(00:00): Hello and welcome to the Merlin English Afterthoughts. Throughout this series we'll be looking back at previous audio blogs and discussing them in a bit more detail.

(00:10): Today we'll be looking at episode number four, the intermediate audio blog titled The Procrastination Puzzle. As always then, I am here at www.merlinenglish.co.uk/members, where we have this episode's full webpage, along with the transcription and additional resources.

(00:31): So today we're going to be talking about procrastination. What is procrastination? Well, we have a description here from the Frontiers in Psychology, a peer-reviewed journal.

(00:43): So they say procrastination is a form of self-regulation failure characterised by the irrational delay of tasks despite potentially negative consequences.

(00:55): So procrastination is, I guess, a part of the human condition. This is something that we have always done and I imagine we will always do.

(01:05): Procrastination can show up in a few different forms. We can imagine the student who sits down with their workbooks you know, they give themselves two hours to study.

(01:16): But within five minutes they're scrolling their phone or browsing YouTube. We can also think about the person who jumps from one task to another.

(01:26): Maybe you're at work, you have to write a report. Within ten minutes of writing this report, you get an email.

(01:33): You check the email, this then makes you think of the Christmas party you have later that month before you know it, you're online ordering clothes and within an hour you've done three tasks, yet achieved nothing.

(01:47): These would both be examples of procrastinating. So in today's article, we're going to look through some ways to identify triggers for procrastinating.

(01:59): We're looking at some techniques at how we can avoid procrastinating and ways for when we are working to stay focused and stay on track.

(02:10): So if we go down to the transcription then here and we look at the first part which is understanding procrastination.

(02:18): We talk about here then some reasons, we talk about being afraid of failing, we talk about perfectionism and we talk about a lack of motivation.

(02:31): So the first two then here being afraid to fail and perfectionism are somewhat connected and I guess this stems from a positive trait.

(02:40): This stems from wanting to deliver your work in a high-quality fashion. You want to produce good work. However, this can sometimes make us feel overwhelmed.

(02:53): And when we get overwhelmed with this feeling of perfectionism, it can sometimes paralyse us. And as a short-term relief, a short-term solution to that we procrastinate. This can be a healthy form of procrastination where perhaps we research more than we have to.

(03:15): We're looking at things longer than we need to, or perhaps it can come up in a bit more of an unhealthy way.

(03:21): Where we just give up, go downstairs and watch Netflix for the rest of the evening. Either way, we're postponing a task, we're pushing it back, and while this could offer us some short-term relief, this allows us to avoid the task there and then.

(03:37): These are things which eventually we will need to do. So all you're doing is just moving that stress and pressure from now to a future point.

(03:46): Which is very likely to increase your anxiety and increase your feelings of dread around that particular area. After that then we look at tasks which we will be talking about next.

(04:00): So I'm going to go onto this topic here of identifying personal procrastination patterns. Now this section is talking about figuring out triggers, figuring out what causes us to procrastinate.

(04:13): The first thing we can think about is what tasks do we usually find ourselves procrastinating at? Are these tasks which are overly complex?

(04:24): Are these tasks which are ambiguous? You're not really sure what you're supposed to be doing? Do you procrastinate at tasks which are mundane or boring?

(04:34): And if so, we want to work backwards from that, okay? Are there people that we can go to get support from?

(04:41): Are there people we can ask about? Is there ways we can structure our workflow in order to make these more manageable and easier to achieve?

(04:52): We also might want to consider the environments that we are procrastinating in. Is the environment we're working peaceful and quiet?

(05:00): Or is it loud and noisy? Are people interrupting you? Are people coming and going? And again if this is the case, can we find a quieter and more peaceful environment to try and get our work done in?

(05:14): These are ways where we are identifying the triggers, identifying the source of our procrastination, and doing our best to try and remove ourselves from there.

(05:25): If you're likely to scroll social media, put your phone in another room. These are very basic things we can try and do but to do so we must first identify these as issues.

(05:37): We must identify these as the source of our procrastination. There are a few steps here which we can take to try and avoid this initial part of procrastinating.

(05:49): We talk about defining a task, having a clear set goal, having something to achieve in a set time. Distractions, of course set the mood, the environment, make it fit for the work you're wanting to get done, break it down into digestible more manageable parts.

(06:11): And set goals and reward yourself once you have completed a task. These are going to set healthy habits within your brain.

(06:19): So once you've managed to get started working successfully, and once you've managed to avoid procrastinating for too long, we want to talk about some techniques and some strategies for staying focused and for staying on task.

(06:37): In section 5, we mention 3 techniques, we mention the Pomodoro technique, we mention the two-minute rule, and we mention the Eisenhower matrix as well.

(06:49): So I'm going to briefly just go into each of these individually. So if I just pull this up now, so the two-minute rule, we're going to start with the two-minute rule.

(07:00): So what is the two-minute rule? Well, this is the idea that if we can complete a task in two minutes or less, do the task immediately.

(07:08): Don't allow yourself to build up these big long to-do lists. Because again, this can be overwhelming at a future point.

(07:16): With the two-minute rule though, we do have to be careful that this does not cause us to jump from one task to another.

(07:23): We want to make sure that we're being reasonable with this two-minute rule. Of course, if you're in the midst of workflow, if you're in the midst of a project, don't just stop everything to then go and complete a very small and insignificant task.

(07:39): Instead, we want to be applying this to the right time of the day. Have you just gotten to your office?

(07:44): Have you just started working? If so, spend a few minutes really quickly just completing those tasks, getting them out of the way and getting them done.

(07:52): Perhaps do this on a lunch break or at the end of the day. And the goal here is it's a two minute rule. So we're not spending 30 minutes. It's about eliminating things and moving forward at a reasonable pace. Next, we speak about the Pomodoro technique.

(08:14): This is a very common technique. Which I'm sure you've probably heard of at some point in the past. And this is where we break down our work flows into shorter sections.

(08:27): For some people, they find this very useful. For others, they prefer to get into a more in-depth. The workflow. But this can be useful if you do find it difficult to stay concentrated for a long period of time.

(08:39): I know people suffer with things such as ADHD and if so, this is a very useful technique. This is where we're going to set timers. You're going to have 25 minutes, you have intense focus for these 25 minutes, no distractions, you're solely working on your task, and then once those 25 minutes are up, you have a five minute break.

(09:00): You repeat this for, say, four or five times, and then after, ah, a couple of hours or so, you give yourself a longer 15 to 30 minute break.

(09:12): We also mentioned here the Eisenhower Matrix. So the Eisenhower Matrix is a way which we can prioritise tasks. Which we can organise our workflow into manageable patterns.

(09:27): There are four sections to this. We have do, decide, delegate, delete. So the do category, this is our most urgent, our most important tasks, this is where we put these and ones that you try and get on with straight away.

(09:43): We have decide, decide is where we decide a time for this. Perhaps things which are a bit less urgent but are worth penciling in to our calendars to make sure that we do get around to doing eventually we have tasks which are not important, which we delegate.

(10:02): Of course, this is beneficial if you're a manager or you're dealing in a more business setting. If you're a student, it's probably going to be a little bit difficult to delegate your work.

(10:14): And then we also have delete. If it's not urgent, if it's not important, get rid of it. Remove it from your sphere of tasks. So, these are just some techniques for once we are working to stay on track, to stay focused, and these are tasks which can be very useful.

(10:33): There are, of course, many apps nowadays. There are many websites for these to for, for, that can assist you with these tasks. And, yeah, procrastinating. This is something which we will never be able to remove from our lives completely. The goal is to manage this and remove it as much as we can.

(10:56): Unfortunately. That's all we've got time for today. Thank you very much for watching until the end. And I will hopefully see you soon.