I need to complete it today!
this “to-do list” dragon I’ll slay!
Let’s get it out of the way!
My dues I will pay!
I’ll just sit down and focus, as they say..
I must be the world’s biggest procrastinator
as once again I vow to do it later…
I penned this little poem in yet another attempt to postpone writing a blog that should have been written before the summer holiday. Maybe this topic hits home way too hard….
Procrastination. It’s irrational. It’s destructive. It’s against our best intentions. So why do we continue to do it? Besides the obvious fear of failure, here are 3 common reasons we defer.
Procrastination is a stress reliever
If you think procrastination means you are lazy, unenthusiastic, or lack self-discipline, you are wrong. According to Mel Robbins putting off tasks has nothing to do with idleness and everything to do with the stresses in your life.
Procrastination has little to do with the thing we are avoiding. We procrastinate because we are stressed. Stress in some area of your life, whether finances, relationship issues or general feelings of anxiety, might be the root cause of why you procrastinate. Procrastination serves as a form of stress relief.
The task at hand can be as simple as replying to an email, but we’ll keep blowing it off to binge on social media feeds. This brings momentary stress relieve to your brain, deceiving your brain into feeling like the overall stress in your life is gone. The same rule applies whether your stress is related to something serious or something trivial. If you can find the root of what causes the stress, you can try to reduce these tensions from your life.
Procrastination is a habit
We can blame it on our personalities, the wiring of our brains, we can even go so far as to convince ourselves that we were born with it. The truth is, you are not a procrastinator. You have a habit of procrastinating.
Habits do not require much conscious effort. Trust me, I understand that it is more complex than just thinking about it and poof, problem solved. But the good news is that with effort, mindfulness and some healthier routines, you can break the habit of procrastination.
There is a simple neurological loop at the core of every habit, a loop that consists of three parts. This involves:
· a trigger (the cue that initiates the behavior),
· a response (the behavior itself/ routine),
· a reward (the benefit you gain from the behavior).
Once your brain starts anticipating or expecting the reward, the power of a habit fully kicks in. If you want to get rid of a bad habit, you must find out how to implement a healthier routine/ response that leads to the same reward. In the case of procrastination, a stressor becomes the cue, procrastination becomes the routine and relief becomes the reward. We need to break this loop and establish a new routine (procrastination) in response to the trigger (stressor) as we will never be able to completely eliminate stress.
The Golden Rule of hacking the habit loop is to keep the trigger and the rewards; change the routine.
Procrastination is rewarding
Our brains love tricking us. When we do something we like, our brains give us dopamine. At some point in our past, we were rewarded for procrastinating, and our brain gave us dopamine. Rewarded behavior is repeated behavior.
Once it happened enough times, it became a habit in our neural pathway. Personally, I find that procrastination rewards the rebel within. The feeling of getting away with not being an exemplary, responsible grown-up brings more (short-lived) joy than I care to admit. For some, the adrenaline they get from the enormous pressure of working under a tight deadline becomes an addiction.
Like a junky, our brains try to use procrastination to satisfy the dopamine fix.
To overcome procrastination, you need to understand the reasons why you procrastinate, and the function procrastination serves in your life. You won’t find an effective, long-term solution if you don't really appreciate the root of the problem. Just knowing your true reasons for procrastinating makes it easier to stop.
As with most problems, awareness and self-knowledge are the keys to figuring out how to stop procrastinating. For a lot of people acquiring insight about themselves seem like an insurmountable task. You might need the professional services of a therapist or coach. The hardest part about personal growth is letting go of what you were used to, changing unhealthy behavior and having faith in what could be.
Don’t delay, start tackling the procrastination mountain today.
*** If this article is shared more than 100 times, a follow up article sharing my personal tips to stop procrastination will be made available.