Temporal Motivation Theory by PaperHelp Company

Surely you have put things off at least once in your life. Everyone has their reasons for this: laziness, perfectionism, lack of confidence in success, unwillingness to do anything. Some people believe that postponing things for a later period entails a loss of time, stress, and many other consequences, and some have turned this approach to problem-solving into a lifestyle. Moreover, the understanding that there is not much time left before the deadline, on the contrary, some people are refreshing and help to take action. Sound familiar?

Today many theories explain the causes of procrastination, but only one of them is considered more valid. In this article, together with paperhelp, I will talk about this theory and tell you how to learn how to apply it in your life.

A little about procrastination

Procrastination (from the English word procrastination — “to put off”) puts off things of varying importance and urgency for later, leading to various psychological problems.

Many people compare procrastination with laziness, believing that they are identical concepts. It is not the case. Laziness is a conscious refusal to take responsibility. It is a manifestation of inertia resulting from a lack of initiative and determination. A lazy person tends not to perform a task, not even delving into its essence. A temporary lack of motivation characterizes procrastination. If the matter is put off, it does not mean that it will not be performed.

By the way, scientists have found out what effect procrastination has on humans at the physical level. Researchers at Ruhr University in Bochum, using MRI revealed two areas of the brain, the functionality of which depends on the ability of man to control his actions. Those who were worse at managing them had a larger brain amygdala. The connection between the amygdala and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was less pronounced.

Dr. Erhan Gench concluded that those with high amygdala volume are more likely than others to worry about the consequences of their actions, so they tend to procrastinate because this area is responsible for evaluating possible outcomes and warning of adverse effects. At the same time, the dorsal cortex applies this information before choosing which action to take.

At the moment, many theories explain the phenomenon of procrastination. Representatives of the behavioral approach believed that human actions depend on the presence or absence of punishment for the work done. People tend to abandon what they have begun or put it off until tomorrow if they make an unusual effort to complete a task. A person remembers their state of mind when performing similar actions and postpones the moment next time.

There is also an opinion that people prefer to do short-term things and get quick rewards for them than long-term tasks, the satisfaction of the completion they will not feel soon. It puts a person in a vicious cycle of seeking immediate gratification, giving up on global tasks.

According to the psychodynamic approach, people tend to put off things that threaten their ego. In simple terms, procrastinators fear failure; they are unsure whether the outcome will be accepted by society. Conversely, they fear success, which will cause a wave of criticism and envy. Representatives of the psychodynamic approach connect procrastination with childhood experiences. In particular, the syndrome of chronic procrastination is characteristic of those who did not have proper emotional contact with their parents and those whose parents were too demanding.

There is a cognitive approach, according to which procrastination appears due to low self-esteem, irrational beliefs, and the inability to make decisions independently. Scientists Albert Ellis and William Knaus identified the core belief of the procrastinator: “I always do my job well. Such self-confidence encourages not to perform tasks immediately, which is fraught with errors because it is virtually impossible to do perfectly in a couple of days what took months of painstaking work. It turns out that this is a tactical move procrastinator: at first, they say that there is no reason to worry and then skillfully justify the failures due to lack of time.

When self-esteem is low, procrastinators think: “If I put off work, I will put off evaluating my work. They are not confident in their abilities and are afraid of being judged. Those who can’t make decisions deliberately put off doing difficult things, and academic procrastination points to this: students often can’t immediately decide what additional courses to take or what topic to write research on. It’s simple: no decision, no business.

All the theories describe the problems of procrastination in general terms. The idea of temporal motivation is the first attempt to integrate the opinions of many scientists on this subject. Let’s get acquainted with it in more detail.

Briefly about the essence of the theory of temporal motivation

The authors of the theory of temporal motivation (it is also called “Temporal Theory,” i.e., taking time into account) are Canadian scientists Piers Steel and Cornelius John Kenig, Ph.D. in philosophy and psychology (some sources indicate one author — Piers Steel). They studied the phenomenon of procrastination for 10 years and concluded that laziness and perfectionism, which psychologists talked about, have absolutely nothing to do with procrastination.

According to this theory, a person tends to procrastinate in completing a task if they realize that this activity will not bring them the maximum benefit. The author of the idea, P. Steele, notes that procrastinators suffer from excessive impulsiveness. If a person is sure that the case will end with success and a large reward, it becomes a priority for him at the moment. The work is best done when the doer feels personally interested in it, has high expectations, and is not time-consuming.

