"Why Do We Procrastinate? I’ll Tell You Later."

"Why Do We Procrastinate? I’ll Tell You Later."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

Why do we procrastinate?

I would probably tell you later.

And that, in a nutshell, is the problem.

We all know what procrastination is. It is putting off something we know we need to do, even when we understand that delaying it will probably make things worse. We promise ourselves that we will start tomorrow, finish it over the weekend, or finally get around to it when we have more time.

Unfortunately, tomorrow has a funny way of becoming today, and today somehow becomes another tomorrow.

For me, procrastination feels less like laziness and more like being paralyzed into inaction. I know I need to do something. I might even know exactly how to do it. But somehow, I cannot bring myself to take that first step.

Then, as the minutes turn into hours and the hours turn into days, the task begins to feel bigger than it really is. I become overwhelmed by the thought of doing it, which makes me even less likely to start.

And so the cycle continues.

The worst part is knowing that, at least sometimes, I am doing this to myself.

Nobody is necessarily stopping me. The task is still there, waiting to be done. I have the time, or at least I could probably find the time if I organized my day better. Yet I remain stuck, watching the deadline creep closer while feeling increasingly guilty about not doing anything.

It is a rather absurd situation. I delay doing something because it makes me uncomfortable, only to create even more discomfort by delaying it.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Perhaps part of the problem is that we tend to think of procrastination as a time-management issue. We assume that if we could only organize our schedules better, make a list, or buy a more attractive planner, we would finally become productive.

Sometimes, those things help. But I suspect procrastination is not always about managing time. Sometimes, it is about managing how we feel.

A task might seem too difficult, too tedious, or too important. We might be afraid of doing it badly, disappointed that we cannot do it perfectly, or simply exhausted by the thought of having to begin. Putting it off gives us temporary relief. For a little while, we do not have to deal with the discomfort.

The problem is that the relief never lasts.

Eventually, the unfinished task returns to our attention, now accompanied by guilt, anxiety, and the knowledge that we have even less time to complete it.

Perhaps the answer is not to wait until we feel motivated. Motivation is unreliable, and waiting for it can become another form of procrastination.

Maybe we need to make starting easier. Instead of promising ourselves that we will finish an entire project, we can commit to working on it for ten minutes. Instead of worrying about getting everything right, we can allow ourselves to produce something imperfect and improve it later.

The goal is not necessarily to finish everything immediately. It is to break the paralysis long enough to begin.

I am still working on this myself. Knowing why we procrastinate does not automatically make us better at overcoming it. Sometimes, even writing about procrastination becomes another task we put off.

But perhaps there is a lesson in recognizing the problem without beating ourselves up over it.

We cannot change the time we have already wasted. We can only decide what to do with the time that remains.

So, if there is something you have been putting off, perhaps today is a good day to begin.

Not tomorrow. Not next week.

Today.

And if you are asking me whether I have finished everything I need to do, well...

I'll tell you later.