Ever wondered why you put things off? And more importantly what you can do to stop procrastinating and start doing? Well first of all let me explain that procrastination is not a time management issue, but an emotional regulation issue.
There are a great many reasons why we might procrastinate, more of that later, but what they all have in common is this behaviour comes from our inability to manage negative feelings about a task. Procrastination is our way of coping with challenging emotions, and negative moods associated by a specific task we need to do. In a 2013 study, psychologists found that procrastination is “the primacy of short-term mood repair …over the longer-term pursuit of intended actions.” Put simply, procrastination is about being more focused on “the immediate urgency of managing negative moods”
Overcoming a tendency to procrastinate starts with self-awareness. Sometimes it might be obvious that you’re procrastinating. For example, when you suddenly need to organise your kitchen cupboards, because that is more attractive than the task in hand. But other times it might not be so obvious. And there are many different reasons as to why we procrastinate. It could be boredom, anxiety, frustration, resentment, lack of self-esteem, or doubt. The reasons for our procrastination vary greatly and depend on the task we are putting off. But we need to understand why we are procrastinating in order to adopt the right strategy to stop procrastinating.
Let’s take a quick look at the most common reasons why people procrastinate.
Fear of failure
Fear of failure is often linked to a lack of self-esteem or self-doubt or even perfectionism. In essence, we put off starting the task because we think we’re going to be no good at it. It could be something big like writing a book or starting a business, or something smaller, such as a task at work that we believe we’re not going to be able to deliver effectively
Fear of success
Fear of success is different to fear of failure. If fear of failure is about beating yourself up, fear of success is about how you think others might perceive you and also about the potential price of success. It could be that you think completing the task will result in more responsibility or in changes that you’re not ready for. Sometimes it just feels more comfortable to stay where you are.
Perfectionism
- Linked to FOF
- Do it right or don’t do it at all.
- Strive for perfection but think you won’t achieve so procrastinate
Task aversion
Task aversion is an obvious reason as to why we procrastinate. Quite simply the task itself is unattractive. What’s really interesting about task aversion is that sometimes the tasks we’re putting off might not seem that unpleasant to others. On a recent webinar, I asked people to talk about the sorts of tasks they put off, and the answers included avoiding going to the post office or putting fuel in your car. In summary we tend to avoid tasks that we see as tedious, boring, or maybe a bit too hard.
Of course, there are many, many other reasons to explain why we procrastinate. From self-sabotage to optimism bias, fear of the unknown, fear of change, low motivation, a lack of self-confidence and many more.
The reasons why we procrastinate are helpful to understand how to overcome it. There are some great quick fixes for the more superficial reasons as to why we procrastinate. For example, you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘eat the frog’. This means do the thing that is the most unattractive to you on your ‘To Do List’ first and get it out of the way. Another quick fix is to spend 10 minutes on the task you don’t want to do. 10 minutes can seem very do-able, and of course, once you start the task the reality is often not as bad as the idea of it, and the task gets completed. Other quick fixes include changing up your environment to help you think differently to break through that procrastination. Visualising how you’ll feel once the task is complete is another great quick fix to help you break through the barrier of procrastination.
But while these ideas are great quick fixes for more superficial procrastination, sometimes the breakthrough you need requires more work. When you’re analysing the reasons why you procrastinate, if you land explanations such as fear of failure, fear of success, perfectionism, self-sabotage etc, this is going to require more work than a quick fix.
For me personally, I had ‘starting my business’ on my ‘To Do List’ for many years, and both a fear of success and failure were stopping me from getting started. I sought the help of a life coach to help me understand the reasons why I was afraid of success and failure, and crucially what I needed to work on to overcome these obstacles. And here I am, 12 years later, still running my business. I’d highly recommend seeking out a coach, a mentor, or maybe even a therapist if you identify mental health issues that are contributing to your procrastination.
So what are you waiting for? I’d love to hear about the tasks you put off, and also any top tips you have for overcoming procrastination.
