Why do we procrastinate?

I often think I don’t have enough time to do all the things I need or want to do, but when I look at how much time I waste doing really unimportant things I know that just isn’t true.

Why do we often put off the things that we really should do in favour of the much less important things?

I read an E-Myth article recently that gave some insight into this.

Apparently there are loads of reasons why we procrastinate. And there are often telltale signs that we are indeed procrastinating even when we think we are being truly productive.

•  Do you stay busy doing low-priority tasks despite the high-level, strategic work that remains undone?

•  Are you checking and re-checking your email without acting on them?

•  Do certain items keep getting ‘carried over’ to another day on your To Do list?

•  Are you perpetually waiting for a ‘good time’ to tackle certain tasks?

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, you may be struggling with this issue.

Although there are many underlying causes, here are seven that are particularly common and easily identified:

•  You are feeling overwhelmed by a particular task

•  You are afraid that you will fail

•  You feel unwilling or unable to make a decision

•  You are overworked or too tired

•  You just don’t want to do it

• You are too disorganised and distracted to budget the time effectively

•  You don’t want to commit to starting a task unless you know it will be perfect

Deferring some tasks, especially low-level or unimportant tasks, is not necessarily procrastinating. Part of the art of self-management is being able to prioritise and where possible, delegate. It might also be a good strategy to intentionally hold off on high-level or critical tasks if you are not able to focus effectively due to fatigue or unavoidable distractions. But that should be the exception, not the excuse.

Many people develop the habit of putting off unpleasant tasks simply because they don’t want to do them. But that doesn’t make them go away. They just build up, adding to stress and further distracting you from being able to fully focus on any task at hand. It is a vicious cycle.

For some people, the greatest enemy to getting important things done is perfectionism. If it can’t be perfect, it can’t be done.  Nothing is perfect and striving for perfection is just another way of putting things off indefinitely. Sometimes, ‘good enough’ is good enough.

Plan Your Work, Write it Down, and Work Your Plan: the old cliché about planning your work and working your plan is a powerful maxim. I added the bit about writing it down because there is enormous power in putting things on paper. There is an extra force in making your objectives visible and ‘real’.

Getting effectively organised and developing effective time management practices will not happen overnight. But today is a great day to start! Confronting your own particular procrastination demons will not be comfortable or pleasant. So be it – today’s a great day to begin! Create a realistic To Do list each day with only three priority tasks. Put the least inviting one on top.

Begin. Experience the pleasure of getting something you’d avoided off your list. It’s a monkey off your back! Move on to the next. It gets easier with each little success.

Are there still tasks that you will dislike? Well, yes. But they are getting done, and a completed unpleasant task feels a lot better than one hanging over your head.

You can read the full article here

Let me know if you have any great tips on avoiding procrastination. I could do with them!