Life // Love // Sex: What is ‘temptation bundling’ and is it the answer to your procrastination?

If you’ve ever had a list of menial tasks slowly piling up in the corner of your mind, let me introduce you to temptation bundling.

My life is chaos.

I have a seemingly never-ending list of odd jobs — buy a new photo frame for a family portrait, wash my car, restock my laundry supplies — things like that.

My house is a mess, I haven’t done the ironing in weeks and I can’t even look at the garden.

I can’t bring myself to do these tasks, no matter how much I try.

It’s just so easy to let these tasks build up and up.

How do I get the motivation to do all the things that I can’t be bothered doing?

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When I read this letter I couldn’t help but think of a paper that I came across during my studies.

It was called: ‘Holding the Hunger Games Hostage at the Gym: An Evaluation of Temptation Bundling’ written by American economist Katherine Milkman.

Not only was the title extremely enticing (any mention of Suzanne Collins’ 2008 young adult trilogy the Hunger Games was enough to pique my attention) but the concept of “temptation bundling” was well … tempting.

So what is it?

Katherine, the aforementioned paper’s author, loved nothing more than coming home after a long day of work and reading the Hunger Games.

But like many of us, there were more productive things that Katherine could’ve been doing instead of re-reading the series over and over again, but she could never bring herself to do them.

And while Collins’ plot is quite captivating, Katherine’s life was starting to slip, quite literally into its dystopia.

It was then when Katherine asked herself – what if I only allow myself to read the books when I’m exercising at the gym?

Would this be the solution to her problems?

Katherine put together this strategy and she called it “temptation bundling” and it might be the answer to all our procrastination concerns.

Katherine put together a strategy called “temptation bundling” and it might be the answer to all our procrastination concerns.

According to Katherine: “Temptation bundling involves the coupling of instantly gratifying ‘want’ activities (eg. watching the next episode of a habit-forming television show, checking Facebook, receiving a pedicure, eating an indulgent meal) with engagement in a ‘should’ behaviour that provides long-term benefits but requires the exertion of willpower (eg, exercising at the gym, completing a paper review, spending time with a difficult relative).”

Essentially it’s the practice of combining two activities – one you should be doing but tend to procrastinate about, and one that you enjoy doing but isn’t actually that productive.

Katherine wanted to exercise more but she’d rather read the Hunger Games. By combining these two activities, Katherine created her own “temptation bundle” leaving her with only one way to find out what happens in the next chapter.

After several weeks, Katherine had developed the habit of exercising five times a week, a dramatic improvement from her pre-temptation bundling days.

To test her theory, Katherine and her research colleagues recruited 226 participants for a 10-week study on the effects temptation bundling have on exercise.

Katherine wanted to exercise more but she’d rather read — by combining these two activities, Katherine created her own “temptation bundle” leaving her with only one way to find out what happens in the next chapter.

Each participant was assigned to one of three groups.

Group one was the control group. They were given gift cards as a reward for exercising for the study.

Group two was loaned an iPod with four audio books of their choice and were told to only listen while they were exercising.

Group three (the temptation bundling group) were also loaned an iPod with four audio books from a list of highly addictive books (one of which was of course, The Hunger Games), but they could only access the iPod at the gym itself.

The results?

They discovered that the third group visited the gym 51 per cent more frequently than the control group.

Temptation bundling is the practice of bundling a productive task with an unproductive task that you enjoy.

There are so many ways that you can apply temptation bundling to your life.

If you want to read more, you can bring a book to your pedicure appointment or on the train. If you want to eat healthier you could watch your favourite show as you meal prep for the week or cook with friends. If you want to spend more time with friends or family, you could drag your favourite on a day of errands. The possibilities are endless.

When I have a free day, I write a list of the bits and pieces that I’ve been contemplating over time and commit myself to get them done. I wake up at a reasonable hour, hop in the car, plug my phone in the AUX and listen to my favourite podcast or I pick up a friend on the way and we catch up on life as I drive through the car wash and wait in the Kmart line to buy yet another iPhone charger.

I also employ this practice more regularly in everyday life. For example, I do my washing and ironing once a week, like most, but instead of silently ironing my clothes, I putthe Real Housewives on the television.

Of course I’d much rather be completely enthralled in the drama and solely be watching but there’s something about finishing a pile of ironing... nothing feels quite the same.

While collecting motivation can be hard, it’s easier to grapple with when you’ve connected the task with something you enjoy doing.

If you struggle to get on top of all the little tasks in life, why not try this technique?

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