet, I keep tripping up, and I don’t know why! It’s so hard to quit procrastinating when I don’t even know why I’m doing it! And so, whenever I come across something that may help me understand, I can’t resist. Even when I should be doing something else.

Anyways, I found an awesome podcast series this morning. I listened to two episodes while walking to campus — a 40 minute walk that otherwise feels like a complete waste. I don’t consider that to be a procrastination at all, mind you. Writing about it, though? Well, uhhmmmmm…. yeah. That’s not technically as important as the things I’m putting off. But somehow, I’ve convinced myself that my studies of procrastination will help me overcome it, and I’ve always been able to figure out more about myself by writing. (Please, if anyone who is reading this finds this self-analysis useful, I’d like to hear about it!)

These awesome podcasts are put out by Dr. Tim Pychyl, founder of the Procrastination Research Group at procrastination.ca (woot, Canadian!), and professor of Psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa. The purpose of the podcasts is to informally share results of research into procrastination, and to help us “understand why we procrastinate and what we can do to self-regulate our behaviour more effectively.” I certainly feel like I need both the “why” and “self-regulate” parts! I’m especially excited to learn about the official research being done on the subject, to supplement what I’ve read in my wanderings on the internet. So, without further ado…

Podcast Introduction: Procrastination Defined

UPDATE: I’ve revised my review of this podcast as of March 14th, 2008, because I noticed upon re-listening that I missed some important aspects of the definition of procrastination. I also made a few other improvements along the way.

We get to know a bit about Dr. Pychyl in the beginning of this episode, and one of the most interesting things I’ve noticed is how he seems to do a very good job of connecting one idea to the next. He starts with an example from his own life, and he uses it to help him define what procrastination is, and what it isn’t.

Procrastination is defined as “an irrational delay of an intended act“.

So, although delay is an essential aspect of procrastination, there is more to it than that: it must be for irrational reasons (one example given was that it is irrational to alphabetize the spice rack when something else is supposed to be being done). Of course, this was nothing I didn’t know already (although honestly, my spice rack is organized by colour rather than by letter!) The point is, we seem to know better, and yet we still find ourselves procrastinating.

“Knowing better” is definitely one of the things that I’ve found extremely frustrating about trying to quit — I know I know better, and I don’t believe I’m lazy, so what’s going on here?! That brings us to another aspect of procrastination that was mentioned in the podcast: the negative feelings, such as guilt and frustration. This emotional aspect is often considered another essential aspect of procrastination, at least by clinicians who work with people who suffer from procrastination. It is important to note that delays can be for things that are really more important and deserve higher priority, and in those cases, the delay is not necessarily procrastination.

Of course, this can then lead to us start deceiving ourselves about the importance of the task that is taking our intended task’s place. We also may deny the effects of our procrastination, fool ourselves about the amount of time available in the future, or try to believe that we do better under pressure or will feel more like working on the task later. Oh, the irrational lies we tell ourselves when we are trying to justify our lack of action!

What procrastination really comes down to is the fact “the time to act is now,” and we find ourselves “doing anything but acting.” We may even want to act, and everything is ready for us to act, and we may even like what we’re putting off working on, and somehow we still we find ourselves lost in procrastination-land.

It’s really amazing that we procrastinators can get anything done, ever! In fact, the podcast emphasizes that the negative effect on the results of the procrastinated task is another important aspect attributed to procrastination. Some of us will find some way to still complete the intended task, through all-nighters and running around at the last minute, but even though the completion wasn’t sacrificed, the quality almost certainly was. I’ve certainly felt like I could’ve done better on some things if I had left more time to perfect it, and yet that still didn’t cure me for the next time my tendancy to procrastinate was tested.

My Take on the Definition

So, the general definition of procrastination definitely had some things that rang true with me, but other things that did not really apply to me. Here’s a breakdown:

• I don’t tell myself that I work better under pressure. I can’t help but wonder if I am procrastinating just so I can avoid thinking about the time pressure that already exists!
• I don’t consciously decide that later will be a better time than now… oh, but I do find myself saying that “I’m getting down to work now, but first….” (insert procrastinatory behaviour here).
• I am most certainly feeling guilt about the things I should be doing. Heck, I feel guilty about the things I’m supposed to be doing even when I’m doing other things I’m also supposed to be doing!
• I am absolutely almost always doing irrational things instead of the intended things. Case and point: I’ve been making “To Do Today” lists for at least the past two months, and I’ve rarely finished even half the things on them.
• I know my success in life so far has been dramatically reduced by procrastination. Sure, some of the delay has been due to indecision, but what was preventing me from deciding? Procrastination, I’ll bet. Not to mention the effects of procrastination on things like studying, homework, leaving my house in a timely manner in order to get to class…

Overall, this first podcast was a good hook. I found that it discussed its subject very well, and alluded to a lot of wonderful things that will be coming in future podcasts. I’m excited that I’m only on the second of twelve! (I’m also happy that the host acknowledged in the second episode that he will now be recording in stereo instead of mono.)

Since I went ahead and listened to two episodes back-to-back, I’m also going to write about the second episode right away. My review of the iProcrastinate podcasts continues HERE!