Procrastination Versus Conscious Deferral, Part 2

In this episode of ProductivityCast, we continue our deep dive into the psychological and tactical differences between stalling out and stepping back. While Part 1 focused on defining the core constructs of procrastination and conscious deferral, Part 2 moves into the "why" and the "how."
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In this Cast | Procrastination vs Conscious Deferral
Ray Sidney-Smith
Augusto Pinaud
Art Gelwicks
Francis Wade
Show Notes | Procrastination vs Conscious Deferral
Resources we mention, including links to them, will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.
Key Takeaways
Practice Persistent Starting: Don’t focus on the final outcome; focus on the act of beginning. Success is the aggregate of many small "starts."
Diagnose the "Anchor Weight": If you are avoiding a task, it is likely due to a "lack of definition." Take five minutes to clarify the very next physical step to lower the barrier to entry.
Distinguish Deferral from Procrastination: Conscious deferral is a strategic choice based on missing resources; procrastination is choosing a lower-value activity (like escapist media) over a high-priority intent.
Utilize Retrospective Planning: After completing a difficult project, perform a "post-mortem" to document the steps you took. This creates a historical record that reduces anxiety for similar future tasks.
Stop the "Shoulding": Avoid labeling yourself a "procrastinator." Using the term often induces shame and a "fear-based response" that further erodes the confidence needed to begin.
Timestamps
[01:51] The Anchor Weight: Why lack of definition causes stalling.
[07:50] Unconscious Deferral vs. Procrastination: The role of the unconscious mind.
[12:32] The Danger of Identity Labeling: Why calling yourself a "procrastinator" is harmful.
[20:12] Moving Past Anxiety: Tactics for getting the ball rolling on new projects.
[27:29] Persistent Starting: Using Dr. Neil Fiore’s technique to overcome blocks.
[36:38] The Hunter-Gatherer Brain: Why our biology fights against long-term goals.
[44:31] The Benefits of Procrastination: Using it as a filter for the unnecessary.
Resources Mentioned
Books:
The Now Habit by Dr. Neil Fiore
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Concepts/Methods:
Getting Things Done (GTD)
The Byron Katie method for questioning thoughts.
Retrospective (Backwards) Planning.
People:
Gretchen Rubin (The Four Tendencies/Upholders).
Raw Text Transcript
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Voiceover Artist 0:00 Are you ready to manage your work and personal world better to live a fulfilling productive life, then you've come to the right place productivity cast, the weekly show about all things productivity. Here, your host Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud with Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks.
Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:17
And Welcome back, everybody to productivity cast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity, I'm Ray Sidney Smith.
Augusto Pinaud 0:24 I am Augusto Pinaud.
Francis Wade 0:26I'm Francis Wade.
Art Gelwicks 0:27 And I'm Art Gelwicks.
Raymond Sidney-Smith | 00:29Welcome, gentlemen, and welcome to our listeners to this episode of ProductivityCast. Today, we are going to continue our conversation around procrastination and conscious deferral. And the conversation last time really covered mostly us discussing the defining nature of or just defining the nature of these two constructs, both procrastination and conscious deferral. And so what I'd like us to do is So if you have not listened to that episode, I would highly recommend that you hop back to the part one of this particular two episodes, and then we will now continue today in terms of really discussing the What we're going to do today is then start discussing why we procrastinate in the first place? What are some of the understandings of why we procrastinate and what are reasons for conscious deferral?And then we will… Discuss probably in and amongst that ways in which you can overcome procrastination and when it's probably appropriate to do conscious deferral. When it actually may not be, and it then bleeds back into procrastination. And there's a fine line there, of course.So let's talk about what are the major reasons why You all procrastinate. What are the reasons you've determined that procrastination ekes its way into your everyday life?Art Gelwicks | 01:51I'll throw myself under the bus first. One of the most common reasons that I'll put something off is lack of definition. If I haven't taken time to truly define out all the steps necessary to execute something, it winds up with this anchor weight attached to it to say, "Well, you don't know what you don't know, and you don't know quite what you're supposed to do, so maybe you should go do something else." Whether true or not, That's kind of where things wind up getting pushed to.So that, I'd say that's my primary one is lack of definition around what I'm supposed to be executing.Augusto Pinaud | 02:28Yeah, I need to agree with you 100%. For me… I can tell. By Monday morning. How good or bad my weekly review was on Friday. And I wish to tell that all of them are incredibly good. And I get out of there with a clear mind. And sometimes it doesn't happen. Even sometimes I do some kind of weekly review on Friday. I need to compliment that over the weekend because that is Lack of clarity, that lack of have that clear list of projects and actions, all that it produce is emergencies, fires and procrastination in my world.Francis Wade | 03:12I have a question though then, because the kind of the procrastination that Art was talking about sounds to me more like conscious deferral. That he's not unconsciously Putting off. The lack of definition. He's consciously doing it.Well, I should ask him. Are you unconsciously doing it because you haven't defined the action or are you consciously doing.Art Gelwicks | 03:33It? No, it's… I would agree it would look like conscious deferral that I'm making that action that, I don't have enough detail, therefore I can't get started. I'm not going to give it that level of credit. It's really a, it's a two-step problem. And the more I think about it, the first step in the problem is recognizing that I now need to allocate time to gather that information to know what I need to do for that thing.So for example, let's say I'm planning out an online ad. And I have some of the information I need, but I don't have all of it. And I know it needs to go out at a certain time.Well, I could just say it needs to be done. Or… What happens is I recognize that I need to spend some time filling in those gaps of the process necessary for that item, which means I'm going to have to chase down information to fill those gaps.So to execute that Task? There's a bunch of extra work that I need to front load. And that makes that task feel bigger, creating a bigger anchor, creating a bigger roadblock, therefore, subconsciously encouraging me to push that back to do things that I know I can accomplish and move forward on, which unfortunately winds up in that thing getting pushed back to a point where it becomes problematic.So. There may be times where that's a conscious thing where I say, look, I just don't know what I need to know. Therefore, I'm not going to do that thing. But to me, that's not procrastination. You're absolutely right. That's a choice. That's somebody hasn't provided me an update or something like that. That's a waiting on or a follow up. It's when I myself have not defined things clearly enough. To say Should or should I not proceed with this? That's when the procrastination part will kick in and say, you know what, why don't you hold off on that? You can go do something that you feel better about. And it's, I think it's the feel part more than anything. Because there isn't a rational reason to delay that work. It has to be done. There's nothing about it that says that you shouldn't be doing it. But there's a subconscious feeling there that's saying there's an almost an anxiety that's attached to it. Saying, you're going to find something that is going to be a real problem. Maybe you should put that off. I don't know if that helps any of us.Augusto Pinaud | 06:00No. And you bring a great point that it's that anxiety. It's the procrastination. It starts happening because I start getting all that anxiety of, is this really up to date? Is this really possible? The valuable task that I need to move forward? Is this really what need to happen? Or not. And that or not is the killing part of that.Francis Wade | 06:25I have a different, not different, but I have a… As I'm thinking about this, I wrote a an article on procrastination. It was a long time, like a decade ago. But I basically said that Something along the lines that procrastination was not well defined. And it seemed more like a The feeling. Than a fact. But what's happened over the years is that If someone were to ask me if I procrastinate, I would say no. I don't have that. Kind of self-talk....