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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 เม.ย. 2012
- The Secret to Kicking Procrastination: Reward Yourself
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Dan Ariely, the author of "Predictably Irrational," believes in associating undesirable tasks with pleasurable activities.
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DAN ARIELY:
Dan Ariely is the James B Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. He is the founder of The Center for Advanced Hindsight and co-founder of BEworks, which helps business leaders apply scientific thinking to their marketing and operational challenges. His books include Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality, both of which became New York Times best-sellers. as well as The Honest Truth about Dishonesty and his latest, Irrationally Yours.
Ariely publishes widely in the leading scholarly journals in economics, psychology, and business. His work has been featured in a variety of media including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Business 2.0, Scientific American, Science and CNN.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Question: What is procrastination?
DAN ARIELY: Procrastination is basically a simple term for a deep problem with human nature and the problem has to do with time. We live in the here and now but what’s good for us is often long in the future. And we have plans in the future. We will save money, and we would eat healthily, and we would exercise and we would do this and we would do that and we will do all that. Today I just don’t feel like it. Today the chocolate cake is tempting, and the gym is far away, it’s oh too humid outside, and I really saw a new bike and I don’t feel like saving. So, procrastination is about the problem that we’re just not designed to think about the long term. Why would nature get us to think about what will happen thirty or fifty or sixty years from now? So we think about now and the now is much more powerful and the future doesn’t work.
Question: How can you overcome it?
DAN ARIELY: I was in the hospital for many years and one of the things that happened was I got Hepatitis C from an infected, infected blood that they gave me as a blood donation. And in the beginning they didn’t know it was hepatitis C they just said hepatitis and it would flare up from time to time and make my recovery much, much slower. And about six years later they identified the virus for hepatitis C and I knew what I had and then there was a treatment called interferon. Interferon is a medication that was developed for hairy cell leukemia. It’s an unpleasant medication. After each injection I would feel vomiting and sick and fever and so on. And I had to take this injection three times a week for a year and a half. So now I think about this problem, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I had to go home, measure the syringe in the injection, plunk it into my thigh and inject myself knowing that in an hour I will start vomiting and having fever and so on. It’s very tough to do, right. But that’s really the basic human problem. That if something is good for us in the future, I really don’t want to die from liver cirrhosis, but the steps that we can take now are incredibly painful to fix that. So we often don’t do that.
This by the way brings us to the second issue about what do we do about it. How can we overcome it? When I finished this year and a half of treatment and the doctors told me that I was the only patient that they ever had that took the medications regularly. And you can wonder, you know, do I have more self-control than other people? But, you know, I don’t. I eat the same junk food and I do the same mistakes and I procrastinate just the same way. But I created a trick for myself.
And the trick is that I love movies. If I had time I would watch lots of movies. So I said I’m not watching movies any other time but Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and on those mornings I would go to the video store, I would rent two or three movies if I like. I would have them in my backpack for the whole day anticipating watching them. And when I would get home, I would inject myself, I would get a blanket for the shivering, I’ll get the bucket for the vomiting, and I would start watching the movie immediately. I didn’t wait until I would get sick. I basically tried to create a connection between the injection and something I loved. And I think that’s basically one of the tricks we can try and do to ourselves. We say we’re not designed to care about the future. We just can’t change that. We just can’t change the fact that we’ll think every day...
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Maybe I should add this to my "watch later" list.
Maybe you should add it later
SpiritsBB xD
GregoryDCT We've already seen his message: "reward yourself." Kinda simplistic, but I've studied performance-psychology. Rewards are important, but no substitute for a scientifically-designed plan of action which appeals to the right motive.
Lol
Simon Purist Have you a for instance you might share?
I just realize I'm procrastinating watching videos about how to beat procrastination.
my life
Kenneth Cerda well... at least we know our problems.
Same..
Kenneth Cerda #MeToo
Same... Kind of... Although today I'm feeling more up to things. - I'm trying to crawl out of a depression like I'm in an oily pit of slime...
I can only imagine what he went through that year an a half. That's a powerful, paradoxical anecdote.
The best way to kick off procrastination is to be bored of your routines, to realize you've hit a wall. It's to realize that there's nothing better to do, and to see work itself as a reward, as a new fronteer.
