Are You Guilty of Procrastination (Without Even Realizing It)?

Posted on March 29, 2011 by Ali Luke | CATEGORIES: productivity tips, self improvement

We all know what procrastination is. And perhaps you think it’s not something you struggle with at all.

I certainly used to feel that way. As a student, I had no problem getting my essays in on time. In my first job after college, I found it easy to stay focused during the work-day.

I saw other people who struggled – perhaps they’d spend hours or even days putting off some little task – but I didn’t think procrastination was one of my problems.

But it was. And, to some extent, still is. Except now, I can recognize it for what it is.

I wonder if you’re guilty of procrastination too – without even realizing?

Big Picture Procrastination

The sort of procrastination I’m talking about is big picture procrastination. It’s about putting off major tasks – ones which don’t have a deadline attached, but which would improve your life.

Big picture procrastination looks like this:

  • You talk about being a writer, but you’ve never got beyond Page 10 of the novel you’re working on.
  • When you moved into your house six years ago, you were planning to redecorate. It still hasn’t happened.
  • You keep meaning to go back to college and get that post-graduate qualification … but it’s never quite the right time.
  • You’d love to lose some weight, but you’re so busy that you just don’t have the energy to diet.

You might well be great at getting little tasks done: you’re up to date on your emails, you’ve finished that report at work, you’ve done the filing. But the really big, important things in life just get put off again, and again, and again.

What Are You Resisting?

I came across the concept of “resistance” in the books of time coach Mark Forster, and I’ve also seen it used in Steven Pressfield’s War of Art.

If you’ve ever had to write an essay, prepare a talk or make a difficult phone call, you’ll almost certainly have experienced resistance. It’s that sense that just starting on something is overwhelmingly hard; that you don’t have the time, or the energy, or the courage.

I’ve never met a writer who didn’t struggle with overcoming resistance on an almost daily basis. It’s hard to make the time to sit down and write – or paint, or compose, or do anything creative.

The truth is, though, that the things which we’re resisting are often the very things which are most likely to make our lives richer and better.

Procrastination is Cunning

When you think of “procrastination”, you probably have a similar mental image to mine – a person surfing the internet, doodling, chatting, doing anything but work.

That’s an easy sort of procrastination to spot. The trickier sort is when you’re using busywork to put off doing real work.

Look at some of the excuses which crop up when you think about doing one of those high-resistance tasks:

  • I can’t work on my novel when the house is such a mess.
  • I can’t redecorate when I’ve got so many emails to answer.
  • I can’t go back to college when I’ve got all these community events to organize.

Now, I’m not saying that tidying or answering emails or volunteering are worthless or even unimportant. But are they really as important as you’re telling yourself – or are they just excuses to stay busy, so that you never need to tackle the bigger tasks in your life?

How to Stop Procrastinating

I find that the best way to overcome resistance is to simply make a start.

The sooner you get going, the easier it is; the longer you wait, the more resistance builds up. There’s never going to be an ideal time (and you know that, really).

What big projects could you make a start on today? This week? This month? Tell us about them in the comments…

 

  • M

    Thank you for this post, I have started the mission to lose 10 pounds right now.

  • wang

    i really needed something on this topic,thankyou..m making plans now!!

  • Mark Todorovich

    Great article! I’ve started several projects from the beginning of the month, including expanding my English vocabulary and improving my Spanish pronunciation. Every night I make a to do list as a wallpaper and set it as a desktop background, and I’ doing my best to finish all the tasks. So far I’m doing good.

  • http://www.Mazzastick.com Justin

    Procrastination is a huge obstacle to achieving your desired goals. There is a sense of relief after you stop resisting something.

    Prioritizing you goals by writing them down and crossing them off will help.

  • http://www.peppervirtualassistant.com/ Marco Paulo

    Guilty as charged! There are times that I find myself procrastinating especially when the task seems to be really hard to accomplish or if it is extremely boring. Then again, since it is a task, I still have to do it. What I’ve learned over the years to combat procrastination is to get things started right away and deceive myself that this is a matter of life and death. I also take short breaks when I feel worn-out. Although these tactics are working for me right now, I still hope to eradicate my procrastination issues.

  • http://www.planetnaveen.com Naveen | Winning Ideas

    Procrastination can be biggest enemy for achieving tangable results. We dont adopt procrastination but procrastination adopts us. So its very important for one to stop procrastinating and get started.
    Action is the answer for defeating procrastination. Action leads to results and results lead to peace of mind and sense of fulfillment.

    Nice article.

  • http://wwv.boostyourmotivation.co.uk Hani @ Boost Your Motivation

    Thank you for the post. The way I get over procrastination is either by starting with something I enjoy, or something small, depending on the circumstances. That way I gain momentum and can get to and finish off the task I don’t like doing.

  • fred

    My goal of becoming a flight instructor has taken me years because of a non constrictive course with no deadlines. But recently my progress has been better since I started waking up and sticking to ‘to do’ lists, as reccomended by this website.

  • http://www.balancedworklife.com/blog Bryce Christiansen

    Great job Ali, it’s good to hear a fresh take on procrastination. I recently spoke with one of the top writer’s from Marvel (you know the comic books and movies) he was speaking to a room full of aspiring writers. Many of them could have been described as procrastinators.

    He told them if they want to be writers some day, all they have to do is write each day for 20 mins. If they make it a habit they will do the rest that is required to become a writer.

