6.6 Strategies for Combating Cognitive Distortions

Putting Your Thoughts on Trial

One helpful strategy for combating cognitive distortions that lead to procrastination is to put your thoughts on trial; after noticing an automatic thought, you use the notion of a defense attorney and a prosecuting attorney to make their cases for and against the potential distortion. Each side has an opportunity to present evidence. How do you  defend the automatic thought? What do you know that can counter it? Do this mentally or record it somewhere. The idea is to use the defense and prosecution’s arguments to come up with a more reasonable, realistic thought in the end; it is important to make sure you have enough information or evidence before letting automatic thoughts become conclusions.

Example

Cognitive distortion: “It isn’t worth eating just a little more nutritiously; if I’m going to eat right, I have to completely transform my diet. Therefore, I won’t focus on nutritious eating until I’m done with school.”

More reasonable thought

“Making small changes will be more sustainable, so it is worth my time and energy to try eating nutritious foods now… and nobody is perfect!”

Questions to Ask Yourself if Procrastinating Unpleasant Tasks

If you are procrastinating because a task seems unpleasant, ask yourself these questions:

• Can this be delegated? Perhaps this potentially unpleasant task is actually one someone else might enjoy.
• Can I make this one of the first things I do during the day to get it out of the way? If so, identify where you can create a visual cue that you’ll see first thing in the morning—like a sticky note on the bathroom mirror.
• If the unpleasant task is one where I have a choice, can I take a moment to write down or mentally survey the advantages and disadvantages of completing the task? For example, if you plan to prepare meals before the start of the work week as part of a goal to free up time for studying, thinking through how easy your week will go with this task out of the way might give you more motivation to get started. Alternatively, you might discover a new way of achieving the goal simply by thinking through it.

Using the 5-minute Strategy to Overcome Emotional Reasoning or Dichotomous Thinking

If emotional reasoning or dichotomous thinking are leading to procrastination, consider trying the 5-minute strategy. This strategy is a cognitive behavior therapy technique in which a person commits to working on a task they would otherwise avoid, but only for five minutes. They might set a timer and when the timer goes off, if the task is so horrible they have to stop, they are free to do so. However, many people find that after five minutes of working on a task, it is easier to continue making progress or even complete the task. In other words, they are riding the momentum of those five minutes. This strategy can also be used for physical activity, meditation, or other forms of self-care that one might put off or find difficult to get started on.

Breaking Down Overwhelming Goals Into Smaller Steps

If a goal seems overwhelming and again is leading to should-ing or fortune telling, try breaking it down into smaller steps. Writing a paper or planning to cook a meal for a large group can seem overwhelming at first if you look at these undertakings as a whole. Breaking down cooking, for example, into more manageable steps and working your way through each can help you accomplish this larger goal: ask for recipe suggestions, choose a recipe, inventory what ingredients you already have, write a grocery list, choose when to go to the store, and plan which day you’ll make the meal. As you accomplish each step, celebrate or reward your efforts. You might also consider using a visual display to mark your progress. For example, write each step on a large white board and cross each one out as you complete them. Or write each step on its own sticky note and move it from one side of a wall or board to the other as they are completed. Seeing your progress this way can provide added motivation to continue.

Decluttering Your Physical Environment

Lastly, sometimes our physical environment directly competes with our ability to focus on certain tasks (Mcmains & Sabine, 2011). It might be worth spending a little time decluttering the space in which you plan to work on your tasks or goals. Of course, don’t spend too much time decluttering as a means of putting off the task at hand.