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Hello Friends,

Last week’s theme in my coaching sessions was, “When there’s a deadline, I can pull it off. I work well under pressure. But when a task has no deadline, I procrastinate.”

Many of my clients are really good at putting out fires and dealing with crises. If something needs to be handled now, they do it. They are used to the adrenaline rush before a deadline, the surge of energy that helps them get things done. But when that rush isn’t there in the form of a deadline or crisis, it becomes much harder to start the important-but-not-urgent work.

Procrastinating on things that don’t have a deadline, or when the deadlines are in the distant future, shows up most clearly at the end of the year.

Clients often tell me that although they’ve been super busy, they aren’t satisfied with what they have actually accomplished. They haven’t worked on the important-but-not-urgent things until they become urgent, and then it turns into a rushed job. And when there is no urgency at all, the work often never gets started.

There is also an undercurrent of awareness, tinged with guilt, that they’ve been putting off what truly matters.

Today we’ll explore how procrastination and motivation are linked, and how understanding that link can help us overcome procrastination.

Procrastination is a challenge that most of my executive clients bring to coaching. If this is something you’d like to work through together, you’re welcome to book a coaching session with me. I’ve recently moved my discovery call from free to paid, so your first call is still available at a 50% discount from my full session fee.

Enjoy the read!

Siri🌱🌀

Cross the Bridge When You Get to It

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Imagine a task sitting on the far end of the horizon, ahem, like my Airtable for Coaches Session that I promised to run for my local ICF Chapter in February.

When I committed to this date in early November, the February date looked so far across the bridge of December and January, it almost seemed theoretical. I can see it in the distance, but it doesn’t seem real yet.

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The bridge itself is a long stretch of time filled with closing conversations in December, new goal-setting sessions in January, family meet-ups, festivals and the onset of winter (yes, I know winter is theoretical in Bangalore, and yet it is cold! I am wrapped up in a hoodie and warm socks while I am writing this). All of this creates a psychological distance from the task, so it gets mentally shelved in the ‘future me will handle this’ compartment.

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A few days before the event, I would end up frantically squeezing in time between client sessions to prepare for this presentation, while mentally cursing myself for agreeing to do it.

So why does this cycle happen to many of us?

The moment I step into February, closer to the deadline, something shifts. The same session, which seemed like a dot on the distant horizon, is now fast approaching. The importance of the task hasn’t changed, but urgency has.

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With the looming deadline, the urgency increases, the sense of distance collapses, and with it comes focus and momentum.

The only thing that changed was proximity.

Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT)

Psychologists call this reaction to distance the temporal element in Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT). TMT is one of the most comprehensive models that explains procrastination.

TMT says that our motivation is shaped by four forces:

1. Expectancy: how likely we believe we are to succeed
2. Value: how meaningful or rewarding we find the task
3. Impulsiveness: how easily we are pulled away by distractions
4. Time: how far away the reward or consequence is

These four elements sit in a simple motivation equation:

Try this for yourself: rate each element on a scale of 0-10 and see what comes up.

In my case, here’s how the equation pans out:

Motivation = Expectancy (7) + Value (4) – Impulsiveness (6) – Time (9) = –4

• This is not a task I am thrilled about (Expectancy = 7)
• I am not sure how meaningful or rewarding it will be (Value = 4)
• At the moment there are many other things that pull my attention (Impulsiveness = 6)
• The event is in the distant future (Time = 9)

So my motivation levels are in the negative (–4).

However, if I wish to change this sequence of events and break away from my old pattern of procrastination, I have four levers to play with. Here’s how I can do it.

I can ask myself:

1. Expectancy: How can I make it likely that I will succeed in doing the presentation well?
2. Value: How can I make the process rewarding, meaningful and useful to me?
3. Impulsiveness: How can I carve a block of time in which I make this a priority and avoid getting distracted?
4. Time: Can I set myself a shorter deadline and use this to get momentum?

So I can play around with value, impulsiveness and time factors to increase my motivation. I can set myself a 'finish the deck by end of this year' deadline. I can increase the value for myself by turning what could be a boring tech session into something fun, and I can reduce impulsiveness by time-blocking a day to plan and draw up an outline for my session.

Here’s how the equation now changes:

Motivation = Expectancy (9) + Value (9) – Impulsiveness (2) – Time (2) = 14

So my motivation went from –4 to 14 when I was able to coach myself around this particular task.

If you’d like me to coach you on this, book a coaching session and let’s get going.

Siri’s Pick

I came across the legendary investor Warren Buffett’s final Berkshire Annual Report, published earlier this month. You can read it here.

This letter is like a mini memoir. He writes about his life, reflects on how the world has changed, and shares his thoughts with a tone that is upbeat, humble and filled with gratitude for the privileges he has had.

This is the first of his letters I’ve read, and I am now keen to go back and explore the others he has written over the years for his shareholders.

See you next Sunday! Bye for now.

Siri 🌱🌀