At some point in our writing journey (or life in general), we’ll all struggle with procrastination and distractions. At the same time, we all probably have way too much on our to-do list and not nearly enough time, so losing time (time that we don’t have) can be stressful.
Much has been written about how to overcome this issue, and while the suggestions can sometimes help, most of us still struggle. That’s why I was intrigued by a different way of looking at productivity and task-switching.
Coder/developer and “professional yapper” Ashley Crockett recently started a series on Instagram with insights into what she calls Cognitive Mode Theory. Let’s dig into her insights and see if they can help us break out of procrastination.
Procrastination: The Usual Advice
If we search “how to stop procrastinating,” there are tons of suggestions we can try. Many of these can be very helpful, depending on our brain and our situation, so let’s review some highlights…
Identify the cause of our procrastination:
- Is the task scary or overwhelming? Break the task into easier steps.
- Are we getting distracted? Remove the distractions with Focus Mode, closing tabs, or moving our phone out of reach.
- Is it writer’s block? Search for strategies from the hundreds of blog posts on the topic, like this one with 15 ideas.
- Are we physically struggling? Dehydration, hunger, and exhaustion can make it impossible to focus, so practice some self-care.
- Is it hard to get started? Overcome inertia by focusing on the smallest first task (“open file”) or setting a short timer and telling ourselves we can stop after the ring.
- Do we not feel the urgency? Set mini-deadlines.
- Do we dread the task? Find a way to make it rewarding: listen to a podcast or music while doing the task, enjoy a treat after finishing part of the task, etc.
- Do we need a sense of accountability? Use body doubling, like a group writing sprint or a body-doubling app.
- Are we struggling with focus? Use the 3-2-1 method: 3 minutes of movement to get the antsy feelings out, 2 minutes of writing down every distracting thought to get it out of our head, 1 minute to plan our goal of what we need to do.
- Are we not sure where to start? Make a checklist of what needs to get done.
There are some great ideas on that list, and hopefully one of them will help us. But if we’re still struggling, maybe it’s because we can’t even name what’s causing our procrastination.
What Is Cognitive Mode Theory?
That’s where Ashley’s Cognitive Mode Theory may help. Ashley proposes that we view our tasks, checklists, projects, and general productivity through a different lens than we might use by default — organizing by cognitive mode.
Check out Ashley’s amazing video on Instagram.
For example, a task on our checklist might be “Send newsletter to readers.” But what does that really entail? We have to…
- brainstorm our topic and what we want to say about it
- decide what information to include in our newsletter
- research and/or gather links and details
- synthesize old and new information and organize our thoughts
- write our newsletter with enough creativity to be interesting and engaging
- edit our newsletter to ensure quality
- do the administrative steps to publish/send newsletter (tagging audience, timing, etc.)
- drive new readers by marketing the newsletter on social media platforms
Each of those steps involves a different cognitive mode: brainstorming, planning, analyzing, decision-making, researching, organizing, creativity, administration, execution, marketing, etc. And for each cognitive mode, our brain uses a different thought process, encompassing how it identifies:
- the steps that must come first
- our existing knowledge
- the gaps in our knowledge
- how to apply our knowledge to that step in our task
- how to recognize patterns we’ll encounter with that step
- how we’ll know when the task is complete
In other words, switching cognitive modes can be a huge drain on our brain’s energy, as it’s essentially reconfiguring the neuron-firing architecture of our brain for each change.
Being a coder, Ashley describes each cognitive mode as a different software program. With that idea, changing cognitive modes requires our brain to:
- figure out what information from the current software program is important enough to keep for the future,
- save that information to the “clipboard” of working memory,
- uninstall the current programming taking up the rest of our working memory,
- install/develop a new software program based on previous knowledge and patterns,
- load any applicable previous data into working memory,
- and then try to move forward with the task.
That’s obviously a lot, so her analogy helps us see the brain cost of mode switching. In addition, some cognitive modes can be more draining than others (i.e., “decision fatigue”). So Ashley proposes that if we organize our day by cognitive mode to minimize switching, we might find ourselves more productive.
How Does Cognitive Mode Theory Apply to Procrastination?
