Most people (especially those functioning in the teacher, parent, and boss mode) see the following direct cause and effect relationship between procrastination and its psychological underpinnings: if you put things off, you must be lazy and/or disorganized. Or both. While the laziness=procrastination theory may be true to a degree, it doesn't explain why most people procrastinate about some things and not others. For instance, the very person who meticulously completes tedious sales strategy reports and arrives at the office at 8:15 A.M. sharp every day, may put off making calls to difficult clients.
Therefore, another take on why people put doing certain things off may be that they're subconsciously afraid of something.
Different Forms of Procrastination Fear
Procrastination may be inspired by many kinds of fear, but most instances of putting things off can arguably be attributed to the following three causes:
1) Fear of Pain: What if the Past Recreates Itself and Hurts Me?
Therapy aside, most of us avoid exploring the emotional underpinnings of any kind of emotional or physical pain on deep levels, whenever possible. To cite an obvious example, many people who have endured difficult romantic break-ups or unpleasant divorces distance themselves from new relationships because they don't want to be hurt again. There may be no concrete reason to think that loving Susie Davis will be anything like loving Marsha Armand, but people are still afraid on some level that the confusion and drama of their last flame will recreate itself with another person to whom they're attracted.
2) Fear of Overwhelm: What if I Can't Do the 2000 Things on My To-Do List?
Feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of going through a 12-step process to finish something is another reason people procrastinate. For instance, let's say the phone bill shows up and it's $30 more than it was last month. You suspect a clerical error, but the implications of calling the 1-800 number, staying on hold for 20 minutes, and talking with an overworked customer service representative seems like too much of a chore at 8:15 P.M.. Plus, based on your fear that past experiences will recreate themselves, you think someone will tell you she fixed your bill, but the mistake will reappear next month anyway. So you put off the unpleasant task of fixing the bill till tomorrow'and next week'and pretty soon you've just paid the $30 erroneous charge because you never got around to resolving the problem.
3) Fear of Meeting/Not Meeting the Expectations of Others
Dale Carnegie said it best in How to Win Friends and Influence People, by suggesting there's no such thing as constructive criticism. Criticism only makes people feel resentful and insecure. Many times people procrastinate because they resent being made to feel badly that they didn't conform to someone else's expectations about how they should behave. For instance, what happened when your mom nagged you 243 times to clean your room? You never did it because you resented the inference that there was something wrong with you for not wanting to clean that pigsty. Oftentimes, people procrastinate because they don't want someone to get the better of them by forcing them to do something they don't want to do.
Ways to Alleviate Procrastination
If we accept that the act of procrastinating is often related to an underlying fear about what will happen if we do something, what are some questions that can melt away the tendency to procrastinate?
Fear of Past Pain
1) Ask ourselves, 'what pain am I avoiding by not doing this task'?
2) Ask ourselves, 'what's the worst thing that will happen if I do what I'm avoiding doing'? (therapists love this one)
3) Ask ourselves, 'Is there any reason to think this experience I'm avoiding will be as negative as similar experiences I've had in the past'?
Fear of Overwhelm
1) Ask ourselves, 'Is there a way to break this task down into manageable pieces?
2) Ask ourselves, 'Is this problem as complicated as it seems'?
3) Ask ourselves, 'Can I write this task into my day planner at some point.'
4) Ask ourselves, 'Can I delegate this task to someone else'?
Fear of Meeting or Not Meeting the Expectations of Others
1) Ask ourselves, 'Am I getting back at someone by not doing this task.'
2) Ask ourselves, 'Does it matter what others think of me.'
3) Ask ourselves, 'Am I afraid to do this task because I think that if I fail, others will be disappointed with me'?
Conclusion
While there's no cure-all for procrastination, asking ourselves why we're putting something off often enables us to quit stalling'if we want to DO THINGS NOW. Otherwise, great papers have been written at the last minute, and the earth will probably keep rotating on its axis if you never clean out the garage.
Copyright Janna L. Chan, 2006. This article may be reprinted as long as its content is not altered, and it contains the author's bio below with a link to the relevant site.
Author's Bio
Janna Chan writes articles on alleviating regular stress and web business stress at http://www.web-biz-stress.com. Visit us for more information about creating websites you love, 8-minutes at a time. |
