“Procrastination is my sin.
It brings me naught but sorrow.
I know that I should stop it.
In fact, I will — tomorrow!”

— Gloria Pitzer

This short poem perfectly describes my biggest daily struggle of being a procrastinator. I am as good at creating excuses as I am at creating stories. Doesn’t matter how motivated I am or how far behind I am, I always give in to the evils of procrastination.

Ironically, I couldn’t pick a better time to write about this topic. National Procrastination Week is usually the first two weeks in March. Although the primary goal of National Procrastination Week is to celebrate the act of procrastinating by doing necessary tasks at a latter time, I want to honor the week by discussing the main five reasons people struggle with procrastination.

Have you ever thought, “God, I wish I just had more motivation” or “I need to be more motivated”? The cause of procrastination is not a lack of motivation, nor is it necessarily a lack of discipline or willpower. Perfectionism, fear, distraction, prioritization, and lack of accountability are the actual causes of the self-sabotaging behavior.

Perfectionism

There is nothing wrong with striving for perfection. It is good to set high goals. However, perfectionist thinking holds you back. If you worry so much about doing something imperfectly, you will become immobilized and unable to do anything at all.

I cannot deny that I am a perfectionist. Sometimes when I am writing a creative piece, I obsess over how every line needs to be perfect so much that I get frustrated when it doesn’t instantly flow naturally and I end up writing nothing at all. Although it has taken me awhile, I have learned that it’s best to write first and edit later.

Action breeds momentum, so take one step at a time. Make mistakes and embrace the obstacles. There will always be enough time to patch up your own road to success.

Fear

Do you ever dread doing a challenging workout or an important presentation and you think “well, this isn’t actually so bad!” once you started? It is usually the anticipation that’s the worst part.

Two common fears that lead to procrastination are the fear of being uncomfortable and the fear of failure. I am pretty fearless when it comes to trying out new things. It doesn’t matter how uncomfortable the situation is. I love living life to the fullest.

However, I have always struggled with being a pleaser and feeling like a failure when receiving adverse criticism. I enjoy making everyone happy, and I hate letting anyone down. Eventually, I learned to use any criticism as a stepping stone.

The best way to get rid of fear is tackling it straight on. You would never know how tough you really are until face it. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that could happen?” It might not be fun. You may not like it. But so what? I guarantee that you’ve done a lot more unpleasant things in your life. You will also enjoy the end result that comes from doing it.

Distraction & Prioritization

Procrastination happens not only before you begin a task. It can also happen during. External distractions such as the ping of your notifications are as bad as internal ones like “Oh, my bookshelf looks unorganized. Let me fix it.” Anything can prevent you from continuing momentum if you don’t stay focused.

The key is prioritization. I have been improving my concentration skills by doing monotasking. Monotasking is the exact opposite to multitasking. I do just one thing at a time, for set periods of time. I write a set schedule with all my daily assignments each week, and I feel accomplished when I scratch out each one.

One popular technique that goes alongside monotasking is the Pomodoro technique. You set a timer for 25 minutes and work uninterrupted on just one task during that time. Then you take timed 5-minute breaks where you can check your notifications or whatever you want to do. You will not believe the delayed gratification works wonders for decreasing distractions and increasing concentration.

Lack of Accountability

Some things are easier to say than to do, especially when there is a lack of accountability. Having an element of accountability helps makes sure you actually complete those important-yet-boring-tasks because you know you’re going to have to report back.

So ask someone to help keep you accountable! It could be your partner, family member, friend, or colleague. Let them know what you’re going to be working that day, week or month, set deadlines and ask them to check in with once that time has passed. You can also make it a two-way street by keeping them accountable towards their goals, too.

As you can see, there are many ways to defeat the nastiness of procrastination. You just have to put a step in the right direction!

Featured Image by Gerd Altmann, courtesy of Pixabay