How to Avoid Procrastination - Dr. Paul Morgan — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hello, my name is Dr. Morgan, and today
2. 0:02I'm here to talk to you a little bit
3. 0:03about procrastination. I'm going to walk
4. 0:05through a little bit bit of a model to
5. 0:06help you make it make sense for everyone
6. 0:09so they realize what's going on
7. 0:10internally when they notice this
8. 0:11happening. So,
9. 0:13I put together this model up here so we
10. 0:15can walk through the steps. We're going
11. 0:17to start with the recognition that often
12. 0:19there's a stressful thing that can
13. 0:21happen that can activate this whole
14. 0:22system. And so, the example that I use,
15. 0:25cuz I think it's a pretty
16. 0:25straightforward one, is just if you have
17. 0:27to do a paper for a class.
18. 0:29Now, when you know that you have to do
19. 0:30the paper for the class, what's going to
20. 0:31happen is that there's going to be some
21. 0:33degree of emotional activation. Now, if,
22. 0:37let's say for instance, around here,
23. 0:40like if there's a lot of other stressors
24. 0:42and stuff that's coming in, other
25. 0:44papers, projects, stuff like that,
26. 0:47this emotional activation system is
27. 0:48going to be a little bit more sensitive.
28. 0:51Meaning that the more stress we add out
29. 0:52here, the higher this is going to be.
30. 0:55And the higher this is going to be, the
31. 0:56stronger drive we're going to have to
32. 0:58avoid it. Now, avoidance is one of the
33. 1:00classic ways that the brain deals with a
34. 1:03potential threat or something that feels
35. 1:04overwhelming. You have a fight response,
36. 1:07flight response, you also have an and
37. 1:09and it's here, but I will, you also have
38. 1:10a freeze response.
39. 1:12And historically, from an evolutionary
40. 1:14perspective, these were ways that we
41. 1:16learned how to manage things to further
42. 1:18our own survival.
43. 1:19Now, part of the trouble with this is
44. 1:22that
45. 1:23this was more built for like dealing
46. 1:24with bears, you know, and other threats,
47. 1:27not necessarily for like an academic
48. 1:29paper. But the system, the wiring is
49. 1:31still built that way in the brain, and
50. 1:33the one that I think, honestly, has the
51. 1:35best cost-benefit analysis, the least
52. 1:36problems, is the flight system.
53. 1:39Because if you just get away from a
54. 1:40problem,
55. 1:41typically, you feel a little better. And
56. 1:43I'm going to walk through that here. So,
57. 1:45when we get this instinct for flight,
58. 1:47what happens is we look for ways to get
59. 1:49away. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean
60. 1:51you have to run away, but what it does
61. 1:53mean is that we find really creative
62. 1:55ways to not do
63. 1:57this thing over here, right? So, that
64. 1:59could be Netflix, it could be cleaning,
65. 2:01it could be social media. We can spend
66. 2:02literally all day making a list of all
67. 2:05sorts of stuff that could be good
68. 2:08distractions and keep ourselves away
69. 2:10from this over here. And we do this
70. 2:12quite simply because when we act on
71. 2:15avoidance behaviors in response to that,
72. 2:17we get a sense of temporary relief. We
73. 2:19feel better.
74. 2:20If we're not having to do the thing
75. 2:22that's causing the emotional activation,
76. 2:24that feels kind of nice to not have to
77. 2:25deal with it.
78. 2:27Now, the problem with this system is
79. 2:29that by taking this pathway, we actually
80. 2:32end up back here again. And we end up
81. 2:35back here again because this never went
82. 2:37away or got addressed. And so, what is
83. 2:39actually happening is because the brain
84. 2:42is taking this whole system in mind when
85. 2:43this goes on, the brain is over here
86. 2:45going, "Oh, it it actually felt good
87. 2:49to avoid this thing,
88. 2:52which means that it must be something
89. 2:54worth avoiding. So, next time when I
90. 2:56encounter this thing, which is now
91. 2:59because we never did it in the first
92. 3:00place, what's going to happen is that
93. 3:02the emotional activation that is tied to
94. 3:05that thing is going to be higher.
