See Your Work Like A Child and You Will Stop Procrastinating

Little children do not worry about their results. They just make their effort

Procrastination or work avoidance brings challenges to our thought process. It puts our minds under stress and leads to our making incorrect choices, resulting in unwanted outcomes.

I will explore a little of the self-worth theory, which tells us the truth about procrastination. Yes, we do not know the truth, and that is why we demonize it. I have been a student of the human condition, and after my last surgery at the end of 2020, I started reading and listening to its explanation.

One of the things I looked at was a TEDx talk by Nic Voge delivered to the Princeton University Students. He explained the Self Worth theory as it applied to the human condition. We will try to explore the truth. He almost opened his talk with the following words of James Thurber.

Every person should strive to learn before they die what they were running from and why.

Nic added: 'When you strive for yourself, you will know your authentic self. When others tell you, you will know what they think of you and not who you are.’

Just like Jim Kwik, a learning expert, says, “If an egg is broken by an outside force, LIFE ENDS. If broken by inside force, LIFE BEGINS. Great things always begin from inside.”

Exploring Self-worth Theory

Self-worth theory bases all explanations on a few things understood and adopted as assumptions that are considered when estimating outcomes. They are:

1. We need to be seen by others and ourselves as capable people.

2. Our various desires compete for our attention and resources to realize them.

3. The balance between avoidance strategy and approach strategies.

4. We view all reality as three things Performance= Ability= Worth.

5. Variables are high in fear of not being able to perform. We could choose not to do what we need to do for fear of failure.

6. About your level or low fear of level of performance, we could do what we choose and not keep our work unfinished.

Accept our performance without worrying whether our level of performance was the same as the last time or was it comparable to the expected level.

When we look at our not doing the scheduled task in light of the above parameters, we find the following:

1. We need to understand and accept our reality. That can remove or reduce the judging we do, trying to match our performance to our worth.

2. Understanding helps us make correct choices in our actions. We should choose to act on tasks that are high on our priority list. Working on lower priority tasks would also amount to procrastination.

3. We realize that our performance is also subject to changing circumstances and does not show our actual worth. To understand, we take the example of two children climbing stairs. One was sitting at home, the other came from outside where it was raining. The first one climbs quicker than the other. The other who came from outside and getting wet in the rain. His footwear was damp and slipped each time he stepped on the next stair. The ability of both was possibly the same, but the wet shoes slowed down one’s performance. Therefore, judging your worth should not be determined by performance.

What we can conclude and accept is the variation in our performance. This can stop us from procrastinating. It is the case of over-expectation. Hence, we can improve our performance by making the correct selection of tasks. Also, break down the task into smaller portions, which might make the task to become manageable. Lastly, a disciplined approach would be necessary to complete any job in a productive and fulfilling manner.

Now my suggesting the child’s mindset.

First, a little brief about my condition will help you to understand why I suggest the child’s mindset.

The prosthesis in my leg got infected by the end of 2018. After several meetings with the doctor, I met Dr. Oleg Safir, the surgeon, in 2020. The first surgery was done on February 28 to retrieve the prosthesis, clean it, medicate it, and install it back with cement. The second would be to be three months down. The second one was delayed because of circumstances that COVID 19 created. It was finally done on October 22. Surgery was done, the addition was a part of my bone being grafted, as mine was not in good condition. That possibly was necessitated because of six previous surgeries. To the grafted bone to settle, the doctor advised no weight-bearing for three months, which was to be eased partially every fortnight by 25% each time. That meant I only was able to fully put my weight on my operated leg. By the end of February, I was able to walk with the help of a walker.

I heard these talks referred to above and read about it around this time.

Remembering a lesson from my son’s growing up

I also remembered the growing up of my two sons. I saw them making a very significant effort when trying to go upstairs. I asked the doctor who oversaw their care. He told me, “Diepak, when little children try, they have a target to reach. The difference between them and adults is the adults constantly think of the quality of the effort. Whereas children only think about the step at that moment, nothing beyond. They keep trying till their strength lasts. Usually, they do reach their target. They do not fear failing, and they are neither angry nor guilty of failing.

I applied this to two things my mobility and my writing. I have written about 200 posts since. I also can climb up and down the flight of six steps in the house.

In The End

We could choose the approach the Self-worth theory puts forth or take the course a child takes. Although my experience shows a child’s process is worthwhile, your experience will depend on your mindset. I have only laid out what I found. You will need to make your own choice and work to succeed.

Jolie A. Doggett

Thank you for reading.

Please leave your thought in the comments for me to understand what more I need to do, to make it a better experience.

I must thank Dr. Mehmet Yildiz, Carol Price, and the other editors for kindly publishing my work on The ILLUMINATION group of publications

You can reach me at [email protected]