Thus, the theory explains why a person can quit a job halfway through: they are not focused on future achievements but strives to get pleasure from completing the task as soon as possible.

Pierce Steele derived a formula that helps to calculate how strong a person’s motivation will be when completing a job. The procedure consists of the following components:

• U (Utility) — the subjective utility of the action.
• E (Expectancy) — the likely reward (e.g., bonus, praise, etc.)
• V (Value) — the value of the task (whether the work is enjoyable for the performer, what benefit will come from doing the thing, and what harm will come from not doing the study).
• D (Delay) — the time until the reward is received.
• I (Impulsiveness) — level of impulsiveness (tendency to switch from one task to another due to the performer’s characteristics or external factors).

According to the theory, the closer the deadline is, the more motivated a person is to complete a task. Still, it is not a “positive” motivation when the performer is driven, for example, by possible success, but a “negative” one, when a person begins to fear a potential failure.

It turns out that the lack of motivation at the initial stage of performing the task is the main reason why the job is not completed on time: the less time left before the deadline, the greater the fear of failure. This fear seems to encourage action, but at the same time, the time has already passed, and the risk of failing to complete the task increases — such a vicious circle.

Examples of the theory of temporal motivation

A student was given the task of writing a philosophy research paper by December 20 of this year. It was September, i.e., almost four months before the deadline (D). It’s already relaxing. Besides, philosophy is the minor favorite subject of Vasily (that’s our hero’s name). He will hardly enjoy doing his work (V), and possible reward (E) is also questionable because he didn’t get along with the philosophy teacher right away. Vasily believes that regardless of the quality of the assignment will be evaluated biased. And so our hero opened his laptop to start writing a paper, but he got a call from a friend and called him to play soccer.

As a result, he switches from one thing to the second thing (I) without thinking since he likes it much better than doing his philosophy assignment. Thus, all variables of the equation tend to zero, which means that the motivation will also be close to zero, i.e., the case will be postponed until the time before the deadline is minimal.

Let’s look at another example. Anna finished her training to become a sales manager and prepared for the first day of work by reading good literature on the topic. The sales manager set a sales plan for Anna to meet by the end of the month (after 30 days, so there is still plenty of time!)

Anna started the practice: she called the first client and was rejected right away, then the next one, but it didn’t bring the correct result. As a result, Anna decides to clean up at the workplace, to discuss with colleagues the upcoming weekend, in general, does everything to the clock soon appeared the cherished time of 18.00. The heroine’s problem with the example is that she has too low expectations: after a bad start, she is sure that the following calls will also be a failure. Hence the increased impulsiveness, underestimated value of the result, and a lot of time before the reporting day, so Anna decides to postpone her work for later.

By the way, lowered expectations are the leading cause of procrastination. Recall how often you have had inhibiting thoughts that you can not find a job, so you continue to do things that you do not like and are unprofitable? The person you want won’t reciprocate anyway, so it’s better not to get acquainted with him, etc.?

You see, all the indicators of the equation are at an appropriate level:

• He loves his job.
• The value of the task is high.
• The reward is desirable.
• Impulsiveness is low.
• The time to deadline is only one day.

Procrastination is out of the question because the hero’s motivation is high.

On the advantages and disadvantages of the theory

Temporal motivation theory has both pros and cons. In particular, it proved that previous conclusions of scientists as to why people tend to procrastinate are correct, but only partially because all the theories considered only a specific factor is influencing behavior. For example, if a person is rebellious by nature, it will be useless for him to impose any work; such an approach will seem unpleasant, so that he will postpone the task. In this case, rebelliousness as a character trait will act as a factor that generates procrastination.

But, agree, explaining the phenomenon of procrastination only by personality traits is unlikely to give a complete picture of the situation, so P. Steele’s theory of temporal motivation is considered the most effective. Many ideas that have been published in the Academy of Management Review converge on the integrated approach, and this once again confirms the fact that the theory of temporal motivation more deeply addresses the problem of procrastination.

Of course, everyone can have their own opinion on this matter, but if this theory helps you understand why you procrastinate, it will be the most valid proof of its effectiveness.

How do you beat procrastination with an equation?

Now that we know the essence of temporal motivation theory and have become familiar with Pierce Steele’s equation elements, we can develop an effective strategy to combat procrastination. So, we have impulsivity (the ability to concentrate on a task), expectation (what benefits will come from doing the job), the possible reward for the result, and the time allotted to do the job.

