Learn how to overcome procrastination with Professor Paul Grantham’s MUSCLE programme.
The impact of procrastination
The problem of procrastination is well known and long standing- as are its effects. At a personal level there is extensive research on its emotional impact, creating stress, anxiety and guilt. This is a fact that gives lie to the often-expressed suggestion that procrastination is a healthy response to pressure. Over time it has the corrosive effect of further breeding indecisiveness, uncertainty and lack of confidence.
Marc was a university lecturer who had a reputation amongst both his colleagues and students with always being late for things – whether it be marking papers or attending meetings. He constantly complained about being overworked and stressed out although he was known to be one of the most active users of Facebook.
Large scale studies have focused on its effects amongst students, managers and professionals – typically anyone who largely has control over their own time – and findings point to poor academic achievement, salary loss and loss of quality time with friends and family as just a few of its negative effects.
Jan, a senior NHS manager, had a reputation for being hard working and decisive. In practice however she worked 14-hour days, spent a large amount of time “chatting”, agonised over decisions and was the focus of complaint from her family who “never saw her”.
Regarding physical health, its not surprising to discover that procrastination over addressing health concerns typically leads to worse outcomes. And anyone who has thought about losing weight or starting to exercise, knows that procrastination is a major problem.
Carl decided to be upfront with his GP. “I’m here because my wife pressurised me. I know I often have a bit of blood in my wee but it’s not like it’s a regular thing” he said. “How long’s it been going on for?” his doctor asked. “About a year or so” Carl replied.
As a Consultant Clinical Psychologist I first became interested in procrastination over a decade ago. I would rarely see clients who presented with procrastination problems but many of the problems they typically had involved procrastination – whether as a causal factor or as an effect.
Sometimes they would just see it as a fact of life: “I’ve always been a procrastinator. Everyone in my family is”. Others would describe putting off decisions for fear of making the wrong one, or simply putting something on the back burner because it was boring.
The trouble with time management techniques
There isn’t any shortage of books on what causes procrastination but understanding procrastination isn’t the same as knowing what to do to change it. And here the literature is thinner on the ground. What does exist primarily focuses on Time Management techniques- the 80/20 Principle, list making, the Pomodoro technique and so forth.
What I discovered, however, was that my clients just never seemed to be able to put any of these techniques into practice. It quickly became clear these books had key factors that were missing. Factors that related to the lack of a good scientific understanding of motivation, feelings, beliefs and behaviour change.
The more I worked with my clients on the problem the clearer it became to me that procrastination was primarily about Uncomfortable Feelings Intolerance (UFI).
Procrastination is like an addiction
Let me explain. Procrastination arises when you are confronted by a task that makes you feel uncomfortable – bored, mildly anxious or annoyed. When you look at what you do when you procrastinate – look in the fridge, surf the web, do another task or play a game on your phone – none of these things are particularly fun or joyous. However, what they all IMMEDIATELY do is take away the feeling of boredom, mild anxiety etc.
The effect of this doesn’t last very long and so we have to repeat the behaviour again after a while. But it is so effective it becomes addictive. Indeed it became clear to me that chronic procrastination is akin to an addictive behaviour. This is why time management techniques don’t work. They don’t address motivation or feelings.
The more someone procrastinates, the more they come to depend on procrastination to manage their feelings of boredom etc. And the more dependent they become the more powerful and uncontrollable those feelings seem to become. Procrastination starts to feel like like the only, and most irresistible, option.
The MUSCLE technique for overcoming procrastination
Luckily Integrated CBT has a range of options to offer in successfully tackling procrastination. Over the last decade working with hundreds of clients I developed a specific programme -IWantToStopProcrastinatingNow – based around the MUSCLE Technique which enables clients to overcome their problem – and most importantly to maintain that change over time.
MUSCLE stands for Motivation, UFI (Uncomfortable Feelings Intolerance, Spot (unhelpful thoughts), Change (thoughts through cognitive doubt and defusion), Learn (the IF/THEN technique) and Engage (fully in your life). It operates as a set programme designed around 10-20 specialist exercises depending on time and need. It recognises that change will often be uncomfortable but never painful or impossible and that confidence and improvement will become observably visible as you implement the programme.
The MUSCLE programme uses the metaphor of a gym and the move from being flabby to being toned. It doesn’t happen overnight. It should be done slowly and methodically but it gets easier over time. You also start off with a slow-moving horizontal treadmill once a week not daily heavy weights! Let’s unpack this in more detail.
Motivation is about discovering why you want to stop procrastinating now. If procrastination is addictive and chronic, you have to be clear about why you want to change things. This is usually about either wanting certain benefits or (much more commonly), wanting to get away from negative consequences of your procrastination. Starting from this point will help give you the drive to do the hard work of tackling your procrastination.
Uncomfortable Feelings Intolerance is concerned with developing a “thicker skin” so that minor uncomfortable feelings like boredom don’t end up becoming all-powerful monsters in your imagination that you feel unable to resist. This is about noticing that there are already lots of tasks you do automatically which are boring and mildly anxiety provoking that you do not procrastinate about. Becoming mindful of this can empower you to be more tolerant of this discomfort.
Spotting unhelpful thoughts is key to stopping procrastination. Start to notice how your mind works when this discomfort shows up. Can you spot any patterns? Some common ones are Permission Giving (“I’ve had a tough day; I’ll leave all my admin for now”) and Catastrophising Thoughts (“Even thinking about doing this does my head in. I can’t handle it”).
Changing thoughts is achieved by reducing the impact of unhelpful thoughts on mood and behaviour – via two main routes. The first (from 2nd wave CBT) to the change the CONTENT of beliefs. For example from “I can’t handle this” to “This isn’t straight forward but I can get to grips with it”. The second (from 3rd wave CBT and most specifically from ACT) is to change the relationship you have with the thought (whatever its content). “I can’t handle this” becomes less of a compelling truth and more of a passing thought.
Learning the IF/THEN technique (or Implementation Intentions) is a well established evidenced based strategy from social psychology that can DOUBLE the chances of behavioural change. It involves identifying triggers for desired behaviour relating to both the task you want to achieve (e.g. getting an essay finished) as well as how to avoid obstacles (e.g. what to do when a friend pops in and asks whether you want to go for a coffee instead). An IF/THEN plan looks like this:
If (or when) [___situation__], then I will do [___behaviour__]
Engage fully in your life involves ensuring that you successfully embed your learning into your life. We’ve all read interesting books or attended great courses, but a month afterwards they become faded memories. We need to develop routines and rituals to support practice and repetition so that new ways of responding become as habitual as our old ways.
Next Steps
Procrastination is a problem you can deal with as long as you recognise that it’s something you do to manage feelings – and pretty minor feelings at that. Time management strategies aren’t the answer-nor are quick panaceas. Typically it’s a habit. But there are range of powerful evidence-based strategies available to you which will ensure you succeed. Just don’t procrastinate in starting!
If you want to learn more about the MUSCLE technique and how to put it into practice check out the I Want To Stop Procrastinating Now programme.
Paul Grantham – Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Professor of Clinical Psychology PSMedUniv, Accredited CBT Therapist. Author of I Want To Stop Procrastinating Now and Director of SDS Seminars Ltd. Paul can also be contacted via paul@sds-seminars.com
