How to help your child avoid the pitfalls of procrastination

Procrastination is a common problem. At one time or another, everyone has put off a dreaded task or obligation in favour of something more enjoyable. How many of you have said just one more chapter of my book or one more cute cat video instead of getting started on the dishes after dinner?

Long standing psychological theory has believed that people who procrastinate have a faulty sense of time. They think they have more time to get their task done than they actually do. However, recent research suggests that for many, procrastination is linked to difficulty managing stress.

The good news is that procrastination is part of human nature. Our brains have evolved in a way that means we try our best to avoid pain and discomfort.

The bad news is that delaying tasks or obligations usually has unintended consequences. By using avoidance tactics, you often create more work, pain and suffering for yourself in the long term (or sometimes the very near future).

But we have more good news for you. Read on to learn about our top tips that your child can use to conquer procrastination.

Focus on your why

Procrastinators focus more on short-term gains (avoiding the distress associated with the task) instead of the long-term results (the stress of not doing it and consequences of avoiding the task).

Instead of focusing on the immediate gains try getting your child to focus on why they are doing the task. What are the benefits of completing it?

If your child has been putting off cleaning up their room, get them to focus on how good it will feel when they are able to find their belongings easily and how much faster they will be able to get ready in the mornings.

Chunk it

When a task seems too big and overbearing, procrastination will be near. To make these tasks easier to tackle, break them down into smaller manageable parts. Chunking it down like this will help your child feel less overwhelmed and more empowered.

Let’s use the room cleaning as an example again. Instead of tackling the whole room, focus on one part at a time. E.g., get your child to tackle their desk first and if the idea of the entire desk is still too much, chunk it down to a drawer at a time.

Reward good behaviour

Establish a reward system to use when your child accomplishes their goals.

So let’s go back to our room cleaning example one last time. If your child tidies their desk, they get to binge watch their favourite Netflix show, check Tiktok or go out for lunch. Instead of using these things as distractions, they become motivations as you’ve made them dependent on finishing the scheduled task.

Using technology to overcome procrastination

If you want more high-tech methods to help your child avoid procrastination, there are a lot of options available. As a starting point, try one of these:

Beeminder: This online provider specialises in willpower as a service. You can ask Beeminder to track anything you can graph, push-ups, time spent studying, to do tasks. You set a goal and a daily target. Then if you don’t achieve the goal, you get charged via your nominated payment method.
Caveday: Focused online work sprints that last between 45 and 52 minutes (to optimise your brain’s focus capacity). The work sprints are broken up by short energising breaks which are run by your trained Cave Guide. Caveday offers a free 7-day trial so you can test whether this works for your whanau.
Focus@will: This app uses music to boost your child’s concentration and productivity. The music available through this app is created specifically to enhance productivity. The team behind this app consists of neuroscientists, musicians and engineers. The in-app assessment tool is linked to the biggest brain database in the world and combines their 10+ years of music brain research to help you customise the music for your needs.

Final words of wisdom

There are many strategies that can help your child overcome procrastination. But remember, there is no perfect solution. And trying to find the perfect solution can become another form of procrastination! Often the best thing to do is: