Welcome to ATP—All Things Psychology, a newsletter that brings bite-sized research pieces from Psychology and Neuroscience straight to your inbox, with one goal: To help you leverage science to improve your life.
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If I asked you to name tasks you dislike and that you often put off, I’m sure you can name many of them!
I could come up with a loooong list myself.
One of these dreaded tasks is doing my monthly finances for my business. I love my business, but I’m not a huge fan of the accountability part. I used to keep procrastinating on this task until the last possible submission day at the tax office.
But you know what? That’s not the case anymore, and I even enjoy this part of my business!
What I did was reframe this task: instead of considering it boring and soul-sucking, I gave it new meaning. For me, it’s like a monthly mini-celebration of the business I've built over the last 2 years, and it makes me proud to declare the income from my business.
That reframing has helped me so much that, instead of procrastinating and suffering, I now enjoy this task and even look forward to it every month. And the science is on my side.
Quick break…
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What the research says
In one study, all participants performed the same task: remembering a series of digits. These series became gradually longer, and the farther you can get (i.e., the more digits in a row you can remember correctly), the better. It’s a classic working memory test called ‘digit span’.
But this study introduced an interesting twist: even though the task was identical for everyone, participants were randomly divided into groups and received different instructions:
In one group, the task instructions highlighted the positive aspects and opportunities of the task.
In the other group, the instructions highlighted the negative aspects and potential punishment for low performers on this task.
The group that received the positive framing performed significantly better in the memory task than the group that received the negative framing. This difference could be explained by a higher perceived threat and reduced positive feelings in the negative group, with the opposite pattern in the positive group.
This shows that the meaning you assign to a task can change your emotional response and make you perform better.
Another study tested how cognitive reappraisal (the ability to shift your feelings about an activity towards a more positive view) relates to physical activity behavior. The study found that people who reported stronger cognitive reappraisal tended to report more positive feelings about physical activity and were also more physically active.
Wrapping up
The message of today’s newsletter is clear: Even though you cannot change the task itself, you can reframe how you think and feel about it. This reframing can make you feel more positive about the task, which, in turn, helps you perform better and could also reduce procrastination.
Action prompt for this week:
Think of a task you dislike but can’t avoid. Then write one sentence that changes its meaning.
Suggestions:
Challenge frame: “This is a chance to get better at ___.”
Values frame: “I’m doing this because I care about ___.”
Future-benefit frame: “Tomorrow me will thank me because ___.”
Pride frame (as in my example above): “This is evidence that I’m ___.”
That’s it for today!
And now?
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Until next time!
Best wishes,
Patricia (Dr. Schmidt) from creatorschmidt.com
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