Thoughts on the Root Causes of Procrastination

I read an article this  morning in the New York Times about procrastination that I found interesting to think about. I received the link to it from my LinkedIn email update and here is the link if you'd like to check out the article yourself. Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control) Since I am a champion procrastinator, I definitely had to see what this was all about. It did inspire me to go and write this blog post about it, so it is definitely worth a read.

The basic premise of the article is that procrastination isn't about laziness or lack of self-control. Procrastinators often avoid doing tasks by doing something else instead. Something that is often detailed and time-consuming but much lower priority than whatever we were trying to avoid. Contrary to popular opinion, some psychologists have put forth the opinion that procrastination comes into being due to "an inability to manage negative moods around a task." Hmm. I'm with you so far. I can work hard at a task for hours on end but still have things that I put off indefinitely. The doctors in these studies target emotions and moods including boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, and self-doubt among other less prevalent emotions. Procrastination, they say, is an emotion management problem not a time management problem. Well... yes and no, is my experience.

Part of my procrastination problem is indeed a time management issue. I have difficulty accurately predicting how long it will take to complete a task. All too often I only allow for ideal circumstances and the shortest amount of time and equally often, those ideal circumstances fail to appear. I'm sure none of you are surprised by that. To further compound the problem, by underestimating the time needed, I then schedule too many things to do before having to go somewhere and, also no surprise, run late trying to accomplish them all.  This is when negative emotions come into play as I find myself frustrated and stressed, which results in irritation and resentment at all these things that need to be done and that thought leads straight down the road of procrastination.

There are times when negative emotions are the root cause for me as well. Boring tasks are much more likely to get delayed than interesting ones. I've always struggled with boredom and that has only gotten worse as I've gotten older. It's not that I don't have anything to do or any hobbies; it's that I've grown bored with them. If there's nothing challenging or intriguing about them anymore, I find it incredibly hard to follow through and finish a project. The other emotional cause is resentment. All too often I find myself in a situation where I agreed to do something a few days ago then other things came up in between then and now. Now I find myself with too much to do and not enough time to do it, angry and wondering "why do I do this to myself?" In an effort to meet the obligation of what I had agreed to do, the other tasks get pushed aside and all too often remain undone.

So what is a lifelong procrastinator to do? Well, the psychologists suggest becoming mindful of the emotions and how procrastinating makes you feel in the moment to try and steer yourself into a better space by recognizing how you feel when it comes time to pay the piper. Next suggestion is to visualize what steps you would take next if you were going to do the task, with the idea that this would lead to motivating you to actually do the task. For me... nope. No amount of visualizing steps will motivate me to do the piled up dishes. Their third suggestion has some merit and I've found can work to getting things started; make doing whatever you do as procrastination more inconvenient. Like moving my laptop into the office instead of lounging on the living room sofa with it. The other thing that works well with me is to become my own nag. Self-talk such as "don't sit down until you've switched the laundry loads," and "feed the dog right now before you work on that file." I can't stand my self-nagging but always find myself relieved and surprised at how little time the task took to complete when done on time. You'd think this would become a trend. One can always hope.

Living Life on the Highway or on the Road Less Traveled?

Since I started back to work I've really noticed how little patience society has now for waiting. I'm not talking about in a long line for ten or more minutes but a matter of 10 to 20 seconds. Yes, you read that right, I said seconds. I've seen people change lines with just one person in front of them, nearly run into people in the process, even just miss a fender bender with their cars, all to save themselves 10 seconds waiting behind someone else. Have our lives become so fast paced that we can't slow down at all? Take a breath, look around you, say hello to the person in line behind you.

Depending on the circumstances, I'm as guilty as anyone else, mostly due to running late. Technology has made this even worse. Looking at the weather online and one last check of email, leads to Facebook, then to Instagram and then -- oh no! Now I'm late! I hurry around trying to get everything done and wind up stressed out, irritated, and impatient. This morning I decided to be mindful of the time I had and how much time things took to do. I still had my usual coffee and crossword puzzles (I do two a day, USA Today and The Washington Post) but by being aware and changing the order I normally did things I was able to get the dog out for a leisurely walk and do the dishes, as well as make and eat breakfast and pack a lunch. All this and I was out the door and at work on time. Win!

In another ironic twist, I've taken time each day to let my mind relax, to sit outside on the carport with the pets and enjoy this beautiful weather, and have then gotten more things done afterward. I used to try to focus to get things done first, but then wound up in avoidance behavior on the computer with the result that nothing got done and I was tense and angry with myself. Jim Rohn, an entrepreneur and motivational speaker, once said that the more success you have, the more time you'll have. That struck me as paradoxical but it is proving true in my life. Another thing he said that rings dramatically true is that "failure is not a cataclysmic event." Failure is a group of small failings that build up throughout the day. I've been experiencing that for a very long time now and I wind up feeling angry at myself and the life I'm leading, when it's all down to my own behavior to change it and make it better. So here's to finally applying this belief to my life and reaping the benefits.

What to give up for Lent?

Whew! It's been a while since I have had the chance to write. Lots of extra shifts at work to cover but it was enjoyable being so busy. That's not to say I won't enjoy having some more time off though!

So, yesterday was Ash Wednesday, and although I'm not Catholic, I did give up something for Lent last year. It was quite successful and so I'm doing the same this year. I've gotten into a bad habit of reading online fanfiction stories ad nauseum. Now reading isn't bad, it's the sheer number of hours spent staring at the computer screen when I could be reading one of the many other books that I have and want to read. The computer confines me to one spot, poor posture, and isn't good for your eyes to look at that long without breaks. So for the period of Lent, no reading any fanfiction. This should give me hours of time back to do other things, and yes, even still read but do so with an actual book. Maybe outside in my carport enjoying some beautiful Florida weather. My pup would surely enjoy that as well.

Do you give something up for Lent? I've found it works better for me than a New Year's resolution, as there is a much shorter time limit. I'm not committing to giving it up forever, just for the next six weeks. The benefit is that the six weeks of Lent is long enough to break the habit.