Do you research science and engineering because it's hard? No. It's because it is interesting, because it involves things beyond your usual experience. The act of understanding should itself be perceived as the reward... not some 'necessary routine' as parents try to impose on their children. You want to be able to crack the code, and then figure ways to bring that code to others. You ask yourself, "How can I help others understand this? How many more bodies can I get to comprehend this stuff?" Then, figuring out how to apply your understanding to accomplish numerous feats.
Turn Hell into Heaven. Change the way you see the world and your actions. Don't rely on survival instinct to get through life.
I completely agree and yet those topics come with a package of boredom. Case in point sciences workload to understand.
You are thinking logically; our brain is not necessarily logical. We have blind spots and weaknesses, and rewarding ourselves is using them to do benefitial things. If you want to build new habits you need to include rewards because our brains are wired this way.
Finding work itself as the reward is the better than rewarding yourself for work. But rewards are better than consistent procrastination.
Also can rewards stop you from thinking about work as play? Maybe. So be careful about this.
The REAL secret to procrastination is to EXAMINE WHY YOU DO IT, and address that.
Typically it's performance-anxiety due to unclear goals and means to achieve them, fear of failure, unrealistic or uninteresting goals, etc.
There's no reward that's worth going through all that..
Performance-psychology is a well-researched subject., which is unfortunately overshadowed by "quick-fix" motivational speakers and other hucksters who just give pep-talks and platitudes without any knowledge of the person's particular situation, or performance-psychology in general. They just want your money.
What are the videos about performance psychology?
I agree. Case in point... I have to do some heavy lifting today. I don't want to. My back is going to hate me but... Once I've moved these items, I'll have more room for other things. It is knowing that I will physically hurt later that is stopping me.
Thank you!!
They want your money.
What he proposes does not necessarily contradict what you are saying, but it is just a part of the broader solution you have mentioned. The reward is part of the habit loop and thus helps building new habits. But you are right to mention that the problem is more complex.
I was going to start doing this ages ago... but I put it off.
Dana Hattie 😂
I agree with Dan 100%, we are basically just like Pavlov's dog.
Ive always been completely aware that procrastination is almost entirely an emotional reaction to avoid a task that we perceive as 'unpleasant' or 'undesirable'. Rewards are away to overcome the powerful inertia that we experience when we try to get those horrible tasks done!
3 days ago, I realized that I'm usually eating something when watching videos on TH-cam or playing games, procrastinating an important project. So I started to eat while working on the project, and I'm much better at concentrating on the project now. Usually, rewarding yourself also requires self-control, which I have VERY little of. But eating while doing what you have to do works nicely.
perfect video for my watch later list
I'm Going to watch this later
thanks for sharing
The trick is finding that one thing that you like enough to make the pain worth it.
I identify more with the view on procrastination that it's a normal reaction when you know you don't have a good plan in place to deal with something, don't want to be bored, or haven't yet learned to celebrate the process of learning and accomplishing. If there's a boring menial task, I get more done if I make sure to have a playlist ready. Am looking at Cal Newport's time management info and Carol Dweck's "Mindset" and other info. Will probably be looking to see if I have ADD too.
I should be studying right now...
What a fantastic idea, Dan--I love it! Self-reward makes it possible to associate something pleasant with something you would normally want to avoid.
I just had a "Whoa!" moment...
Just realised that in watching this, I am in fact procrastinating.
He is a real philosopher ....love it ....
Thank you so much for your personal stories. You rock!
It's nice to know(through my computer anyway) a scientist with a great personality!
I love this trick. I've already imagined applying it to some of my boring and tiring tasks.
I swear on everything I recently found him from a ted talk and just kept watching his video, and then I heard him talk about how the present is our biggest concern and such etc. and I was like man I feel like I've heard this and then somehow I knew he was going to talk about his blood donation and I had a dream about this like a couple years ago! crazy dejavu
What a champion. Thank you for sharing this.
A quick start plus delay rewards make a procrastinating project flowing. Thanks for sharing, Dr. Dan Ariely.
Another thing that makes the present more compelling is that the future is uncertain.
Especially when people have a history of self sabotaging their goals.
It’s harder to make yourself get a head start on your assignments or eat healthy in the now when your history tells you that you will likely undo your good work by procrastinating or binge eating later and not achieve the thing you are sacrificing for.
So it is a self perpetuating problem.
Such a simple bit of advice, but something that is incredibly powerful. I just learned who Dan Ariely is; I like him a lot!!