All variables in the equation are under the performer’s control, except for the reward, because it happens that, for example, the bonus may be delayed, and this can hardly be predicted in any way. To get rid of procrastination, you need to increase the value of the task (i.e., make it enjoyable), the expectation of success, and at the same time learn not to be distracted by other things.

In his book “The Procrastination Equation,” Pierce Steele offers sound advice to deal with the habit of procrastination. First, an optimistic attitude helps to cope with the work faster and more effectively. If you lack a positive attitude, several techniques will fix the situation:

• “Success Spiral”: Set yourself challenging, meaningful, and achievable goals and achieve them one by one. Achieving success at each stage of the task, you will be filled with energy and feel more confident. P. Steele recommends concentrating on the benefits of the process itself rather than on the result. For example, if Vasily, who was putting off writing a philosophy paper, had been thinking about the skills this activity would help him acquire (assiduity, concentration, attentiveness, increased literacy, etc.), he probably would have been more optimistic.
• “Substitute Victory”: positivity is contagious, which means it’s easy to get by contacting optimists or just watching them. Visit attractive communities, watch an inspiring movie, learn about the success story of a celebrity or colleague who excels at their business.
• “Thought comparison”: all-around people are increasingly advised to visualize their goals, but often this is not enough to start taking action. For some people, this approach works as anti-motivation. But if you do not just imagine an ideal picture of the possible future and compare it with real life, the effect will be much better. So you will designate today’s situation as an obstacle that prevents you from realizing your dreams, and it will force you to put more effort into achieving your goals.

It is essential not to be over-optimistic and look at things realistically: do not think you can leave things to the last minute because you will have time anyway. Plan to get the job done. Think of a backup plan in case something goes wrong.

So, with the mood decided, you need to work on the value, because if the work itself is not attractive to you, then proceed to it did not want to. To increase the value of the work, you can use the following tips:

• Make the work challenging and relevant to your skills. This technique will be effective for those who are faced with boring tasks. Even the most tedious work can be made fascinating and give it a special meaning, if only you were willing. It’s like in one legend (or maybe it was a real story): once, a cleaner blocked the way for a delegation at the Baikonur Cosmodrome because she was cleaning the floors. When she was asked what she was doing here (in the context of “Why are you walking around with your mop when important people are in front of you!?”), the unexpected answer came: “We are launching rockets into space!” Here it is — the high value of your work.
• Determine why you’re doing it: make sure the tasks are related to what’s important to you. For example, you are learning English to get a good job. At the moment, you are actively putting your body in order, trying to lose weight, so that a future employer will appreciate your appearance. The two cases do not seem to overlap but can lead to the same desirable point.
• Fill up on energy: tasks are harder to accomplish if there is no energy. Watch your rhythm of life, your diet, do sports and don’t forget to rest. It’s simple, but don’t forget about it.
• Reward yourself: the ultimate reward is motivating, but the in-between tips are essential, too. Every time you finish another phase of work, treat yourself to something nice or tasty. Simply watching another episode of your favorite TV series as a reward can be great motivation.
• Concentrate on what you love to do: and here we remind you of Confucius’ phrase: “Choose a job to your liking, and you won’t work a day in your life.”

Now all that’s left to do is pump up your impulsivity and learn not to get distracted by other things. To do this, you need to figure out what is an attention eater and get rid of it: if distractions are frequent calls, put your on-air phone mode or just mute it, leave it in another room. Significantly stimulate monetary losses if the task is not completed in due time: wager with someone for an actual amount for you that you can turn in your work on time, and give this money in advance to the person with whom you made the wager. Or use online services that provide your money to the charity where you wouldn’t want it to go if you don’t meet the deadline.

Proper goal setting controls impulsivity, too. Now you and I know that goals should be interesting, challenging, but doable, and the path to achieving them should look like many steps, each of which is a smaller subtask with a minor deadline. You should agree that the task of writing a term paper by next year is not very motivating because there is still a lot of time before the deadline, but if you plan to write the first chapter already in a week — this is already invigorating.

Summary

Procrastination, like illness, has its causes. Thanks to the theory of temporal motivation, they are pretty easy to identify: you need to analyze what value the assigned task has for you, whether you will perform it with pleasure, what is in store for you as a reward, and how much time is left before the deadline.