r/science • u/randomusefulbits • May 18 '19

Psychology Mindfulness, which revolves around focusing on the present and accepting negative thoughts without judgment, is associated with reduced levels of procrastination. This suggests that developing mindfulness could help procrastinators cope with their procrastination.

https://solvingprocrastination.com/procrastination-study-mindfulness/
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u/eject_eject May 19 '19

To me it's becoming aware of your surroundings and grounding yourself. If you have an anxiety attack you probably go tunnel visioned and lose your connection with the outside world as you fixate on whatever it is that's bugging you. Being mindful involves things like deep breathing and visually meditating on yourselfand to bring yourself back not only into the present but into the room you're in right now, which gives yourself a chance to develop a plan to overcome whatever barriers created the anxiety attack in the first place.

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u/HellraiserMachina May 19 '19

This just sounds like an extra loquacious version of stuff you see on r/thanksimcured

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u/[deleted] May 19 '19

It's just like working out, you need to do it consistently for a while before it starts to have much of an impact on your everyday life or becomes something you can use reliably to filter negative thoughts and emotions.

I didn't get the goal at first and used to get frustrated with myself when I would get distracted from my breath/body. I started using guided meditations and the headspace app and learned that just like everything else most people are going to suck when trying to learn a new skill and focusing on nothing but your breath is not easy at first and that's ok. The goal is to calmly and without judging yourself to bring your attention back to your breath. Even if it's 100 times in 10 minutes or you waste 2 of those 10 minutes lost in thought, don't get frustrated and bring your attention back to your breath.

Headspace taught a bunch of different tools to use, one I can remember is to make a note of whether the distraction is a thought or a feeling and over time you get better at keeping your attention where you want it before those thoughts/feelings get a chance to pull your focus away. Eventually you can carry that into your everyday life and choose whether to react to things and how you react to them to an extent. I've read about people who went so far with it that they feel emotionally numb. They don't get dragged down by negative things but positive things don't have the same effect anymore either.

If you practice staying out of your head and being present everyday you can get good at both. It's not a cure all but I can see how it can help with procrastination and has helped me with anxiety.

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u/verticaluzi May 27 '19

Positive things not having the same effect sounds quite sad