This is one of the most astute comments on procrastination I’ve ever read, and I’ve read most everything. Moshin also said in a comment, “I literally withdraw into a passive mode. And my mind lazily, yet happily, accepts this condition.”

He hits the nail on the head in both instances! It’s like I become a sort of zombie. I don’t want to do something, so I do something else, something passive like browse the internet, look for stuff on eBay, busy stuff that doesn’t accomplish anything. I can’t actually to commit to some other worthwhile task, because I know that I should be doing the task that I am procrastinating on. So I really don’t accomplish anything.

I’d be better off to just say, “OK, I’m not gonna do the most important thing on my list, but I’ll do some other important things instead.” But we don’t do that. We just go “passive” and we don’t actually accomplish anything.

After I tackle my problems, I hopefully will help and support others. May be that is why God allow me to go through this valley of death. I don’t need to move the mountain. I Just need to climb over it and reach the promise land.

I could really relate to this post very well.
In real life, I find myself procrastinating almost half of the time, be it on paperworks, assignment, projects, invoices and stuff. And then there comes a time that you would want to get an organizer to plan ahead of time.
Sure, at first it works, and then the next thing you know, you’re back to the old habit again.

“Discipline, Determination, and a deep desire to succeed”

Hard to attain at first, but then as they say: Try and try until you hit the mark!

Great post!

I could really relate to this post very well.
In real life, I find myself procrastinating almost half of the time, be it on paperworks, assignment, projects, invoices and stuff. And then there comes a time that you would want to get an organizer to plan ahead of time.
Sure, at first it works, and then the next thing you know, you’re back to the old habit again.

“Discipline, Determination, and a deep desire to succeed”

Hard to attain at first, but then as they say: Try and try until you hit the mark!

Great post!

The two causal factors in procrastination are:

1) Conceiving of the task in the abstract or general rather than the concrete and specific.

Those who don’t have concrete mental image of the steps that need to be taken and how each will unfold are more likely to procrastinate.
(Bosses take note: give your directs vague instructions and you will encourage procrastination.)

2) Being anxious about the consequence of the action.

This is more in keeping with actual behaviour. Think of the common example of someone with a persistent serious symptom such as a subcutaneous lump that’s growing, rectal bleeding or frequent blackouts.

To attribute this to laziness or lack of discipline makes no sense. Rather, and irrationally, we avoid actions that may lead us towards unpleasant outcomes.

This also fits withe fact that risk tolerant alpha-types procrastinate less. (But still talk about how they ‘master’ procrastination, when what they really mean is they can effectively triage a large list of things to do.)

The way to defeat procrastination is to recognise that it is a specific form of anxiety.

When you are procrastinating, try and define you task as concretely as possible. Don’t think ‘initiate a project to increase sales by 10% in the next quarter’. Rather think: Find four case studies of how organisations like mine have increased their sales.

If you can plan the whole task down into clearly defined concrete steps you will be much less likely to procrastinate.

Secondly identify what your scared of, and talk to someone with more knowledge that you about the risk of you concern coming true, and about concrete mitigation strategies. If you know in advance what you will do if the worst happens you are less likely to be inhibited from acting – even if the probability of it happening remains high.

So don’t think “what if I only increase sales by 5%”, think “When I present the project plan for approval I will include a “likelihood of success” recommendation with contingencies for shortfalls” so ensuring I know my report has already thought about and indicated the ‘fail-response’.

Procrastination is a natural human response to the environment. Like aggression, or inquisitiveness. And like these characteristics will be stronger and more pronounced in some people than others.

But simply trying to tough it out and override the impulse with mental discipline, while possible, is the hard way around.

Understanding what it is: a natural level of inhibition to act in the face of being unsure what to do, and anxious about the consequences, can help anyone manage down its intensity to the point where we can get on with it.