Procrastination: Catching up with Yesterday (part 2)
[ 18 Jul 2008 ]Part 2: Procrastion - catching up with Yesterday
In the previous article we highlighted the negative consequences of habitual procrastination. Procrastinators almost always feel pressured, frustrated and dissatisfied with their lot. There are a number of reasons why people tend to procrastinate and we have already looked at reason 1 – You haven’t really committed to doing it. Let’s explore some more. Reason 2: You're Afraid of the Job. This is really difficult for many of us to admit to ourselves let alone to someone else, never mind get another person to admit to you! But it may be what's keeping a someone from doing something that they need and want to accomplish. If you can identify procrastination as fear, and track it to its source, you can help deal with the fear and get on with the job. The internal struggles of fear-motivated procrastination are usually of two types: the rational versus the irrational ("I know that I should, so why can't I just do it") and discipline vs discomfort ("I planned to do it, but when the time came, I just didn't feel like it."). Attempts at resolving these conflicts must start at the level of dealing with the fear rather than with logic or greater discipline. Here are three of the most common varieties of performance anxiety:
- Fear of failure
Consider the student who never studies and chucks it in. He can always tell himself, "If I had studied, I would have passed the stupid course." But what if he had studied and still failed?
For most of us, "won't" is a lot easier to deal with than "can't." If you don't try it, you don't have to confront the possibility that you can't do it.
- Fear of success
On the other hand, consider the potential pressure that a high achieving student may inadvertently feel. When they do pass a course with flying colours, there is likely to be an expectation that you to do it again and again, or that they will get a great job, or to have an immediate ability to apply what they’ve learned. If you never try, you'll never have to face the potentially stressful and unrelenting consequences of success, either.
- Fear of finishing
"If I pass the course, I'll graduate. If I graduate, I'll . . ." You'll what? If you don't pass the course, you'll never have to find out what happens next. If you never write the novel, you'll never have to know whether a publisher would have accepted it. If you don't finish training, you'll never have to know whether you could have really have made it as a teacher. Sometimes the not knowing seems more acceptable than the possible consequences of finding out for sure. If you suspect any of the above is providing a blocker to motivation and commitment, it can really help to confront that fear. The fear is unlikely to go away completely. But if the goal is seen to be worth pursuing, you will be more able to act despite the fear.
Reason 3. You Don't Place a High Enough Priority on the ActivityWe have all had tasks that you know needs to be done, and although you have ever agreed to yourself to do it – they just never seem to get done. Something always takes precedence. Imagine a mundane household activity like cleaning the leaves out of the gutters – it keeps getting bumped down the list, below other, more pressing jobs. You've got to go grocery shopping first, because you won't have anything to eat if you don't. You've got to mow the lawn first, because it will look awful if you don't. (And nobody can see the leaves in the gutters, after all.) This sort of procrastination problem may eventually work itself out. As the other tasks get done, those leafy gutters work their way up the list. Or the problem may take on a higher priority if they become blocked with leaves! The point is - establishing priorities is subjective, especially when dealing with activities that are neither urgent nor particularly important relative to other activities. It is often useful to take a look at the job that just isn't getting done and see if you can redefine it in terms of the ultimate benefit you’ll receive for doing it. First time through, this definition may be negative: "If I don't clean out the gutters, I'll get a flood in the garden the first time it rains heavily." Positive motivations tend to be much stronger. So try re-casting it in the positive form: "If I clean out the rain gutters, I'll protect my garden from flooding." Is that important now important to you? Focus also on other ancillary benefits to getting the task done?
- "I'll finally stop worrying about it."
- "I'll get some nice exercise out in the sunshine."
- "I can listen to the footie on the radio while I work."
Are these new definitions and ancillary considerations enough to move the task up the list? If so, get at it! But if not, you should prepare to resign yourself to living with the consequences of your non-action or find a way to get the job done without actually having to do it yourself!In the next article we examine the final two reasons why people may procrastinate – and consider the role of perfectionism in procrastination.
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