Procrastination is a habitual way of fraudulently justifying to ourselves that a particular endeavor should not, does not need to, or cannot be started now.
Sir Isaac Newton said that a body at rest stays at rest, and a body in motion stays in motion. This is especially true in the case of procrastination. It is the energy required to begin the motion that we tend to struggle with. So how can we get into motion and avoid procrastination? First, we must determine our reason for procrastinating.
Dr. Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at De Paul University in Chicago, is one of the world’s leading experts on procrastination. He identifies 3 types of procrastinators.
The first category is the thrill seekers. These procrastinators oftentimes wait for the adrenaline rush that comes when a deadline is approaching. It would be far better to be productive with my time and to complete the work on the speech with plenty of time to spare.
The second major category to talk about is the avoiders. These procrastinators are driven by the desire to avoid things, rather than to achieve things. They may wish to avoid discomfort, hard work, the unknown, risk … the list could go on. Avoiders usually fill their time with things that distract them from what they really need to be doing: things like housework, television, Facebook, etc.
The final major category is the indecisive procrastinators. There are many people who really hate decision-making and feel that procrastinating on a decision, especially the decision to “begin”. The problem with this line of thinking is that not making a decision is in itself a decision! This type of thinking always leads to procrastination.
As you think about procrastination, don’t beat yourself up about it. We all do this from time to time. The point is … how can we be better?
- Exercise:
Think about the 3 basic categories of procrastinators.
Which do you usually fall into when you procrastinate?
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