Welcome to Part 2 in Gaetano’s series on procrastination. Knowing where it starts seems to be a great place to dig in.
Procrastination Mini-Series – Causes
by Gaetano Caruana
The first step to deal with your procrastination problem is to identify its causes, the reasons why you procrastinate. It is common that a lot of people procrastinate due to a subconscious reason; that is they don’t know exactly why they procrastinate. Others think they know all causes for their procrastination problem. When I started researching procrastination I thought I formed part of the latter but to my surprise, I discovered that I knew only half the reasons why I used to procrastinate.
Fear: For some a particular task or duty seems to be bigger than them making them afraid to face it. In this case procrastination seems to be the easy way out, a form of escapism, from reality.
Escapism: Either because you are afraid to take responsibility of a challenging task or because you are lazy, you choose to escape from reality hence you procrastinate. Such people lie to themselves and come up with excuses such as: having other more important things to do or they need more time to handle that task in order to avoid the challenge posed by a particular duty.
It is very difficult to find out whether you procrastinate due to escapism or because you are afraid. This is because both fear and escapism is most of the time in our subconscious. You have to reflect and be honest to yourself in order to find out whether the above two reasons are in fact what causes you to procrastinate.
Perfectionist: Being aware of the quality of what you produce is an excellent attribute to have. But if you take it too far, perfectionism becomes a minus since it will slow you down. Ideally you only produce perfect stuff but in the real world, you have to learn how to strike a balance between the time it takes to produce something and its quality. Unfortunately perfectionists choose to invest a lot of time in one task from many tasks they need to get done.
Vicious Circle: The fact that in the past you had procrastinated has a direct influence on your future behaviour. People that procrastinated in the past are prone to keep procrastinating. It seems to be extremely difficult to break the chains that hold you back from becoming more productive. Like every other habit procrastination poses a challenge but by applying the right techniques, which will be described in the next article in this series, you can make it easier for yourself to smash your procrastination problem.
Gaetano Caruana writes for the FruitfulTime Blog, where you’ll find the free ebook Stop Procrastination Now.
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Thanks, Gaetano!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Gaetano, I would add prioritization. I procrastinate because there’s always something bigger and more pressing on my plate. But, if I had to label one of the four you’ve offered, I would most identify with Perfectionsim. Ouch.
Looking forward to the remainder of the series.
How about just plain old age for a cause of procrastination?–when everything either drys up or leaks.
Hi Lani!
It seems like that would be overwork. 🙂
Hi Gaetano, good points. I’m guilty of being a perfectionist. Everything I tried, I tried to be perfect in it. But it usually ended up being not perfect, always not perfect. So you keep procrastinate all the time. So, I’ve decided to “just do it”, no matter what. Once you “just do it” and found errors or mistakes in somewhere, you’re forced to correct it and stop procrastinating. I found this way it works for me, for example, when I write a blog entry. No one / nothing is and will never be perfect anyway. There are always new ideas and new things in life coming up.
Thanks,
Amos
http://www.lifecrisisguide.com
Hi Liz! (first time commenting on ur blog. VERY EXCITED!)
I think we are all too familiar with the first 3 causes and I believe I have found the common denominator lurking behind these causes.
It has helped me overcome procrastination by I’d say 90% and 10% of the time when I do fall into the hands of the monster, I’ll remind myself of this cause and a catch-phrase my online mentor has taught me.
I think the culture of instant gratification that has plagued our society has got us thinking “I HAVE to get EVERYTHING this task requires of me done PERFECTLY and as QUICKLY as possible”
Then as this post reminds us, we make it SO BIG and then we start fearing the amount of work we have to put into it that we just do the P-word.
So what’s the common denominator?
SPEED.
I don’t know about you but when I see something, I want to do it fast. Then I step back and take a look at the work and I lose my mood.
Jack Canfield teaches the “one hack a day brings any tree” down concept.
Mike Litman teaches the “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going” concept.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is we should never try to rush the work we have to do because it will only bring the onslaught of the above “evils”.
There’s MAGIC in thinking “everything in it’s own time” and starting something. And as we go along, momentum makes it so much easier!
Hope that helps everyone!
To CANI,
SaiF
The World’s First Teen
Personal Development Video Blogger
I agree with SaiF, there’s nothing like speed to overcome certain types of procrastination.
Regarding the ‘perfectionist’: I think it’s the other way around: at least in my case, I used to be an IMperfectionist, always looking for things that were not good enough. Called myself a perfectionist of course… And procrastinated…
I did a post on my own blog recently about just that:
http://www.creatid.eu/perfectionist_stop_fooling_yourself
Looking forward to the rest of the series (I wonder why….)
Hi Amos!
Welcome!
When I’m overwhelmed by a project I just have to do, I use a similar tactic. I tell myself “just one chunk, then rest.” That gets me thinking in smaller bits instead of feeling like I have so much to accomplish. Usually what happens is that I end up becoming interested and finished with that “small bit” sooner than I expected. So I’m not so averse to moving on to “small bit number 2.”
Hi SaiF!
A very special welcome! Sorry I wasn’t here sooner to enjoy your enthusiasm. It’s a smile. Thank you!
I agree with your thinking. When I was young I wanted to do the impossible at every turn. Now I want to do quality . . . less is more.
Like “the best,” “the most elegant,” or “success,” the definition of perfection changes with each person. I’ve decided that mine will involve quality of the experience of making a product, as well as quality of the product that I’m making.
Ray,
Thank you for the perspective of the IMperfectionist. It’s exactly what a friend I know needs to hear. 🙂
I jump in, as you and SaiF do, but I walk slowly.
Hey Liz!
Thanks for the reply! =) I think I might have said something that confused both of you..
I said that we procrastinate maybe because we want to finish things at SPEED..
Not that SPEED will help us overcome it..But the more I think about it, I think if you’re talking about the speed of getting the first thing done towards achieving it.. I think you’re right! =)
Hey Liz, I love the way you phrased it, “I jump in.. but I walk slowly.”
Nothing like slow and steady wins the race.
To CANI,
SaiF
The World’s First Teen
Personal Development Video Blogger
P.S. Liz, is it possible for us to trade E-Mails please? I’m planning a BIG project ahead and I would be honored if you were to be one of the respected bloggers..
@SaiF & Liz: I see that you both caught the meaning of my comment even though I managed once more to leave out a key word: I meant to say: “I agree with SaiF, *BUT* there’s etc.”.
@RayD
Ahhh… Now it makes sense.. But you’re right about speed! I guess the solutions is to just get to it!
To CANI,
SaiF
The World’s First Teen
Personal Development Video Blogger
Hey SaiF
Glad you found my email.
I do think it’s important to get in and get going!
RayD,
You’re way too hard on yourself. This is a place where everyone forgive typos in the comment box. 🙂
Ah, procrastination…the bane of my existence. I am a professional procrastinator, always have been.
To put a positive spin on it, I really feel like what I’m doing is “creative incubation” rather than procrastination! While I might not sit down and write immediately, I am actually composing in my head and fiddling around researching, so that once I get writing, most of my ideas are already fully-formed.
Hi Melissa!
A professorial procrastinator! Excellent! 🙂
Often I have to get comfortable with ideas too. I try them on and let them “cook” for a day or two, but I put myself on a schedule. I make an appointment for when I’ll work on them. I also check in every now and then before that.
Like you, I find that when I sit down to work I have part of the process already done. Nothing feels better than not to have to start at the beginning. 🙂