What Motivates Getting Things Done: Procrastination, Emotions, and Success

by Mary C. Lamia

A marvel of evolution is that humans are not solely motivated by their desire to experience positive emotions. They are also motivated, and even driven to achieve, by their attempt to avoid or seek relief from negative ones. What Motivates Getting Things Procrastination, Emotions, and Success explains how anxiety is like a highly motivating friend, why you should fear failure, and the underpinnings of shame, distress, and fear in the pursuit of excellence.

Many successful people put things off until a deadline beckons them, while countless others can't resist the urge to do things right away. Dr. Lamia explores the emotional lives of people who are successful in their endeavors--both procrastinators and non-procrastinators alike--to illustrate how the human motivational system works, why people respond to it differently, and how everyone can use their natural style of getting things done to their advantage. The book illustrates how the different timing of procrastinators and non-procrastinators to complete tasks has to do with when their emotions are activated and what activates them.

Overall, What Motivates Getting Things Done illustrates how emotions play a significant role in our style of doing, along with our way of being in the world. Readers will acquire a better understanding of the innate biological system that motivates them and how they can make the most of it in all areas of their lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self Help, Productivity, Personal Development, Leadership, Personal Growth

160 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2009

About the author

My career-long passion for encouraging emotional awareness in adults, adolescents, and pre-teens is exemplified by my books, and my blog posts illustrate my endeavor to convey that emotions have a significant role in who we become. I am a professor in the doctoral program of the Wright Institute in Berkeley and I have a private practice in Kentfield, California.

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason I wasn't very engaged by this book... so I waited to finish reading it until it was about to be due back to the library, thereby demonstrating "deadline driven" behavior as described by the book! I appreciated the book's delineation of "deadline driven" vs "task driven" styles of work completion. The author is on a mission to de-pathologize "deadline driven" (aka procrastinating) behavior and she criticizes the way this behavior has been studied in the past.

Some takeaways:
If you tend to be deadline driven:
Ask for deadlines to get things done.
Set artificial deadlines for yourself by scheduling time around other things (so you feel the pressure of time), by setting a timer, or by making commitments to others.
If you feel highly anxious or despairing when working at the last minute, "reappraise" the emotions as useful energy that is motivating you to get things done.
Don't get in the habit of counting sleep time as "time I could use to get things done at the last minute."
If you tend to be task driven:
Be aware that feeling anxiety or distress about a task needing to get done, doesn't necessarily mean that the task needs to get done right now.
Use to do lists to relieve your brain of trying to track all the things that need to be done.
Be aware of times when others want your attention while you are busy completing tasks.

[Jasmin Alexia · Rating 1 out of 5]

In my opinion, this book just stated the pure obvious. This book talked about making schedules, writing out to-do lists, putting things on your calendar. This book was not helpful at all. I was expecting something way better than this. I was expecting tips that weren't obvious.

[cc · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am sorry to say that I was actively disappointed by this. While the author had a noble goal -- to show that procrastinators aren't undisciplined or unreliable -- I felt that it would have been just as, if not more, effective as an essay. This book was entirely too long and spent an exorbitant amount of time repeating itself in different words to get across a point that had already been well received.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first several chapters of this book were nothing short of enlightening. I am a procrastinator, and Mary Lamia makes me feel okay being who I am!

I am being only slightly dramatic. Lamia truly does a tremendous job of explaining the differences and why these differences are perfectly acceptable between procrastinators and what she deems 'task-driven' people, "Procrastinators are motivated by emotions that are activated by deadlines, and task-driven people are motivated by emotions that are triggered by the task itself." Being a procrastinator, I often feel like I'm somehow failing by procrastinating, but, she explains, successful procrastinators might do most of the work in the last-minute but that is preceded by days of passively thinking about the idea. She calls this 'incubating'. And that is exactly what I do!

As for the rest of the book... well I do not remember much beyond the first few chapters. The best part of the book was the beginning, in my opinion.

[Tawnee Calhoun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information but presented in a very dry, clinical way that is not very engaging. Recommend this for academic / scholarly audience.