Thank you very much for this video.
Thank you! Very helpful!
Thank you! 🙏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING!
I loved your personal story- I’ll try your approach starting tomorrow 😀
This was actually helpful.
That is a great tip! Thanks!
Thank you Dan!.. Great tip.
the flaw i find in this example is that the immediate reward doesn't consider dopamine release that affects your motivation when the activity required your sustained engagement. in his case, post injection the experience was beyond his control, and movie was less of a reward but a pleasant distraction. if i have troubles staying focused, reward will work against my motivation to complete the hard task (at least based on Deep Work and other dopamine research I am familiar with)
Thank you, that was very informative.
I will try it
Very inspirational and motivational
will definitely try his method!!!
excellent advice
Helpful and thought-provoking
The secret is you have to find your own secret. If this doesn't work for you, then look at other methods people use. Not everyone finds positive reinforcement as good as negative reinforcement for example. This has also to do with how you were motivated as a kid. Did you strive on rewards? Avoiding punishments?
The real hard part is being your own cheerleader/punisher
brilliant idea
With watching this video I'm technically procastinating.
Procrastination well spent I guess..
This guy is a genius
This is operant conditioning, through positive reinforcement, which involves the addition of a reinforcing stimulus following a behavior that makes it more likely that the behavior will occur again in the future. When a favorable outcome, event, or reward occurs after an action, that particular response or behavior will be strengthened.
Sometimes positive reinforcement occurs quite naturally. For example, when you hold the door open for someone, you might receive praise and a thank you. That affirmation serves as positive reinforcement and may make it more likely that you will hold the door open for people again in the future.
I've been meaning to watch this video for a long time now. I wish I had done it sooner.
I have no problem with screwing up my future, I think of my future self as a different person ''not my problem''.
Then i think of my past self and damn him to hell.
very true
Excellent
This sounds good. I'll do it tomorrow.
Awesome guy
Well, it still takes some self control to not watch movies the other days of the week. That's my problem. I've tried setting up rewards for performing difficult but beneficial behavior, but when I have rewards available to me I just go for the reward whether or not I earned it.
William Carter ask somebody help you out. Tell the person what reward you want and for what tasks. Then that person gives the reward if/when you complete the task.
That is what I call smart brain. You can't cool your mind. It knows the reward can be obtained without work. So it wants it.
What confuses me is that the brain can't understand that a beneficial reward is more important than a non beneficial reward
StudentLearning737 a reward is by definition beneficial. You’re probably thinking long-term vs. short-term. And short-term rewards provide that immediate satisfaction, which is why they influence your behavior so much more than long-term benefits. The solution there then is to make the long-term benefit appear more immediate. You can do that by making a list of the steps to take toward that long-term goal, monitor progress toward it (e.g., if you’re trying to lose weight, keep track of how much weight you’ve lost on a graph to REALLY see the progress), reward steps toward the long-term goal, or practicing noticing the urges to do something that’s counter to your long-term goal and when those urges come up, take the action that’s in line with your long-term values instead.
Willpower works as a muscle does. If it is not trained it becomes weak. You need to re educate it slowly and steadily, beginning with very easy tasks done consistently. Then you add some difficulty progressively.
Good stuff
bravo real man 💪👍
Does for me most of the time.
i should really stop procrastinating.. hey.. let's watch a video about how to stop it.. for the 100th time... FML!
Sylvester Stallone, is that you?
What would I do without this channel? but seriously
Procrastinated watching this video so long...
makes sense
witty and honest
I'm past procrastination. It's 10:30 and now I'm just watching videos while loathing myself for not getting any work done.
Watched until about halfway and then went and did my essay ,no cap thank you
While also providing great insight you might as well proved how deterministic we are.
I'm your fan after following the column of Ask Ariely
Started procrastinating the minute the video showed how to overcome it😂
My dad always said quit procrastinating, and he would also say "stop making a project out of everything", confusing childhood I know.
So when I start doing Homework I get to watch some movies. I like it.
Imma' try this after I watch a few more videos...
The thing is that injecting yourself is a process which takes a few seconds, so you can better stand it, whereas studying, for example, can imply a huge investment of time.
If I had to study, and told myself that I could watch the movies only after I finished studying, I do not know how much I could resist before giving up because it is a process which lasts much more time and besides, the fact that I need to study in order to watch a movie could make me hate watching movies because I would associate it with studying (not sure though this would provoke this aversive reaction).
