FacebookTwitterPinterestTumblr

Shop Talk

Open Discussion: Are You A Procrastinator?

We’ve talked on theĀ blog about productivity, self-promotion, and ways to make your artwork go further online. During open discussions we’ve talked about artists relationship to making art a lot, but what happens if you are a chronic procrastinator? How has your experience been with making artwork via putting it off for as long as you can?

There are some great articles explaining the science behind humans urge to procrastinate, one of the better ones is from The Association of American Psychology written by Eric Jaffe. Today we would love to hear from the procrastinators in the Redbubble community, how do you manage to get things done? What tips and tricks have you self-imposed to complete artworks?

"The power of coffee" by carbine

One way to battle procrastinating about things you do enjoy, such as creative work, is to understand that human brains often employ a “present bias” (sometimes known as a hyperbolic discount), so that your brain values what is immediately happening in front of you more than it values an event which will take place in a month (like a design deadline).

Some people use a timer to make themselves do the task until the timer goes off, other artists I know make themselves have “bum in chair time” for a certain number of hours a day, while others wake up before the sun so “running out of time” isn’t an issue. How do you cope with procrastinating? Was there a turning moment in which your behaviour changed?

If you have a moment, check out the ASAPscience team’s video on the science of procrastination below, it gives a good explanation of what exactly happens in your brain when you put off a task.

Please discussĀ in the comments below. And make sure you do it now!

Comments