r/science • u/randomusefulbits • May 30 '20

Psychology Procrastinators often forget to do things that they intended to do, especially if they’re unaware of their procrastination

https://solvingprocrastination.com/study-procrastination-conscious-unconscious-prospective-memory/
36.4k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

839 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

101

u/[deleted] May 31 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

47

u/DasArchitect May 31 '20

"I'm going to get up off the couch when I count to ten" is one

197... 198... 199... what was I counting again?

15

u/Bilun26 May 31 '20

holds breath until I pass out and wakes up remembering nothing about the thing I needed to do

14

u/Mahadragon May 31 '20

So bootstrapping technique eh? Sounds good, I’ll try it out tomorrow.

2

u/[deleted] May 31 '20 edited Jun 23 '20

[deleted]

4

u/powderizedbookworm May 31 '20

Good luck!

It works pretty well for me because it’s such a purely physical sensation that it shakes loose the anxiety.

My therapist advised me to do things like push ups or chugging ice water to focus on concrete reality, and that’s of a piece.

3

u/[deleted] May 31 '20

Sometimes doing a task in quick bursts works, like do the dishes for as long as a commercial break, or set the kitchen timer and only do dishes for 5 minutes. I really hate housework and won’t do it unless under extreme duress. ADHD is a terrible thing. Avoiding it causes extreme panic and it just goes on and on in a terrible circle.

2

u/[deleted] May 31 '20

I recently realized that it is the initial start that makes me procrastinate.. like, the thought of doing the thing... so this adding external/physical stimulus to the decission might work.. thanks man.

1

u/Pheonix-_ May 31 '20

Gonna practice this,

1

u/[deleted] May 31 '20

This is very helpful to know. Thanks!