The Anatomy of Procrastination: Why Do I Procrastinate?
by Kevin Hogan
Page 2
Let’s look at what happens when you procrastinate:
Optimism about how long the project will take and how hard it will be to complete. It won’t be hard, and it won’t take that long so, therefore, I don’t have to start NOW. (Say, “HA HA HA!”)
Sudden panic as you realize that you are really behind schedule and you have to make up for lost time. (The Stress Response for being disorganized and having no plan or preparedness.)
Motivation to work on task at the last minute because you have been backed into a corner, all the while resenting your loss of freedom and the idea that you were forced to accomplish this project. (Get over this. College is over.)
The results may be OK (probably not up to your potential) and you may feel happy that you got it done, angry that you HAD to do it in the first place, perturbed that you didn’t get the recognition you deserve, and/or superior that you were able to get the project done in so little time at the last minute, while others may have focused longer and harder on the project.
KEYPOINT: Most procrastinators can only continue to procrastinate if they spin the outcome of their procrastination in a positive light.
“I’m not going to stress out over X” (I’ll let YOU stress out over X)
“There are things that are more important than X.”
And, their willingness to make excuses, or to see the outcome as better than it was, or better than it MIGHT have been if they had really focused, is obviously not helping them at all!
As we said before, procrastination is a symptom of stuff that’s more complex.
It doesn’t matter whether your conscious voice is more like the Carefree conscience, or the Critic or the Chaotic profile.
Procrastination comes from one or more of these issues:
Motivation - You feel this project is irrelevant and has no meaning for you
Training - You feel you do not have the training or knowledge to accomplish this project, or you are uncertain about taking on something you have not done before
Standards - You are afraid you will not perform the task perfectly
Obligations - You may not be able to fulfill all of your obligations because you have so much to do
Assumptions - You believe that if you avoid or ignore the task it will evaporate. You assume that it will take less time or effort to accomplish
Fear - You are worried about how others may evaluate or judge you
Avoidance - You just hate doing this kind of thing.
We’ll talk about how to address these issues later.
Think about the things that may be at the root of each of these issues. How many of these apply to you?
Self Esteem – You struggle with feelings of incompetence, and poor self-esteem. (All but the narcissist do at some time or another.)
You insist on a high level of an extremely high standard of performance though you feel you are incapable of achieving this performance.
Pressure – You use procrastination to deal with the pressure of daily life and all the competing obligations and tasks.
You know that if you get this project done, someone will just give you another project to do. And the gal in the cubicle next door gets paid the same to do less. (Welcome to government mentality.)
Control – You use procrastination as a means of control.
You don’t like to be pushed around and you feel that you should decide what to do and when to perform the task. You’ll do what you want to, when you want to.
Justification – You feel that others do not understand how busy you are and how complicated your life is.
It isn’t that you procrastinate – it’s just that others don’t understand your problems.
You often feel like a victim and you are frustrated that others don’t see how unfair it is.
The more often you procrastinate, the more you reinforce the behavior, and the harder it is to interrupt the cycle. You screw yourself in and get in so tight you can’t get out…
For every project on which you procrastinate, you reinforce:
