Written by: Alexa Rives, MA, LPCC
It can be difficult to initiate tasks at times, particularly those which feel uninteresting or overly challenging. If you ever find yourself asking “why can’t I just find the motivation?” then you might benefit from the information that follows. Time-management, and procrastination in turn, can oftentimes go hand-in-hand with guilt and shame – and let’s be honest, that’s not helping with motivation either. For some, it may be enough to picture the benefits and consequences to find the momentum to complete a task, but for others this practice may feel like an exercise in futility.
As Phillips writes in the article Procrastination: An Emotional Struggle (2019), procrastination can come from our ability (or inability) to regulate our emotions, rather than a “lack of motivation”. By taking a moment to reflect on what we are avoiding, we might open ourselves to a better understanding of how to better navigate future procrastination. Through the exploration of internal dialogue which encourages avoidance, it can become easier to create challenging statements that act to break down the barriers of avoidance or self-doubt fueled procrastination.
To create these challenging statements against procrastination, it is helpful to understand motivation. Not all motivation looks the same, and therefore, not all procrastination looks the same. William Dodson, M.D., (2024), outlined the acronym INCUP to describe factors of motivation to help individuals identify and work with their internal process rather than against it.
- Interest:
- When a task is interesting, we are more likely to complete the task.
- A way to challenge ourselves might be to insert interests of ours into a task we are avoiding, or to try motivation stacking by planning an activity that does spark our interest for after we have completed the other.
- Novelty:
- New things tend to be more exciting. Perhaps we are procrastinating because the thing we need to do feels old, tired, and boring.
- Can you find a new way to tackle the task to help spark this motivator?
- Challenge:
- While we may avoid doing something because it is too challenging at times, the same can be said for things that we know we can do, to the extent that we might just be unmotivated because we figure “I can just do it later”.
- To take advantage of this motivating factor, try setting a time limit for yourself which feels difficult to achieve. See how much you can get done in 5 or 10 minutes. You may not complete it, but at least it’s started now.
- You can also break an intimidating task into smaller, more easily achievable tasks, to help get to the desired end goal.
- Urgency:
- For folks who mastered the art of last-minute-project-completion in school this motivator likely rings true – We are more motivated when we have a time limit.
- To use this to your advantage, split a task into multiple pieces and set a due date for each part. Put a reminder on your phone and your calendar to remind you of the self-imposed due date to help you work your way through a project or a task piece by piece without sacrificing a night’s sleep.
- Passion:
- This can be difficult to take advantage of, particularly for tasks that you have to do, rather than those you choose to do – like most chores, if we’re honest with ourselves.
- One way to help take advantage of this motivator is to use self-talk to explore what benefits of the completed task align with your goals.
- “I hate to do the dishes, but I feel more relaxed when the sink is clean”.
- “The laundry feels difficult to tackle, but I prefer to have options for what I wear to work”.
Ultimately, when you feel unmotivated or stuck, it doesn’t help to keep pushing forward in the same way only to end up feeling as unmotivated as when you started. Give yourself a moment to introspect on what is behind your frustration or lack of motivation and challenge yourself to try a different approach to tackling the problem at hand. You may find a new tool that works for you!