By the way, while I am commenting on this video I am shamefully procrastinating even though my exams start in a few days.
Piece of advice: when you have to study you tend to watch the amount of work you need to do. Cut it into small pieces. It is easier to read 10 pages instead of one entire book. Sometimes the biggest problem is to start, once you started it gets easier (besides you engage yourself in the process: see theories of commitment if you are interested).
You're looking at it in totally the wrong way. This man had to inflict himself with extreme unhappiness three times a week for a reward that wouldn't come until years in the future. The next time you get the flu just imagine having to go through that for a like 7-15 hours a week ever single week. That is the similarity- delayed gratification and the ability to exercise great willpower. WILLPOWER is the idea of this video. And you don't have to pick movies either. Pick what you love. Video games? Go for a run every time you want to play and only allow yourself to play after a run.
Think of it this way: the immediate desire that you prefer when you need to study is to not be bored. You hate being bored or sinking time into studying when you could be satisfied immediately instead with whatever you procrastinate with. You need to have enough willpower to invest in your own lifestyle, something that will take time and strong will to achieve. THAT'S how it relates to you. His immediate desire that he could have succumbed to was to not be vomiting and shaking and having a fever for several hours. It's exactly the same in the context of this video.
***** I don't agree with you, if it was about willpower why would he need to reward himself with movies? If he is strong enough he can endure the pain. This video is about classical conditioning: in this particular case associate something negative (pain) with a reward (movies).
He's still delaying gratification. He's not trying to say that by watching movies every time he takes the shot he's making the sickness pleasurable. Just because something involves a little bit of classical conditioning does not mean the entire thing is classical conditioning. Here he's combining something he loves with something that is extremely uncomfortable to blunt the force of the instant punishment for something that's has a VERY delayed reward. Especially in psychology, things are not black and white. Also, in your original comment, you said that injecting himself takes a few seconds. But it's not the pain of the shot he's dealing with here, it's the hours of nausea, vomiting, and fever that he's dealing with. Of course his situation is different from yours, but the object of an analogy is not to perfectly replicate something, but to convey meaning through similarity. Take something you love to do, and exercise willpower by ONLY ever doing that thing whenever you finish an hour of studying. The point is that it isn't easy. If it were easy it wouldn't take willpower. If it were easy to be successful in college then everyone would be successful in college.
This is whats happening when we try to deal with climate change. Every one knows we'll be in trouble in 20-30-40 years from now, but we don't do much about it now, why we still can. It is time to figure out incentives to motivate people to handle this issue.
=/ there are some people who say its fear, some people who say its a time management problem, and even some people saying its a bloody addiction to escapism (actually not a terrible theory). All I know is its been fucking up my attempts at higher education since 2006 and I am so tired of it..so very tired.
I liked your explanation of why it happens but the reward part was lame.We've all tried that yet here we are watching youtube videos.
I know i have things to do but i postpone them because :
1.They'll get me bored and/or tired.
2.My goals aren't clear and i have no real motivation to do things.
It's a hard truth but what you're doing is victimizing yourself. You have to realize that to get out of that slump is to exercise powerful will. Just try, for a few months, creating a connection between something you love and something you usually procrastinate or want to learn to add to your life. If you love video games, only sit down to play them after you've gone for a run.
There is also this weird illusion that goals have to be clear cut at all times or you lack purpose. Just try to realize that it's difficult to take into consideration the future when satisfying immediate desire, but that eventually you will have an improved life.
Yeah I think we all just need brain surgery to rewire out brains
I have been watching for awhile now and really enjoy this channel. Especially Dan, he is one of my favorites, but does anybody know the cause of his face? I have never seen anybody else ask and i havent found an explanation for it.
Im with you thats closer than agree with you as Sadhguru said
Everyone should read the procrastination article on the 'Wait but Why' website.
Couldn't his plan have backfired by forcing him to start associating movie watching with vomiting and chills?
Andrew Curley That's why he intentionally would watch right after the injection rather than as soon as he started getting sick. At least that's how I understand it.
The problem is not the rewarding, the problem is that most people - me included - don't deny themselves the reward, when they want it.
Ariely said he won't watch movies other than on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And THAT's the difficult part.
