5 Reasons I Procrastinate and How I Deal With Each of Them
To be perfectly candid with you, I absolutely procrastinated before writing this post.
This is how I planned to spend the day: get up, have breakfast and a mindful morning -> look at my previously published posts on productivity/ procrastination to avoid/ minimise content repetition, get a rough idea of what to talk about -> cook and eat lunch -> first draft -> break -> second draft -> another break -> finalise and publish post.
This is how I actually spent the day: get up, breakfast, enter a Brooklyn 99 marathon for reasons unknown. Tell myself I’ll try again after lunch -> cook and eat lunch -> get out my computer, look at previous posts -> enter downward spiral into the void that’s the Internet -> shit, shit, shit, I’m SO behind!!
It happens. Sometimes procrastination just takes the reins and before I know it, I’m setting off into the sunset that’s the Internet, never to return again until it’s just a little too late and the panic of having done nothing takes over. And it always makes me feel like a complete, and utter failure. So many negative emotions come about and all because what? I couldn’t be disciplined enough?
Over the years, I’ve looked into plenty of productivity tips, hacks, tricks, you name it. But instead of blindly following these, I realised the most important step in overcoming procrastination is understanding exactly why I procrastinate. Turns out, it’s not so simple as putting off what I have to. There are reasons (yes, reasons, plural, I was shocked!) I procrastinate and if I can understand why, then I can tailor a productivity hack that will help me work around the procrastination. So, here are the 5 main reasons I’ve found to procrastinate over the years.
1. Absolutely zero interest in what I have to do
From the days of my A levels where I spent a good portion of my time finding music videos in 360p rather than 240p on YouTube instead of studying to my 9 to 5 days where I would rather watch Stephen Colbert because the task for my day is something mundane like data entry, I have procrastinated until the eleventh hour SO many times because what I have to do is not exactly what I want to do. It has no meaning for me and so I have no interest in it. But it needs to be done. Have to clear those A levels; have to enter the data so I can analyse it.
On such days, I use a vaguely bastardised version of the Pomodoro technique. The original Pomodoro technique is fairly straightforward: You work for 25 minutes and then you take a 5-minute break. You do this cycle 4 times and for the last break, you take a much longer one that’s 15 to 30 minutes long instead of 5 minutes. Easy, right? On days where I have zero interest in what I need to do, 25 minutes can be asking too much of me. So I tell myself for 10 minutes, and just 10 minutes alone, I will work. Then I will give myself a 10-minute break. When my brain wanders over to something like “When Eternals is coming out??” like it always does while I’m working, I scribble it down instead of entertaining the thought right away like I’m usually tempted to. When my 10 minutes of work is done, I’ll take a look at my random scribbles and follow up on them, or scroll through Instagram. Depending on my interest levels in the task I have to do, I’ll give myself a 5 to 10-minute break. When that time is up, I go back to work. As the day progresses, I try to increase the work-time to 25 minutes and reduce the break down to 5 minutes.
This is the simplest way I have found to get something done, rather than whiling away the entire day on YouTube and having nothing done. A key thing about working this way is telling myself it’s okay to only get done what I did as I’m not interested in what I’m doing; it’s important for me to acknowledge that and work for that day with that mindset. Otherwise, emotions like guilt, anger and self-loathing take over and I have enough of those already.
2. There is simply too much to do for the day
Another reason I tap out? I’m simply too overwhelmed I don’t want to or don’t know where to even begin. Dealing with this can be a bit of a mixed bag. I try the Pomodoro technique first.
If that doesn’t work because I’m fretting over how much there is to do that I’m constantly distracting myself, I review my to-do list and figure out the ONE thing I need to get done for the day. The one thing I choose to do is entirely subjective. Sometimes it’s because it’s the largest task and is causing me the most anguish. Sometimes it’s because it’s a matter of urgency and/or importance. Sometimes it’s because it’s the most attractive of my entire to-do list and the one I feel most excited/ motivated to work on. So, the three or five, or however many tasks that productivity gurus tell you is the ideal number of things to complete in a day goes out the window. I tell myself this is the one thing I’ll do for the day and I’ll appreciate myself for that. I’ve found this to be ridiculously freeing and also satisfying.
