Rewards promote action. In the same way that a dog is trained to sit by reinforcing that action with a treat, we are trained by our environments to behave in ways that are reinforced by rewards. Switching on the TV rewards us with the pleasure of entertainment and relaxation, making it more likely that we will switch on the TV the next time we feel bored or tired. Playing sports triggers endorphins, which boost our mood, thereby increasing the chance we will play again.

Many of our actions are controlled by rewards we aren’t conscious of. Picking up our phones to look at social media and snacking while we work are often unconscious activities. This becomes a problem when many of the rewards we receive are designed by people that don’t have our best interests at heart. Television producers want us to watch more television, so they design their shows to elicit emotional and chemical responses in our brains by heightening things like humor, drama, and sentiment. News editors want us to read more news articles, so they produce headlines and articles that grab our attention, confuse, outrage or flatter us. The emotional reactions from these experiences reward us for consuming the content and increase our chance that we will do so in the future. The better that TV producers and news editors do their jobs, the more we procrastinate. If we understand this dynamic and the rewards that others create to control our actions, we have a better chance of avoiding being manipulated into procrastination.

There are also many natural rewards for procrastination, including: relief from stress and pleasure from the activities that we procrastinate with. Overcoming procrastination requires promoting activities with delayed rewards over activities with immediate rewards.

 We can significantly reduce procrastination by designing rewards that promote helpful action and eliminating rewards that drive procrastination.

Tiny rewards

The best rewards for action are small, immediate and frequent.

• You can reward yourself for starting a task, spending a specific period on a task, or completing a task.
• It can help to prepare a list of tiny rewards ahead of time.
• There are countless tiny rewards, from a short break to a cup of coffee.
• Some of the most effective but less obvious rewards are internal:
  • A simple, cheap and effective reward is positive self-talk.
  • Keep an accomplishment list. Add to it every time you achieve something.
  • At the end of your day, write down three things that went well that day and why.
  • After finishing your day, review the tasks you achieved and consider how your work has propelled you toward your goals.
  • After completing a task, stop and ask yourself, “What’s nice about this moment?” then take a few seconds to feel into the answer.
• You can also apply rewards for not taking unwanted actions, for example: for every day you don’t use computer games, you could transfer a small amount of money into a bank account with the plan to spend the money that accrues in that account on a purchase or occasion that you are excited about

Big Rewards

Larger longer-term rewards can also be used as a target to motivate positive action. Try to make the goal achievable and not too distant. The more distant and difficult to achieve the rewards are, the less motivating they will be.

When completing goals, procrastinators often focus on what could have been done better or immediately switch focus to the next goal. Failing to reward good work is demotivating and increases the likelihood of procrastination on the next goal. One of the best motivators of positive future action is celebrating our hard work and achievements. By doing so, we promote future hard work and reduce procrastination in the long term.

Tips:

• It can help to set rewards that are determined by a third party, for example: give $100 to a friend with instructions that if you complete your weekly goal, they are to buy you a specific reward, and if you fail, that person is to give that money away to a charity of their choice.
• Rewards can be tricky. Sometimes they end up changing actions you never intended to change. Aim for simple reward systems and avoid excuses to change the strategy midstream. Regularly review to see if the reward promotes your desired action.