Going back to what we said after our list of procrastination suggestions, if we’re still struggling despite all those ideas above, maybe it’s because we can’t even name what’s causing our procrastination. And maybe that’s because we’re trying to force our brain to reconfigure from one cognitive mode to another, and the gears of our brain are stuck.
As Ashley says, we might have better results if, instead of focusing on the outcome of a task, we focus on the cognitive mode necessary to produce that outcome. In other words, view our to-do list through the lens of identifying the required cognitive mode to minimize the cognitive transition cost of switching modes.
With that lens, to solve procrastination, we might…
- Ask ourselves what cognitive mode we’re currently in and then try to knock out some of our to-do list that uses that same mode.
- Organize our to-do list in an order that helps with cognitive mode transitions, such as starting with brainless tasks (loading dishwasher) while thinking about and preparing for the next brain-heavy task (brainstorming newsletter topic).
- Identify which modes are easier for us to switch between and batch tasks with similar modes (i.e., some modes are similar enough to have a lower transition cost).
- Switch to tasks that require a less-draining mode.
- Ensure we’ve “closed the loop” on the previous mode (or create a transition ritual), so our brain can shut down the previous mode.
- Try a “reset” technique if our brain feels dysregulated from the attempt to switch (cold on head/face/neck, sour candies, movement, spend time in nature, deep breathing, humming/singing, etc.).
- Lean into an aspect of the new mode that feels similar to our current mode (i.e., if we’re in a problem-solving mode, we could focus on how the next task/mode is also solving a problem, even if we’d normally consider it something else).
Putting this perspective into practice, after I finished drafting this post in creative mode, I spent time on a transition ritual before entering editing mode. I did all the self-care I’d ignored while in creative mode (eating, drinking, bathroom break). As I was putting my food together, I thought of a couple of things to add to the post, so I went back to my computer right away to get them out of my working memory (“closing the loop”). Then I went outside, listening to the birds and bugs while I counted through deep breathing and enjoyed the breeze. By the end of the break, not only did I have fresh eyes for the task, but my brain was reset for the nitpicky evaluation mode of final editing.
How Does Cognitive Mode Theory Specifically Apply to Writers?
As writers, cognitive mode theory can specifically apply to our work in ways that may help us understand our strengths and weaknesses—and maybe help prevent procrastination.
- We may learn that some cognitive modes have such high costs (*cough* marketing) that we need to set aside a whole day with nothing else planned.
- We may find that over time, our brains encode the patterns between different modes so deeply that switching has a lower transition cost.
For example, I’m able to draft and edit at the same time for the most part, despite those tasks using two different cognitive modes. The only time I need to make a full switch are with the big-picture style of developmental editing (deciding to redo entire scenes) and the super-detailed style of copyediting (deciding on every comma). The analysis mode used for the middle styles of editing are close enough to the creative mode of drafting (for me) that I can access both cognitive modes at the same time. - Many writers are neurodivergent, and many neurodivergent people struggle with transitions and task-switching as it is. So neurodivergent people may experience a higher cognitive transition cost when switching cognitive modes than neurotypical people.
- As writers, many cognitive modes we use require an extremely high load on our brain. Our creative cognitive mode can be deep brain work with tons of information about plot arcs, character arcs, emotional arcs, subplots, and other story threads — all needing to be stored in our working memory. There’s a reason that harsh interruptions when we’re in creative mode can blow up our whole day, as it can essentially be like a “blue screen of death” on the computer monitor of our cognitive “software” program for our creativity, as our working memory collapses.
- We may be more productive if we “batch” our tasks into creative vs. non-creative days. We could set aside one day a week to focus on the non-creative or business-type of tasks, such as catching up on email, marketing, etc. That way, our other days can focus on the deep-brain work of creative mode.
Regardless of the source of our procrastination, understanding cognitive modes may help us be more productive, especially if we’re able to optimize our to-do list based on mode rather than task or outcome.*smile*
Have you struggled with procrastination? Do you have additional suggestions to add to the suggestion list above? Have you thought of or been aware of your cognitive modes before? Do you think understanding this theory might help you? Do you have any insights to add?
Summary for Busy Writers: Procrastination happens to us all. This post shares 10 quick strategies for overcoming procrastination, but then it goes deeper to dig into a cause for procrastination that we might not have considered before, using cognitive mode theory to share unique insights and advice for how to help our brain work more effectively.