[Chris Esposo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book on the emotional psychology of procrastination, specifically, the author's thesis is that why we act the way we do with respect to process-centered tasks is that our emotions, guided by our historical experience, penalizes certain kinds of thinking, and rewards others. Specifically, the author identifies two kinds of people, deadline-driven and task-driven individuals, and depending on which type of individual you are, your procrastination will have different emotional predicates.
The great thing about this book is that unlike many other books on productivity and procrastination, it doesn't suggest that there's one strategy for all to deal with this issue, it suggest different strategies depending on what kind of person you may be (which requires you've done some work / introspection on your procrastination issues).

For instance, there are some individuals that procrastinate because the anxiety that builds up actually propels them to focus their attention/energy and may promote excellence in their work. Likewise, others may want to get something done quickly to avoid shame if they did not complete their task. Still, otherwise may have shame in not completing tasks, but this fear of shame will actually drive them to not complete the task.

The author provides plausible explanations on how her thesis on emotional impact generates these different response/reactions, and also discusses how to correct them in yourselves and/or work with, or manage individuals with the varying process styles. It's a short and sweet book, an I found it to be congruent with my own experience, as well as helpful. Recommended

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book broke down the mechanism of the emotions that keep you procrastinating and gave me a lot of insight into my own behavior. I also liked the handy summary given in a chapter called "Troubleshooting guide". That said, the book can be a little dry especially in the beginning. I started in the back, read the ending then went back to the beginning to read in more detail. The following are some of the concepts I picked up that I'm still thinking about.

1. Shame serves a useful purpose in reducing positive feelings to makes us pay attention to things necessary for our survival (i.e., stop watching tv to go finish homework.) Anticipation of painful emotions (shame anxiety) puts us on "high alert" and makes us concentrate on a task.
2. Shame is about the quality of who we are and guilt is about violating a social standard.
3. Regret is a preoccupation with shame of what went wrong, along with fear of what may result to the point of causing distress. Procrastinators tend to feel much more regret than non-procrastinators.
4. Successful people tend to learn from regret. Harmful coping mechanisms include withdrawal, avoidance and self-attack. No matter how terrible shame feels, it is there to teach us. Shame, guilt and pride provide internal feedback about meeting your expectations, goals or standards.
5. Respond with interest and curiosity, instead of defensively!
6. Recognize you have mistakenly included your sleeping hours as available time to meet your deadlines. This should be non-negotiable. If you have to miss sleep, you have not been given enough time and should ask for more time.

[Alexandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Changed the way I think about procrastinating and how I interact with people who respond differently from me. But...I wish there had been something deeper than what I understood after the first quarter of the book. Our emotions give us the energy to do things.

Basically positive and negative emotions motivate us to do things. Research has always lumped in procrastinators who do it at the last minute with those who put it off because they won't do it. Thus, we don't have good research on those who do it well in the final hour.

Anxiety: Fear + [Distress, Shame, anger, excitement] (flavored by culture)

"resilience, or the ability to respond non-defensively to error.
Unhealthy perfectionism can lead people to assume they know already what they have yet to learn, set goals that are unachievable, hide inadequacies from themselves and others, and become trapped in their perception of what is perfect."

"Unfortunately, people who fail sometimes are so over-focused on a debilitating negative image that they give up, rather than apply the energy produced by their emotion to attend to the task at hand."

[Nikki Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting book. I think one of the things that it helps clarify, as someone who has read a lot of books about perfectionism and procrastination, is that perfectionism can be helpful if it fuels you to do well. Yes, it can prevent you from getting started, etc. but it isn't necessarily a bad thing to want to do really well and do excellent work. Similarly, "procrastination" while it has come to be negatively coded in society marking people who do it as "lazy," or maladaptive, isn't necessarily bad. If you're high-achieving and can actually meet deadlines, procrastinating isn't keeping you from getting things done. That is, there are people who procrastinate, myself included, but who 90%-95% of the time get things done on time and it's amazing work. I'm "deadline-driven," and need the pressure of deadlines to motivate me to get things done. You may be "task-driven" and are motivated by the tasks being marked off your to-do list. We all have our own motivation and we each have to learn how to manage ourselves, and manage being relationship with people who may do things differently than we do.

