Reasons Why you Procrastinate

We all do it.

But why? Why do we put off doing what we know we need to do?

Let’s cover the “why” and then the “how”.

5 Reasons why you procrastinate

Reason number one for procrastinating:

You don’t really want to do it

Let’s face it, sometimes a task is so gross, so gnarly, so time-consuming or so entirely complicated, that it just cramps our brain even to think about it. This is one of the reasons why some people shove the task to the back side of their brain…it’s just too painful to think about.

 

You want to do it, but you are overwhelmed

Yea, I think we’ve all been at this place. Overload is a key reason for putting things off, even when we know it’s important.

 

 

Procrastination reason number 3.

 

You don’t think it’s a big enough priority to do it now..

“Why do today what can be done tomorrow?”

Many procrastinators think this way. Unless their backside is in flames, they prefer to wait….and wait…and wait. The good news is, many of these midnight hour, crunch-time types actually work better under pressure (which is not very comforting to more rigid-personality type planners, but it works for them).

…or ever

Some people who are accused of procrastinating are not actually procrastinators. It’s just that, they have no intention of ever doing the task. But somehow, they know that society expects them to

Go back to school

Lose 10-pounds or even

Clean that top shelf

So to make people empathize with them, they join the ranks of “someday I’m going to” stop smoking, get rid of this old piece of furniture, or…whatever it may be. Probably, they are not bothered all that much with their habit, weight, or less than perfect lifestyle. But it makes them fit in to complain with the others and set resolutions they have no intention of reaching…or even trying to.

Reason number four:

Sometimes people procrastinate doing something, because they want attention…

We’ve all heard the story of the kid that misbehaves because they are being neglected by Mom and Dad. In relationships, some adults do this, because if their partner never had a complaint, they’d both never talk to one another.

…Or because, they resent having to do it.

This is not to say that the task is something that they dislike, or even that it is something that they wouldn’t cheerfully do, if weren’t for…the grudge. Yes that’s right, many heel-draggers consciously or subconsciously put off a task that they really don’t mind working on, just because they resent being told that they must do it. Sometimes the request is a reasonable one, but the person asked to do it, doesn’t think it’s fair. Or sometimes, the reason that the procrastinator won’t do the task, has nothing to do with resenting the task, but with driving the other person crazy….because of a long standing grudge that they have toward that person. That’s called Passive Aggression, and you can  learn more about that here

How about you; do you ever procrastinate? Would love to hear your comments!

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