Strands of Genius: Goalkeepers Report, How To Make The Most of COVID Winters & The Cheating Scandal of the Poker World
plus: our thoughts on procrastination and productivity
WRITING FROM | Athens, GA
WORKING ON | design update for SOSG
LOOKING AHEAD
Sept 10 - Oct 5(-ish): Athens, GA
Oct 5 - 23: Nashville, TN
:: WHAT’S NEW & WEEKLY GRATITUDE ::
Fall is in the air! These crisp temperatures are what we thought we’d have around Halloween, not mid-September! But the world is crazy, and perhaps the weather is just a reflection of that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This week, we’re especially thankful for:
hangs with Eliz, especially our Normaltown walk and Caribbean-themed meal, jerk chicken from Revival Butchery, Caribbean black beans & rice, jerk potato salad, a lovely chicken & mushroom casserole, Marissa&Tex&Abigail&Chi&Eleanor&Patti, Charley the grey cross spider, weekend shows The Boys & Lovecraft Country, Donna Changs (the best takeout we’ve had all year, if you ever find yourself in Athens, GA), all of the amazing work that RGB was able to accomplish in her life
and
The Annual Creative Industry Mental Health Survey from our friends at Tank and YOU, especially if you respond to it.
:: THE LINKS ::
THE GOALKEEPERS REPORT
Bill & Melinda Gates introduce their Goalkeepers Report by saying that in the past 25 weeks, we’ve been set back 25 years. (If you’re not familiar with the Goalkeepers Report, it’s a yearly check-in on 17 ambitious goals that 193 world leaders are hoping to achieve - to end poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change by 2030.) In their words: “And so this essay has two goals. First, we analyze the damage the pandemic has done and is still doing—to health, to economies, and to virtually everything else. Second, we argue for a collaborative response. There is no such thing as a national solution to a global crisis. All countries must work together to end the pandemic and begin rebuilding economies. The longer it takes us to realize that, the longer it will take (and the more it will cost) to get back on our feet.” Lots to dive into, and admittedly we’re still making our way through the whole report. A great accompanying piece is this interview with Bill Gates for New York Magazine. (The Gates Foundation/New York Magazine)
HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF COVID WINTERS
“This is the Winter 2020 question in a nutshell: What if instead of scolding people for their social needs, we got understanding, and then we got creative?” It’s a big question, especially considering that so many approved social distancing activities - walks, bike rides, picnics in the park - become less pleasant, less feasible even, come winter time. Andrea Chronopoulous tackles the question for Bloomberg Business Week, pulling thoughts from how other cultures deal with the cold. From stories of baked potatoes in Victorian England, to winter-proofing outdoor spaces, from mobile saunas (yes please!) to the idea of dressing to loiter, rather than dressing for a destination… We don’t have control over the weather, but we do have some control over our own winter experiences. As someone [Rosie] who is chilly at 73F (23C) and downright cold when it drops below 70F (21C), it’s hard not to feel anxious about spending time outside, but I’m feeling a little more hopeful after reading this article ;) (Bloomberg)
THE CHEATING SCANDAL THAT RIPPED THE POKER WORLD APART
Because sometimes we just need to get lost in madness that has nothing to do with the pandemic or politics. We need an unsolved mystery episode on this. (Wired)
ICYMI: CREATIVE INDUSTRY MENTAL HEALTH SURVEY
Has it been a year already? [LOL] Tank has once again issued their annual survey, building on the last two years of research into the mental health of the creative industry and they “hope you can share your voice here (anonymously) in an effort to make positive change.” We agree, this is an important topic for everyone, but especially for us, and especially now. (Tank)
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:: WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT: PROCRASTINATION & PRODUCTIVITY ::
I have a confession to make. I, Rosie Yakob, am a procrastinator. Last week I attended a Quartz @ Work webinar on procrastination and productivity, which prompted me to tackle the subject here.
First of all, I know I’m not alone in my procrastination. According to the Quartz webinar, 15-25% of adults procrastinate on a regular, consistent basis, so I’m clearly not alone in this.
Mary C. Lamia Ph.D. for Psychology Today writes, “Procrastinators commonly experience shame or guilt about their task completion style, since the judgments of others lead them to feel humiliated or blameworthy, even though they are not inclined to change their way of doing things.” Sounds about right.
I’ve procrastinated for as long as I can remember, in part because, well, it’s worked for me. I’ve always been of the mindset that you work to live, rather than live to work. And so it made sense to me that if work is like gas, expanding to whatever space you give it, why not give it the smallest possible space, and use the rest of it, to, you know, live?
My procrastination started at an early stage, as it does for many, in school. School work came relatively easy to me with few exceptions (namely, Biology & AP Chemistry). I wasn’t an exceptional student, but memorization came easily to me, I was (and still am) a fast reader, which meant As and Bs without a whole lot of effort.
80-90% of college students engage in procrastination (Steel 2007), and for those of us that continue to procrastinate in our adult lives, we can often trace the roots back to academia. But it’s not unique to school/the academic world; Procrastination tends to occur across multiple domains: work, productivity, mental health, physical health.
The webinar experts shared consequences of procrastination that included the following: Students typically receive lower grades assignments (Baumesieter 1997), and are more likely to cheat on their exams, or lie about why they were unable to complete their work in a timely manor. More generally, procrastination can lead to poor mental health (Stead 2010), anxiety and depression (Szanto 1996), stress, poor sleep, and procrastination even affects physical health and your propensity for illness. Yikes!
So why, then, do we procrastinate? The experts from the Quartz @ Work webinar said that most often, procrastination is not about poor time management, but about poor mood management.
They posited that we procrastinate because we’re trying to avoid a negative mood. Typically, people procrastinate on tasks that are boring, frustrating, unpleasant, lacking meaning or lacking structure. It makes sense, right? What makes us procrastinate is the feeling about the task. Avoid the aversive tasks, avoid the negative mood, and you’ve got a short term benefit.
From Psychology Today, again: “The possible “causes” of procrastination that have been investigated are wide-ranging, and a prevailing objective of these studies, aside from trying to figure out what is “wrong” with people who procrastinate, is to search for successful interventions to reduce the frequency of procrastination in those who do it.
I do not want to shame my colleagues for inadvertently or intentionally shaming procrastinators, but any internet search regarding procrastination will reveal many studies in which derogatory attributions are made about those who are driven by deadlines. Such studies attempt to correlate procrastination with, for example, a lack of conscientiousness, impulsivity, pathological worry, behaving and thinking irrationally, cheating and plagiarism, a work-avoidant goal orientation, problems with distress regulation, neuroticism, task averseness, avoidance motives, fraudulent excuses, self-handicapping, role conflict, avoiding shame and guilt, fear of failure, and cyberslacking.”
The webinar, perhaps unsurprisingly, also focused on the downsides to procrastination and interventions. Here were the suggested interventions:
Set up a clear work schedule with breaks. Tasks that lack structure create uncertainty, and uncertainty is one of those emotions we are wired to avoid. By giving your work structure, you’re helping to reduce uncertainty. (More on that below, with #4.) Building in breaks allows you to manage your mood, and decrease boredom.
Reduce distractions. Let others know when you’re working, and try to setup a space that signifies work.
Plan for distractions. It’s impossible to totally eliminate distractions, so to reduce the negative emotions that can come from distractions, we can also plan for how we’ll deal with them. Your partner asking you about dinner plans in the middle of work? It’s not procrastination in and of itself, but the interruption can lead to procrastination. You might decide that when that happens, you’ll take a 5 minute break to discuss future plans. Or perhaps instead you’ve got a pre-planned break in the future, and you ask your partner if you can discuss at a certain time in the future instead.
Reduce task uncertainty. Make sure you have all the information you need before starting a task. (You can also think about this in terms of structuring a bigger task into smaller, more manageable tasks. Maybe you don’t have all the information you need to complete the *whole* task, so the first task becomes information gathering.) Uncertainty leads to paralysis, and again, more generally uncertainty is a feeling we’re hard-wired to avoid.
Cultivate meaning. Find something meaningful or positive within the work at hand to increase those positive feelings — and counteract any negative vibes that come from the work.
Practice self compassion. Last but not least, be kind to yourself. Being hard on yourself will increase negative emotions, which increases procrastination. Treat yourself as you would a best friend who is struggling. Go easy on yourself.
All of these make sense to me, in theory. I don’t disagree with any of them. But, the reason I keep coming back to the Psychology Today article is that… I’m not so sure my procrastination is such a problem. (Though I would say that, wouldn’t I?)
“I couldn't imagine, and I don't say this with any pride, but I really couldn't imagine writing without a desperate deadline.”
- Hunter S. Thompson
“I love deadlines. I love the sound they make as they go whooshing by.”
- Douglas Adams
Are you more Thompson or Adams? I identify more with Hunter S Thompson here. Deadlines are motivating to me, and even when it’s truly impossible for me to meet a deadline (say, power outage or insufficient information), I panic. I certainly don’t treat deadlines lightly. (Faris can attest to this!)
With one study of procrastinators and non-procrastinators, researchers expected that procrastinators would be more prone to the planning fallacy — that they would underestimate the amount of time required to complete a task. Unexpectedly, the researchers found that both groups [procrastinators and non] were equally competent when it came to time estimation and attaining goals.
For those who don’t procrastinate, well, it’s sometimes hard to see the method to the madness of procrastination. Procrastinators are often deemed lazy, and assumed to have pathological traits or conditions that account for our delay.
Back to that Psychology Today article: “In actuality, racing the clock emotionally stimulates those who procrastinate. Since emotions serve to direct one’s attention, we might consider such deadline stimulation highly adaptive as well. Moreover, procrastinating enables some people to perform at peak efficiency, and their task delay enables them to work diligently and attain optimal efficiency. Professionally successful procrastinators report that when they try to get something done ahead of time, often they are compromised in terms of both motivation and concentration. Thus, for procrastinators, the energizing quality and focus provided by emotions that are activated upon nearing a deadline are essential.”
I’m interested in both sides of the equation — I’m comforted to hear that procrastination isn’t something that needs to be fixed — and yet, it’s a complex topic. I found myself nodding along in the webinar when they mentioned using procrastination as a tool to avoid negative moods. I’m excited to implement some of the webinar suggestions… but I probably won’t do it until I have to. Because that’s just how procrastination works ;)
:: AND NOW… 5 RULES FOR TALKING TO PEOPLE AGAIN ::
Because we’re out of practice, y’all!
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faris & rosie & ashley | your friends over at geniussteals.co
@faris is always tweeting
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
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