[Susie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Might help some in understanding themselves & others better. I can’t say I learned anything new, mostly just reminders of things learned in college supervision class, since it mainly covers the basics of task-motivated and deadline-driven personalities. The information on how the two personalties may interface/interact with each other, & reminders to refrain from assumptions/stereotypes or self-depreciation, is somewhat informative; but the troubleshooting & conclusion weren’t helpful for me personally. This book leans more dry & academic, & I still prefer “Willpower Instinct” by Kelly McGonigal to this & anything else I’ve read on the topic

[Arun Shivram · Rating 3 out of 5]

The thing i liked about this book was, author does not try to preach how to get things done, but helps understand the psychology behind how style and motivation to get things done differs. its simple read.

[Estela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book lost my attention almost completely. I don't know if it's because I listened to the audiobook and need to read the actual tangible book instead. I could honestly say I retained little to nothing but had no motivations to re-listen. I'm definitely going to read the actual book and possibly re-write my review. But for now, the stars stand.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book focus on two types of procrastinators There are deadline driven or task driven procrastination styles. It is easy to define what drives you. However, I felt like she droned on and on too much. There were not any significant resolutions nor was it very engaging.

[JJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting and mostly readable. Learned a lot.

[Kira Dlusskaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit repetitive, but it helps to get the point across - emotions drive motivation, but to a large extent you can choose how to respond to them. Also procrastination isn't bad.

[Regina]

Originally started 20190515. Put down until 20200222.

[Rute · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not bad, has some interesting informations but overall repeats the same examples and opinions over and over

[LemontreeLime · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to force myself to finish this one. Coincidence?

[Carson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like some of the methods mentioned in this book but I don’t agree that we are either procrastinators or task driven individuals. I felt like some days I’m one or the others.

[Tiaan Fourie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to understand, good examples with some research backing it.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the message that procrastinating is fine if you are the kind of procrastinator that gets things done.

[Brandi Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book for work as part of self development. It has some good concepts about the emotions behind procrastination. It also outlines how, in certain people, procrastination can be a tool to get things done more efficiently, depending on how the tasks are approached.

Overall, there were good points, but the subject could have been organized better and less long-winded. I felt like many of the chapters were repeating the same information from previous ones.

[Christy Curley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably went into this book with the wrong expectations, but I thought I would be hearing about how people are motivated and how we can harness that to be productive & successful. Instead it was more of an exploration of what motivates procrastinators simply as a means to better understand them. The author posits that procrastinators can be highly successful people and it's not that they are lazy or apathetic, but rather they are just motivated by deadlines rather than tasks themselves. She argues against the notion that procrastination is a problem or something that should be fixed. She embraces the fact that some people really do perform their best under pressure. I came away with a better understanding of how some people operate. I also learned a bit about myself. I thought I had overcome procrastination, but really I think I have found ways to use that same motivation in a way that allows me to complete tasks well before the deadlines. I found the book to be interesting and useful in some ways, but I also felt as though I read an entire book and could summarize it in just a few sentences. I also felt like her defense for procrastination was a little extreme at times. She goes on about it so much that it felt like she was just defending her own nature, rather than teaching us about her research. I recommend it, but not so much for a means to change, but rather to understand how procrastinators operate.

[Deb Stambaugh · Rating 1 out of 5]

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[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A marvel of evolution is that humans are not solely motivated by their desire to experience positive emotions. They are also motivated, and even driven to achieve, by their attempt to avoid or seek relief from negative ones. What Motivates Getting Things Done: Procrastination, Emotions, and Success explains how anxiety is like a highly motivating friend, why you should fear failure, and the underpinnings of shame, distress, and fear in the pursuit of excellence.

Many successful people put things off until a deadline beckons them, while countless others can’t resist the urge to do things right away. Dr. Lamia explores the emotional lives of people who are successful in their endeavors—both procrastinators and non-procrastinators alike—to illustrate how the human motivational system works, why people respond to it differently, and how everyone can use their natural style of getting things done to their advantage. The book illustrates how the different timing of procrastinators and non-procrastinators to complete tasks has to do with when their emotions are activated and what activates them.

Overall, What Motivates Getting Things Done illustrates how emotions play a significant role in our style of doing, along with our way of being, in the world. Readers will acquire a better understanding of the innate biological system that motivates them and how they can make the most of it in all areas of their lives.