95. 3:07So, if you were, let's say, sitting at a
96. 3:09flight what I say like a six out of 10
97. 3:11with anxiety, right? The first round.
98. 3:14After you make it through here, you may
99. 3:16now be going up to a seven out of 10,
100. 3:18meaning that your stress level is going
101. 3:20to be increasing over the same thing.
102. 3:23Not only that, every time you go through
103. 3:25the cycle and you're like, "Oh, crap, I
104. 3:26really need to work on that. I really
105. 3:27need to do that." You're you're
106. 3:29re-experiencing this stress that you're
107. 3:32trying to avoid
108. 3:34all together, which means you're kind of
109. 3:36putting yourself through the whole
110. 3:37system over and over again. All that
111. 3:39distress one time after another.
112. 3:41Um the two pieces that are really
113. 3:43helpful in breaking this system when we
114. 3:45know it happens,
115. 3:47one of which is mindfulness, and
116. 3:49mindfulness This kind of just the
117. 3:51awareness of the whole system. Being
118. 3:53able to catch it, to notice
119. 3:55Oh, okay. In this moment
120. 3:58I'm feeling this urge to avoid. And if
121. 4:01I'm feeling this urge to avoid, I bet
122. 4:03it's part of this thing that Dr. Morgan
123. 4:04talked about. And if I notice and I can
124. 4:06be aware of that, I can step back, take
125. 4:08a couple of deep breaths, do anything
126. 4:09that can kind of soothe this system to
127. 4:12make us feel better.
128. 4:13Bring the intensity of this down to a
129. 4:15level that that we feel like is
130. 4:16manageable so we can target this again.
131. 4:19So, with all that being said, that's
132. 4:21mindfulness. I won't We won't write it
133. 4:23because we're almost done here, but
134. 4:24that's this piece. The second piece
135. 4:26that's really important is what we call
136. 4:27distress tolerance. Distress tolerance
137. 4:30is increasing our ability to tolerate
138. 4:33distressful situations and to remember
139. 4:36in that state of distress that we can
140. 4:38handle it. But we can only really do
141. 4:40that by encountering situations that are
142. 4:43moderately stressful and then overcoming
143. 4:45them. If we can do that effectively,
144. 4:47then what's happening is we're building
145. 4:49a pathway in the brain that goes, "Wait
146. 4:50a minute. I've done something like this
147. 4:52before when I felt this way, and it
148. 4:53worked out fine. I was able to do it."
149. 4:55And learning how to talk to yourself
150. 4:57about that, learning how to use those
151. 4:59memories of past successes can be really
152. 5:02good at catching this activation here,
153. 5:04noticing that avoidance thing going,
154. 5:05"Oh, well, hold on. I really don't want
155. 5:07to do this right now, but I still I can
156. 5:09do it.
157. 5:10I can still get it done.
158. 5:12I don't have to uh want to do this to do
159. 5:15this as a paper or a project.
160. 5:17We can still put the effort forward to
161. 5:19get it done.
162. 5:20So, this is the whole model. This is the
163. 5:21way that I often teach procrastination
164. 5:23when I work with students.
165. 5:25Um the other thing I'll mention just
166. 5:26really uh quickly in passing as we wrap
167. 5:29up, mindfulness
168. 5:31and distress tolerance also just happen
169. 5:33to be two of the workshops that we teach
170. 5:35here on a weekly basis. We We offer
171. 5:37emotional regulation as part of the Feel
172. 5:39Better Fast, those three topics. So, if
173. 5:41it's something you want to learn
174. 5:42actually more how to do, uh come check
175. 5:45out our workshops, the mindfulness one
176. 5:47and the stress tolerance one, as well as
177. 5:48just how to manage good emotional
178. 5:50regulation on a daily basis. So,
179. 5:52again, my name is Dr. Paul Morgan from
180. 5:54the EKU Counseling Center and hoping you
181. 5:56can
182. 5:57take away a few pieces of knowledge from
183. 5:59this presentation today. Thank you.