Never put off until tomorrow what you could do the day after tomorrow.
That’s a quote loosely attributed to Mark Twain. It’s a cheeky way of calling out extreme procrastination and highlighting the absurdity of delaying tasks even further.
It’s also a humorous counterpoint to something Benjamin Franklin famously said: “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” This emphasizes the importance of not delaying tasks unnecessarily. While we all understand the need for efficiency, diligence, and follow-through, we still struggle with being mindful of how we manage our time and tasks.
Procrastination is…
The simplest definition of procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing tasks.
Being real, while I write this, I am knee-deep in some irony. I have procrastinated writing this blog for two weeks. I have had “other things to do,” and this task seemed to keep moving down the list until I realized, “Oh man, this is due tomorrow.” The thing is, I love writing, so it wasn’t procrastinating on something I don’t typically like doing. I believe this to be more situational irony.
This is an example of knowing I had an article to write, targeting it as a post on procrastination, and then allowing a thousand other things with varying degrees of importance and urgency to take precedence instead of just knocking it out. I think it was more a loss of sight than procrastinating. Regardless, I am clanking away at the keyboard in the eleventh hour before the deadline.
Procrastination is too easy.
Based on some research, the reasoning behind delaying tasks is more than mere laziness, lack of motivation, or poor time management skills. While those certainly can play a part, I have found that there may be deeper, more psychological factors in delaying select tasks.
Procrastination can stem from emotional responses like fear of failure, judgment, doubt, unrealistic expectations, low self-esteem/efficacy, or difficulty with emotional regulation. Essentially, procrastinators may delay certain tasks, even when they know it’s harmful, to avoid negative emotions associated with the task, thus creating a cycle of avoidance and increased stress.
It’s a cycle that begins easily enough with some immediate gratification by avoiding or doing something else (typically more pleasurable), and then the avoidance leads to longer term issues of stress and anxiety. To me it’s like having a cold. The truth is everyone will get it. The severity of it depends on how we treat it. The longer it lingers, the more dangerous it can get.
Stubbing out procrastination requires action.
If you want to eliminate or treat procrastination, it will require some intentional energy and effort. Dan Pink recently shared a vlog, This is How to Finally Stop Procrastinating; 7 ways to stop stalling and start moving. In this 10-minute video, Pink provides seven considerations to combat those urges to not do something or make it, whatever it is, less important. Here’s the seven things with a tiny bit of commentary.
Follow the two-minute rule. Whatever you can do in two minutes or less, just do it. Anyone can do 120 seconds. Let it stimulate more complex things that need to be done next.
Remake your environment. Create a workspace free of distraction and noise to help focus your productivity. Get rid of the stuff that can derail your effectiveness and follow through.
Bundle your temptations. Pair stuff you should do with stuff you want to do. Make the mindless and mundane mindful and meaningful.
Visualize future regret (and success). Allow your future self and the possible outcomes to direct how your present self decides to act and react in the current set of circumstances.
Break tasks into microtasks. This one is simple. Break down tasks into more do-able bite-sized chunks. Spread them out and then celebrate each completion as a means to keep going.
Make a public commitment. Let others know what you’re doing. This accountability makes it harder to avoid stuff if you know you have created expectations others are now watching.
Say, “Just five more.” Five more minutes, five more tasks, whatever; this is about giving and doing a little bit more each time. It’s challenging our drive and resilience to keep at it.
Procrastination is self-sabotage.
It doesn’t have to be. It’s a choice. So is engagement and getting after the stuff we need to get done. We get to decide how we respond to the important, urgent, and everything else in our day, which means ‘someday’ is not a day of the week. Get it done!
If procrastination is something you wrestle with, or may in future, consider your answers to some of the following questions.
- How do you define procrastination?
- What are some of the emotions that come to mind when you define procrastination?
- What are the tasks you typically avoid or put off? Make a list.
- Why do you typically avoid or put off those tasks?
- What tasks do you never avoid or put off? Make a list.
- What’s the difference between the lists?
- What is one thing you could start doing today to diminish procrastination in your life?