  • Rich

    action is the key words are pretty and can inspire but action is pentacle keep going learn from your mistakes after all they are your teachers! lets make oure goals happen!!

  • http://englishliteraturespot.blogspot.com/ Dylan | English literature Spot

    Thank you for the great post!

    Actually, all what we need is to do the task right away … I have started my translation project right NOW :)

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/keniaperez Kenia

    This is a great article, except I need to point out that sometimes it’s not so cut & dry as choosing to clean up the house rather than work on your novel. Many times there are underlying reasons: for example, consider a person I will call, Alice. Alice understands and agrees that the house can wait 2 days to get cleaned. Not a big deal, plus she’s feeling a good amount of inspiration to write today and wants to act on it. Her husband, John, on the other hand, is feeling inspired to work on cleaning the house today – plus, he is annoyed at having to crawl over some things in the office that could be sorted & dealt with. So Alice, decides to put off writing, and clean the house. Not because cleaning the house is more important, but because maintaining peace in the marriage *is* more important. In other words, it’s not always up to you, what gets prioritized, unfortunately.

  • Hamid

    English isn’t my first langauge, I always say that I would grab a pen and write down new vocabularies, I never did such a long time ago, your article made me wake up! Thank you so much! I will lunch a war again Procrastination NOW!!!!!!!

  • http://www.polodesign.ca/blog/ Eric Davidson

    I can certainly relate, especially to the big picture procrastination. The level of resistance encountered is always strong no matter how often I face it down and succeed in reaching my goals. I now use that as an indicator that I’m on the path of discovery and growth. That doesn’t make things necessarily easier, but the recognition is there that the journey will be worth taking.

  • http://letgoandflow.com David

    Ending procrastination is really just as simple as you said. If you can just make a start, then you can break the cycle.

    For example, if I have a project that will take about 10 hours of work, I will tell myself to spend 30 minutes today on the project. What usually happens is that I end up spending an hour or more on the project, and in the process remove a lot of fear and hesitation I was holding on to.

  • Jitendra Sharma

    My experience of fighting with procrastination says that one must have a “NOT TO DO ” list along with “TO DO “. This will help in avoiding distraction caused by unnecessary things with making start for essential things.

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  • http://www.selfachiever.com Louis | Self Achiever

    This is a perfect post. We all suffer from procrastination on some level. I find it spills over into many different areas of my life. After I think I’ve “kicked the habit”, it shows up in other areas. Resistance is key, as you point out in your article.

  • http://www.event-ideen-schenken.de Maria

    What a cute picture of this dog :) I like this dog breed.

  • Jaffa McNeill

    Sometimes we have good reason not to persevere with our grand projects, and not making a start on them
    is the best thing to do. We properly resist the pressure – is it our
    own or internalised societal goals? – and content
    ourselves with leading a life of the possible. We do
    not denigrate our achievements, and we
    leave our dreams in dreamworld.
    I
    I’ve only

  • Jaffa McNeill

    I was going to say: I’ve only browsed it, but I think this is what “The Way of F**k It” is trying to say.

  • http://pamelakennard.com pamela kennard

    good article, and comments. my procrastination has been a life long struggle. the walls need painting, my taxes aren’t ready and my office is a disaster, but i recently started my blog, it wasn’t easy. i finished a necklace i started a month ago.
    i am a creative person and exploring my creativity really does enrich my life. i will get the other things done, but sometimes i have to put the blinders on and focus on one thing.

  • http://ashleyscwalls.wordpress.com Ashley S.C. Walls

    I recently wrote about this on my blog. I encourage people to begin by setting SIMPLE goals and forming EASY habits in the form of S.M.A.R.T. plans. Begin to un-pile the bricks that are stifling your future. Become solution oriented. Although you should set realistic time frames and action steps for your plans, you should always be looking for the one strategic move or plan that will bring resolution and efficiency.

  • http://www.tiawood.com Tia Wood

    I was thinking about this article and wondering if I was guilty of procrastination. I’ll tell you later.

  • http://yahoo Ronald Carl Holmes

    i have got chronic problem with procrastination especially with completing my formal education.making up my mind to go back to High School and earn a High School Diploma.what do you recommend i should do?

  • Markus

    I do have a problem with procrastination. Lucky me – I found this website in an hysterical time and calmed down.
    Not only your article – wich is great – keeps me on doing things I didn’t do before. Always using excuses like “your work doesn’t fit most people” – “they don’t like it”.
    When I just realized that people will love my work and there’s no possible way they won’t – I came up with procrastination.

    I told myself: “So tomorrow I will start writing.”
    Tomorrow never comes to you. You will have to move forward. Then I tried to focus on the things I want. I wanna be a bookwriter, so I have to write a book. Now.

    Starting wasn’t that complicated i thought it would be. My ideas spread, I decided for one of them to be fulfilled. At the moment i’m doing some outline-work what is going to happen in my book and when. Feeling great about what i’ve done until now – and it’s just the outline for the first chapter. It’s a whole world in my head i’m bringing down on paper. Really great feeling.

    I’m doing well with procrastination in most of my life situations now because I don’t let go of my goals anymore. I know that I can do it and what will be the result of my actions.

    Using a mindmap makes the whole thing much more easier. You may write down your whole thoughts and mental streams as they come up. And follow instead of forgetting them.

    Thanks for your great article :)