3. It’s not exactly the doing that’s the problem, it’s the starting that’s the problem
If procrastinating because my own insecurities and fears got in the way was a sport, I would hold the gold medal at the Olympics. There are so many times I chose, and still choose, to do nothing at all for fear of failure rather than trying the smallest possible step that has no measure of success or failure attached to it.
So, how do I beat this? I take the plunge. Otherwise, I’ll never get started. I have a little conversation with myself about why I want to do what’s in front of me to help create more of a “I want to start” energy. Then I just dive in headfirst with the bastardised Pomodoro technique I described above. The one thing that’s different when I’m procrastinating because of my insecurities is I find it necessary to treat myself during those longer breaks. It truly helps because then the rewards centre in my brain is activated and I’m more motivated to keep going.
4. What needs to be done doesn’t have a clearly defined deadline or the deadline is yonks from now.
This is the easiest way to procrastinate for me. This is something I have to do on my own time? At my own pace? Or the deadline is a year from now? Ah, I’ll do it tomorrow. Tomorrow being the day before the deadline.
To deal with this, I break down the task into smaller tasks and set deadlines for myself. If possible, I find someone I can communicate these deadlines to so I can hold myself accountable. Say my boss tells me to write a research manuscript and to get it to them whenever it’s ready, I break it down:
a. research and find supporting literature
b. write intro and discussion
c. write methodology
d. analyse and write results
e. proofread final paper
Then I set (reasonable!) deadlines for these smaller tasks and I’ll tell my boss about the deadlines too: “Sure, I’ll write the intro and get it to you by this day and you can tell me if I’m on the right track and what you think. Then I’ll review accordingly and start working on the methodology!”
If there is no boss figure and it’s just something I have to do by myself, I try to find a friend or set alarms. If neither of those is a possibility or I need to go harder to motivate myself, I install a countdown app and have it show me every single day how many days I still have before the deadline on the home screen of my phone. That usually works for me because that’s how I was raised; on scare tactics.
5. Mental health issues.
This is when I try all of the above. Doing just one task for the day. Working in ten-minute blocks to get moving. Having a conversation with myself. Because this can also often lead to point number one about having no interest in doing what I have to. So I try any and all of the “productivity hacks” I know. If nothing sticks, then screw it, I’m taking a break. I would rather go read a book or watch a movie or maybe even take a nap to recharge and try again when I’m feeling a bit better than to keep running into a wall.
Apart from the techniques I shared above, a rule I’ve tried to observe that has significantly helped with minimising procrastination overall is building a “If it takes less than two minutes, do it now” mindset. That laundry you need to put away? Those makeup brushes that need to be washed? Going through your photos to determine which shot of the fries you want to keep? Do it now if you have two minutes to spare. It’s all part of the do the something today your future self thanks you for concept. There’s always that moment of “Ugh, I’ll get it later”. That’s when I tell myself, “This is how shit piles up, Thendral. This is exactly how shit piles UP.” And try to get on with it. Because before you know it, the laundry’s piled up on your chair and you have nowhere to sit but your bed (i.e., the kingdom of sleep so now you’re working on your bed in snooze mode instead of your desk where you could probably be much more alert), your makeup brushes have gone rank and your phone is begging for storage space. What should have cost you 2 + 2 +2 = 6 mins previously, now costs you 30 minutes perhaps. And you have A LOT of things on your task list now and you feel overwhelmed or don’t have enough time/ energy to sort everything out. So, do that 2-minute task if you have 2 minutes.
And that’s all I have to beat procrastination! And you know, even if you’re fully aware of why you’re procrastinating and still find yourself rather interested in twiddling your thumbs than doing what you have to, then just let it be. You don’t have to hustle 24/7. There is beauty in stillness.
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