Hacking a Habit

NAME:   Gutsche Schmidt 

Brief

The last few years I have been building up a habit of procrastinating and postponing task which are either don’t intrigue me, are not challenging or that seem of less importance to me. I have received feedback on this a few times and thus Im fully aware of the habit that needs to changed. It becomes more problematic in in scenarios where I am part of a team, as  I don’t get stressed with tight deadlines as I know I will be able to manage a the end but it causes a great deal of stress for others. This year with the group projects I realized that this would need some attention from my side so this was a good project for me to focus on this.

1. Habit Definition

In a few sentences, please describe here what habit you chose to hack.  Consider stating as follows:

In situations when I need to deliver or complete task, I have a habit of thinking/feeling/saying/doing of reasoning with myself that there is always more time or it is of less importance than other things currently happening, which gives me a reward in the form of postponing the task and procrastinating more.   The benefits that I think I will obtain from hacking this habit are be seen as reliable employee/colleague but it will also create a better working environment when I am working with a team as it will make them more at ease and not create stress when approaching deadlines.

1. Analysis of Current Habit Loop

So as mentioned I like to procrastinate and postpone tasks. I will argue with myself that I don’t need to do it right now and that there is always more time to do this later although I really don’t have any excuse of not completing the task at hand right now or as soon as I have free time.

I can generally notice this habit when I am not motivated or interested in the topic regarding the task to complete or when I can justify for myself / my myself believe that it is not the most important task at hand and that I should not do it right now. It easier getting into this habit when the task needed to be completed is and individual task, When it comes work that should be performed in teams it is more difficult but still possible to reason with myself as to why I can postpone it till later. If the deadline is far away and there is no real pressure I also tend to justify that is not the most important thing to attend to right now.

I think I see deadlines as pressure and pressure is turned into a challenge for me, almost like a game, testing myself or proving to myself that I can manage it. So when I do feel the pressure I tend to perform on a higher level which gives me the satisfaction that I can manage the situation boosting my ego. I also feel that I handle stress better than others as I don’t seem to react like most others when it comes to tight deadlines, I am calm and relaxed and also have a clear mind, so I assume that probably get a kick out of it to see that I can handle these situations better than people who cant take stress.