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Nanani comments on Cached Procrastination - Less Wrong
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Whenever I set mental deadlines for myself I'm much more likely to get things done. It seems that when my brain queries TimeToGetThisDone(), if I set no mental deadline, it's apt to return "plenty of time" or the due date. Of course, for time management reasons, it's better to get stuff done well before the due date so you have enough time to get everything done (e.g., 3 papers due on the same day). If I set an earlier mental deadline, I'm less apt to procrastinate because "time pressure" is (artificially) increasing.
This doesn't always work though, primarily because it's hard to get the mental deadlines set. It seems that my procrastinate mode won't let my planning mode take over and think about when things should be finished. In fact, I often catch myself thinking "but if I think about when to do stuff, I won't be able to procrastinate..."
I do this with other things too. For example, when I'm about to make an impulse buy, I'll start to think "is this really worth $20 to me?" but then I'll think "I better not do the cost-benefit calculation, because then I won't buy it."
It's as if there are 2 agents battling for control of my brain. Is there a term for this? Does anyone else have this problem? What about a solution?
So don't buy it! If you are thinking that doing the calculation will cause you not to buy it, you have already concluded on some level that you are better off not buying it. Listen to that side of yourself. It will only be hard the first few times, then you'll see yourself rejecting the impulse buy before you have to agonize.
You do see the difficulty though, don't you? When I'm about to make that impulse buy, I'm in impulse mode, and this mode seems to be sabotaging any attempts by calculating mode to take control. Saying "don't buy it" is just like telling someone with a weight problem "stop eating so much." It's extremely difficult to muster the willpower to pull that off, and my efforts are probably better spent elsewhere anyway, like studying for finals.
There are methods that work, of course, and they all seem to involve preventing impulse mode from taking control in the first place. If I don't go to the video game aisle, I won't be tempted to buy the latest incarnation of Civilization. If I don't go into Wal-Mart, I won't be tempted to buy a lot of things. However, these only go so far, and sometimes I just want to look... then I just want to touch... then, dammit, impulse mode has taken control again and I walk out $50 poorer with a game I don't have enough time to play anyway.