***Why do we Procrastinate?

How often do we put off until tomorrow what can be done today? You know you should clean out the closet, or study for the test or prepare your will or trust. However, you find a gamut of other things to do instead. There are many reasons that we as human beings procrastinate. Here are the most common.n

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1. Anxiety. Do you have anxiety about what needs to be done and that is why you are putting it off? Typically anxiety is directly related to the beginning or the ending of a task. That’s usually because what needs to be done, seems overwhelming or frightening. How many times do you put off doing your taxes? Is that because the actual process of doing your taxes is too challenging or too difficult? Another good example is situations like having an elderly parent knowing there are certain things that need to be dealt with and you really don’t want to face it. It’s something you’d rather push back to the dark corners of your closet and not deal with it. But rarely, does this work in our favor.n n
2. Failure. Another reason people procrastinate. Are you not doing what you know you should do because you expect you may fail? Is it safer and easier to say you didn’t get what you want because you didn’t try? What’s the alternative? To say you didn’t get what you want because you did try but failed? I believe that it’s better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all. Don’t you waste more mental energy thinking about doing something as opposed to just doing it? nn
3. Success. Yet another reason people procrastinate. Many will not do what they are capable of doing because they know it will result in success. Success is heavy and carries a responsibility with it. Are you nervous or unsure about the responsibilities you will have if you reach your goal? Is the reason you aren’t taking action?nn
4. Perfectionist. Perfectionists tend to take no action if they can’t do it perfectly. I have seen people who have absolutely disaster-ous home improvement projects both inside and outside that haven’t been finished. So the inside of their kitchen may be half ripped out and not functioning but they won’t do anything to fix it until they have the plans just perfect, down to every last detail. This makes no sense to me. Why would you rather live in complete and total chaos than make the situation decent and livable? nn
5. Resistance. Yet one more reason people put off what needs to done. If you are being required to do something that you do not want to do or do not see the value in, you may put it off until the very last possible moment or permanently if you can get away with it. Many times with school or work you have to do things you really don’t want to do. You have to take prerequisite classes for school or you have to sit through an HR presentation at work even though you have been there for 10 + years and never had an HR problem. You don’t want to do any of these things. They are annoying nagging things you need to do, but you put them off because there are plenty of things you want to do that are far more appealing. n

nThe most common denominator here is fear. Pushing it off or procrastinating is only going to make matters worse. If there are consequences to something those consequences are still going to be there when you finally get around to facing them and they will likely get worse the longer you put it off. Ask yourself, “What am I afraid of,” and then deal with it. Many times, if not always, things are worse in our head than reality ever turns out to be. Just be honest and admit the fear, deal with it, get past it and step up and live your life NOW!!! If something doesn’t work out the way you want it to, it’s ok, you can now move on to something else.