Why I Want to Procrastinate

Just so we all know, I procrastinated the fuck out of this. When I first started this it was the day of the due date. Now it’s five days later… I told myself I’d do better this time. I was (and still am) excited to be writing this, but I found myself in an all too familiar scenario the night before the deadline, setting an alarm to get up at 5 am to finish my work.

In my research for this blog, I found that all down bad procrastinators tell themselves the same thing: “I’ll do better next time.” But procrastination boomerangs back into our lap and we procrastinate dealing with procrastination.

I realized I never actually looked into the reasons why I procrastinate. I always thought this was an issue I just needed to brute force into submission, and that I can just pomodoro technique my way out of my bad habit. The pomodoro technique is a useful anti-procrastination technique, but more on that later.

Just like with any bad habit, there are psychological roots to the issue and we cannot trim the leaves of the plant expecting it to flower healthy fruit. We have to uproot the plant, inspect it, and tend to its foundation.

So, after reading a long comprehensive list of reasons people procrastinate, here is my own list of self-diagnosed reasons for why I want to procrastinate:

(I’m speaking about myself, but if the first person I's used resonate a little too strongly with you then these might be your reasons as well. If they’re not, feel free to check out the whole list here.)

Disconnect From My Future Self

This was the guiltiest and most surprising culprit. I had never even considered this until I read it and everything clicked in place. A disconnect from future self, also called temporal self-discontinuity, is when a person doesn’t feel their future self is attached to themselves. My present self is not responsible for my future self and so whatever happens past my neighborhood of moments is a problem for a future third-person to deal with.

Optimism About The Future

Adversely affected by the previous reason, though slightly different, is optimism about the future. This is the belief that my future self will be able to better handle the task than me. This is when I, and many fellow procrastinators, get stuck in cycles of “I’ll get to it tomorrow.” Tomorrow me is somehow going to have overcome my procrastinating mind-set and be a better equipped person to do things on time.

Anxiety

This is a pesky one that I’ve struggled a lot more with since the start of college. When I’m feeling anxious over a task I’ll procrastinate it, and then I’ll be more anxious because of how much I’ve procrastinated so I’ll procrastinate more. It’s an ugly feedback loop.

Sensation Seeking

Oh man do I secretly love those feelings that come with staying up late in the quiet hours of the night, downing cups of coffee, adopting a laser beam focus on the night before my paper is due. Some people, myself included obviously, procrastinate for this subconscious desire to feel the thrill of the last minute: the pressure, the challenge, and the excitement.

Self-handicapping

This is for that half chuckled “I did it last minute anyways.” Self-handicapping is procrastinating to give a person an excuse for bad performance. It usually stems from a fear of failure — another standalone reason for procrastinating. I don’t really believe I can do very well at the task so I leave it to the last minute so that I can give it a short burst of all my effort and if it doesn’t work out, well… I did it last minute anyways.

Self-sabotaging

Slightly different from self-handicapping, self-sabotaging isn’t the belief that I won’t perform well but it’s believing I don’t deserve to be in a better place. I’ll procrastinate tasks I know have beneficial outcomes for me and, furthermore, have negative consequences if I don’t do them. Things that’ll bring me closer to my goals and a better place, I just won’t do. This behavior is also associated with pushing away people that treat me well. It’s the lying little voice telling me that I really don’t deserve to be better.

Prioritization of Short Term Mood

Instead of focusing on the bigger issues or nagging tasks in my life, I prefer instant gratification. It’s called short term mood repair where I’d rather get the little bursts of dopamine from scrolling through TikTok instead of taking actions that align with my longer term goals.

Distractibility

There’s my phone, there’s the dishes in the sink, there’s my messy desk, there’s people playing loud music, there’s neighbors smoking on their balcony with the sweet smell of weed wafting in… everything is calling out to me. Not only is it hard to focus on a single task, but when my mind is literally looking for ways out of what I’m doing all of those seem a lot easier and more attractive.

Abstract Goals

To tie it all together, my various small and big goals tend to be abstract because I do not believe I’ll actually accomplish them. Goals are also considered abstract when they’re vague or not clearly defined. Having abstract goals affects my motivation to do something and therefore I’m a lot more likely to procrastinate because I do not clearly see how my goals tie into my well-being. When I don’t fare successfully in the tasks I’ve procrastinated, it only further fuels my belief that I won’t actually accomplish the goals I’ve set out for myself, further obscuring and abstracting my goals.

I have more reasons why I procrastinate, like the fear of failure, task aversion, perceived lack of control, impulsivity… and a handful more but I thought I’d cover the most important ones for brevity’s sake. I know procrastinators and they want a quick fix.

How Do I and Fellow Procrastinators Move Forward

So, now what? Solvingprocrastination.com provides 4 steps to diminish your procrastination habit:

1. Establish clear and significant goals while being realistic

Once you’ve made the decision to really deal with your unproductive behavior, you must be honest and realistic with yourself about the progress you desire to make. If you haven’t ever come around to working out like you keep saying you will, you're not suddenly going to start going for two hours everyday. You must set yourself goals that are achievable and meaningful.

Going to the gym once for ten minutes every month is achievable but it is not meaningful progress. Going once every week for one hour is achievable and meaningful.

2. Figure out the nature of procrastination: when, how, and why

This is where you do the necessary introspection and reflection to get to the bottom of your reasons for procrastinating. This means being intentional about recognizing when, how, and why you procrastinate.

Recognize when you’re the most prone to procrastination. Is it right after lunch when you want to sink into a food coma? Is it on Thursday nights when your friends text you to go out? Pay attention to not only the situational reasons for procrastination, such as the latter, but also your rhythmic nature for the times of day you’re most productive vs. in a slump like the former.

How you procrastinate is equally important. Do you scroll through Instagram? Do you decide to clean your kitchen and alphabetize your spices? Do you take a nap for hours? This is where you’ll be able to take proactive action to prevent yourself from falling into your procrastination holes.

Why you procrastinate is the icky part where you look inwards and ask yourself the tough question of what’s actually stopping you from doing better when you know better.

3. Create plan of action: anti procrastination techniques

This is where the pomodoro technique comes in. After recognizing why you procrastinate, identify anti-procrastination techniques to directly replace the negative behaviors or thoughts with positive ones.

If you feel overwhelmed by the scope of tasks, break them up into smaller tasks to have lesser-sized checkpoints that get the ball rolling. Remove distractions if you find yourself drifting to your phone, visualize your future self experiencing the outcomes of your actions, focus on your goals instead of your tasks to keep you motivated.

I’ve found the pomodoro technique of splitting my time into twenty minute work chunks with five minute breaks in between to be very helpful. As well as the timeboxing technique of scheduling “time boxes” of two hours, where I will be focusing on work related tasks even if it’s just making sure I send out emails or fill out forms. Or, two hours where I will be focusing on my self-growth, making sure I spend time reflecting and dealing with personal issues I may have been shelving.

Here is a list of more anti-procrastination techniques to inspire you, don’t feel overwhelmed by the amount of options, just try one for a while and see what works before adjusting and trying again.

Which brings me to the last step.

4. Implement a plan of action and refine

The final step is doing it. Do what you said you would do and do your best at it. It’s not going to be easy, it’s not going to be perfect. But, trying is the only way to see progress. Trial and error your way through it, refine your plan as you go and you’ll find what works for you. You got this.

The number one thing to remember is that:

“Imperfect action is infinitely better than no action at all.”

- Harry Truman