We reward ourselves (with good times) because we can. Almost always… so there's no need to bundle them with challenging deeds…
WoW
hard to do when you can just access those reward benefits now, without needing to do a task to achieve it. Do assignment THEN binge watch youtube videos? No no no, it doesn't work like that. Unless youtube was blocked and only unlocked once i've finished my assignment.
It only works with instantaneous events of present displeasure. It's instant but bad so I don't want to do it. But if i instantly reward myself after then I can do the displeasing present thing.
For longer tasks. This reward system does not apply.
+Jake H You have to have discipline...
I do like the idea of rewarding the self, but what I've personally found to kick procrastination is find a true sense of urgency with something that is desired but neglected on. This includes consequences that are desirable or undesirable, or both.
I think there are two types of procrastination. There is the "not dong the dishes" type. This is where you have a simple task to do that you just don't want to do. Then there is the "not writing an essay" type. This is where you have something interesting to do but you don't feel ready to do it yet. In my experience when faced with the "not doing the dishes" type, the best thing is to try to override your procrastination and just get it done. If you try to override the "not writing an essay" type it can be counterproductive. Sometimes it's a matter of waiting for the right moment.
Dani Ariely is adorable!
I'll start today! Or maybe tomorrow... or the day after tomorrow...
Paused. Added to watch later.
I'll watch this later.
I procrastinated so long before finally watching this video...
Still I am about to click 'watch later'. I need to give my head a good wobble, but that will have to wait, for now I must reward myself for watching the video.
Some of the best things in my life occurred because I procrastinated! Keep in mind, Mt Everest is littered with the corpses of highly motivated people!!!
listen to instrumental music, or some ambience like Brian Eno's "Ambient 1: Music For Airports"
zimplzzz.... meerkat speak... What a good idea.... what a strong contemporised association he built up.
lol exactly what I was thinking. This must also poison what you love!!
This is operant conditioning, through positive reinforcement, which involves the addition of a reinforcing stimulus following a behavior that makes it more likely that the behavior will occur again in the future. When a favorable outcome, event, or reward occurs after an action, that particular response or behavior will be strengthened.
One of the easiest ways to remember positive reinforcement is to think of it as something being added. By thinking of it in these terms, you may find it easier to identify real-world examples of positive reinforcement.
Sometimes positive reinforcement occurs quite naturally. For example, when you hold the door open for someone, you might receive praise and a thank you. That affirmation serves as positive reinforcement and may make it more likely that you will hold the door open for people again in the future.
We're aware of how heavy the toll of procrastination is weighing on our lives. With open eyes and awareness we see ourselves waiting, heading towards failure yet, we still procrastinate even the simplest of tasks. I'm missing a lack of will-power but I don't know how to fix myself nor do seek out to find a solution.
Oh but I will one day, I shall find a solution though more than likely I will procrastinate that too. Haha :(
I often procrastinate because of ADHD, making it difficult to focus. Secondly, I'm usually not aware of specific goals. Thirdly, when I feel stressed and/or overwhelmed, I default to distractions, like watching TH-cam.
Loved the video, but i should probably get back to doing my essay.
I’ve always wanted to start up a “Procrastinator’s Anonymous” club; I’ve just never gotten around to it.
True. But, here is the issue. Take his example. I have to take this medicine 3 times a week, and one hour after taking it I start to exhibit symptoms that is universally hated by everyone. Taking the medicine is hard to want to do when not long after taking it you start puking.
His "lie" is a perfectly valid psychological tactic. He is classically conditioning himself into doing something that I doubt many would do. Sometimes, that extra push from a structured reward is needed to help us along.
Just started watching an anime called Monster. Maybe I'll use that.
I'd disagree that it's classical conditioning, because it is a reinforcer whose availability is contingent on having engaged in a specific but less desired behaviour: that of taking a medicine that would lead to a lot of discomfort. This is an extension of the Premack Principle - the opportunity to engage in a preferred behaviour can be used to reinforce engagement in a non-preferred one. This is operant conditioning, not classical, since and operant behaviour is required - that of taking meds.
what joyful activities could I do when studying other than listening to music or watching a movie?
Its a good idea, but I would have liked more examples of using positives to connect with doing something you don't like. What about when you are trying to stop doing things, eg stop eating sugar, stop smoking etc. How do you bring in the action of not doing something?
So am I! Just after I'm done watching this video... and the next... maybe even the next...