Leave it to a university research study to come up with a great idea for minimizing the dreaded habit of procrastination. But before I share with you the studies “idea” for minimizing procrastination, it’s good to know that while this Cornell University study was directed at students, I believe this study has some great advice for anyone needing to focus on getting tasks accomplished.
To understand the context of this study, Cornel researchers utilized Stanford University online students. As you can imagine, online students have a myriad of distractions because the very document they are studying, test they are taking, or article they are reading is literally surrounded by web browser tabs, email alerts, and a variety of information all easily accessed in one quick click of the mouse. I can tell you that as I write this article for the Valley Business Journal I have more than 20 documents and files inviting-me-in for a visit …not to mention the occasional tech based sound that announces my receiving another email – many of which I end-up deleting. But, back to the issue of procrastination …
The procrastination remedy that this study tested was “antidistraction” software. The specific software allowed students to establish planned procrastination by setting their own daily allotments of time they could specifically spend on distracting websites. If the students maxed-out on the distraction time allotment, the software would then block them from pre-determined distracting sites. But the software was not totally arbitrary because it allowed, or forced, students to give a new reason every time they wanted to unblock the process and continue procrastinating. So, yes, they could continue procrastinating but they had to stop and increase the time limit originally allowed for procrastinating.
What was learned from this study was that the software made wasting time a hassle, causing some students to go back to studying rather than hassle with responding to the software re-set. Yes, the antidistraction software seemed to work.
My question to you is what works for you? What “antidistraction” techniques do you utilize that assist you in being more productive or even to merely finish projects or achieve a simple goal? I’d like to build on this conversation by sharing what works for you in a future Valley Business Journal article. So, please email me at murrieta@apu.edu and let’s learn from one another!
