Self Worth Theory: The Key to Understanding & Overcoming Procrastination | Nic Voge | TEDxPrincetonU

[behnamrostami]

this is the best procrastination i have ever done

[sarahcrane]

Proscination is not always about being lazy. It can be feelings of being overwhelmed and not knowing which way to go in life. Fear of making a mistake etc 💖

[nayeefachowdhury]

I always get the feeling of being stuck when I procrastinate. It took me years to comprehend that the root of my procrastination was not laziness. Each time, I felt overwhelmed by anxiety.

[annieshaw]

Somewhere near the halfway point of this video, I genuinely found myself getting teary because I felt so seen and it felt so freeing to hear that there’s a deeper explanation here and it isn’t because we’re lazy, useless people…wow. It was SO helpful to have procrastination finally explained so clearly.

[brancroidubh]

I laughed at myself when I originally saw this and clicked on watch later.

[dylansantana]

who else watched this while procastinating?

[bungarenaning]

Just love the statement : “Can we be motivated by the things we aspire to, not by pretending we don’t have the fears, but despite them?”

[quinn]

I struggle to find the answer "why straight-A student fail in college" for over 4 years, and this is the reason. Mind-blowing presentation. Thank you so much.

[marishkaaable]

Main takeaways (imo):
1. Break the equation: performance does not equal ability, ability does not equal worth.
2. Often, procrastinators do not lack ambition. On the contrary, they overstrive.
3. Instead of focusing on fear, focus on why you chose to do this work. Ex., think of your work as an experiment or service to others. The goal is to reduce pressure and anxiety.
4. Ask yourself, how does this task align with my mission? HOw do I make it small?

[andromedasmoons]

I've learned that my "all or nothing" thinking also contributes greatly to procrastination. My entire time k-12 I never, not once, broke up my papers or even projects into different days of work. I would do it all at once at the end and I actually had a shocking number of zeros from not turning in work at all. My dad and teachers would beg to me to at least turn in partial work, but that made me feel even worse than getting zeros. I would have rather turned in nothing than turned in something that wasn't "good enough". I didn't know what "all or nothing thinking" was until I was in treatment for anorexia two years after barely graduating high school, and one year after dropping out of community college after the first week because I had a meltdown. DBT (dialectical behavioural therapy) was quite the awakening. I believe "all or nothing" thinking is also tied to our sense of self worth.

[Seeyatellite]

"May your choices reflect your hopes and not your fears" is one of the most appropriately motivational quotes for such an interesting perspective on procrastination. I've sat in my own head making plans and dashing them to bits expecting failure... there's something profound in ending the decision process at hope.

[diladuman]

Best ted talk I have ever seen. I've been struggling with procrastination for 4 years now and my fears turned my life upside down. I needed this. You can see from his face how sincere he is and I am really grateful for this speech. Thank you <3

[nourhanlk]

Best line from the talk: "Your ability is not equivalent to your worth." ❤🌻

[AshiqurRahmanFahmi]

Probably the most undersold and underrated speech in the history of TED talks.
Thank you, Nic Voge!

[arsenalfanism]

12:40 when he says "we are protecting our self or the sense of our self as able and capable and worthy human beings" hit so true at every level.

[stellamn]

Have you ever considered that there is a limited amount of sources from which we build our self-worth? Namely, close social environment - friends, distant social environment - colleagues, hobbies, sports, self-care, success at work, success in networking, success in hobbies and so on. Now, imagine 95% of the mentioned sources no longer exist in your life. That’s the main issue. The moment you rely on one single source for your self-worth. The problem is that each source is responsible of giving us a puzzle piece of meaning in life - so only the completeness, the entire image, is capable of reflecting who we are.

I believe procrastination results from an unbalanced life style and insufficient resources for building a stable self-worth.

[devansharora]

Is it just me or is this the most useful Ted talk ever!!

[sabinajojisebastian]

Nobody has put the idea of procrastination with so much clarity ever! The point wherein he says that it is a middle point between the need to succeed and the fear of failure is extremely true.
Whenever I am procrastinating, I honestly want to do the task really well and I’m waiting for myself to get motivated to do that job perfectly.
I don’t want to do something half heartedly because I don’t want to ruin the task.
But through procrastinating, I end up overworking my brain and doing the task somehow, but still not feel fulfilled by it.

He just laid it all out on how it all works.

[komalrbohra]

I come back to this often after I get into a loop where I am harsh on myself after a unproductive day which leads to me derailing for days. The empathetic approach and reminders by him are so re assuring and I feel more inclined to atleast get started and moving again on my tasks. Thank you for this.

[aragsan]

I can’t remember being this impacted by a Ted talk, ever! I learned so much and actually shed tears as I connected what I was struggling with for so many years. I genuinely would not have thought self worth and procrastination were related, but now it makes so much sense. I knew that anxiety was a factor, but looking beyond the anxiety into the deeper meaning behind why we build things up into mountains in our heads is startling and satisfying at the same time. I really apologized to myself once I connected the self worth with the achievement. I never would have thought that I was struggling with self worth! Now I know I need compassion and not shaming myself or guilting myself into completing a task that I am procrastinating on. The shaming and guilting have been the only way I finally was able to start on so many occasions. Self compassion and introspection is much needed in my life. I am writing this at 2 am having spent the last week catastrophizing about what my proposal would look like to others and wasn’t even able to write until hours before I sent it in so of course it came back with edits and that just made me more stuck until this moment. Thank you for sharing this, you certainly reduced my suffering and I am deeply grateful.