**

Review

Interestingly enough, both procrastinators and nonprocrastinators are successful in their endeavors, though each respond to motivation in different ways. Lamia, clinical psychologist and faculty chair has made a lifetime study of human emotions. She explains that people are moved to complete a task by not only positive but also negative emotions such as anxiety, fear of failure, and shame. Through her descriptions of personality types and motivators, readers learn to optimize their own style of action, respond to intense feelings, and be committed to meeting goals. The 'troubleshooting guide' at the end of the book outlines various ways to handle life’s glitches as they come along. VERDICT This motivating self-help guide will have wide appeal. (Library Journal)

When it comes to getting things done, according to clinical psychologist Lamia, we can be divided into two camps: task-driven and deadline-driven. The task-driven folks keep detailed lists of projects and can’t really rest until everything is checked off. The deadline-driven mull over commitments before they begin and use the pressure of a deadline to complete their work. Interestingly, Lamia doesn’t consider one approach to be better than the other. Although the task-driven seem to be on top of things, they can sometimes rush, producing work that isn’t always their best. Despite the last-minute heroics, the deadline-driven can complete their work on time and produce high-quality results. (She does make a distinction between procrastinators who meet and don’t meet their deadlines.) The trick is embracing your style and working with it. Lamia provides illuminating insights into the positive and negative emotions that shape these attributes as well as a troubleshooting guide that offers concrete suggestions on ways to successfully harness stress and clear that to-do list. (Booklist)

Exceptionally well written, impressively informative and insightful, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, What Motivates Getting Things Done: Procrastination, Emotions, and Success is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to community and academic library collections, as well as the personal reading lists for psychology students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject. (Midwest Book Review)

Dr. Lamia’s new book on procrastination speaks to readers in a simple, straightforward language and tone, with lots of real-life examples making it an easy read. She offers insights to the “eMOTION + MOTIVATION” link behind forms of procrastination, with tricks on how to get it done. The emphasis on emotions (e.g., shame, guilt, anxiety, fear), and not focusing on failure, will help procrastinators cope in life. (Joseph R. Ferrari, PhD, St. Vincent dePaul Professor of Psychology, DePaul University, Chicago, IL)

Dr. Mary Lamia offers wise and practical light and guidance on emotions and motivation in this serious, thoughtful and important book. A singular achievement (Michael Krasny, PhD, Professor of Literature and Host of KQED’s Forum)

Dr. Lamia says “you can learn about yourself if you pay attention” and you can also do so by reading this book. It is lucid and has great examples. After reading it you will have deeper self-understanding. (Mardi Horowitz, MD, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry UCSF; author of Adult Personality Growth in Psychotherapy)

If you are someone who often can't "just do it", this book may help you just do it better. Procrastination can often be seriously debilitating. Yet, ironically it can also be a powerfully motivating, as most people who have been students know. Dr. Lamia illustrates how some people have learned to make procrastination work for them to become more effective and better reach their goals. This book uniquely shows how highly successful people have turned procrastination into a personal asset. Procrastination may help unleash creativity, generate novel problem-solving, and even heighten focus. The secret of making procrastination an ally is in managing the negative emotions it too often generates. In an area where behavior is very difficult to change, this new approach is truly exciting and greatly needed. (Bill McCown, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology and Associate Dean, College of Business and Social Sciences University of Louisiana at Monroe and Pioneering Researcher in the Field of Procrastination)

About the Author

Mary C. Lamia, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst who practices in Marin County, California. Additionally, she is a professor and the faculty chair at the Wright Institute in Berkeley. Her career-long passion to convey an understanding of emotions to the public is exemplified by her writing and media work. She is the author of Emotions! Making Sense of Your Feelings, Understanding Myself: A Kid's Guide to Intense Emotions and Strong Feelings, and What Motivates Getting Things Done: Procrastination, Emotions, and Success. She co-authored The White Knight Syndrome: Rescuing Yourself from Your Need to Rescue Others and a forthcoming book, The Upside of Shame. She has provided commentary for numerous television, radio, and print media interviews and discussions, and for nearly a decade hosted a weekly call-in talk show, KidTalk with Dr. Mary, on Radio Disney stations. Her blog posts for Psychology Today and Therapy Today websites illustrate the significant role of emotions in our lives.