jonny_nut

I’ve always been a bit uncomfortable with the concept of procrastination being used to describe any sort of delay in achievement, regardless of whether or not it’s a concious act and irrelevant of other factors that might influence choices…

I think that if someone willingly decides to put off doing important or difficult tasks to a later time or day on a regular basis simply because they prefer doing something more pleasing or effortless, and effectively ends-up having to deal with negative concequences of repeatedly doing so, then that can obviously be classified as procrastination.

But what about someone who’s “absent-minded”? What about a person with ADHD? What about somebody with anxiety issues? What about people agonized by the prospect of prioritizing choices? What about perfectionists or those with OCPD who aren’t able to adjust their level focus to match the needs of the task at hand and time constraints associated with deadlines? There are so many other situations that can explain why people might struggle with starting and completing tasks, that generalizing everything as procrastination can be a serious mistake.

Some might say examples such as the ones above are unrelated to what is commonly refered to as procrastination. Others may believe anyone dealing with those issues is an extreme case on the fringe, and not what “the average person” goes through. The reality is that the ABC’s of psychology fall along an entire spectrum of beliefs, moods and emotions, and can easily change with time, situations and surroundings.

Accepting that other factors – either along with or instead of procrastination – have a role in completing tasks and achieving goals is a much more effective way of looking at day-to-day successes. To want to stop procrastinating, the procrastination had to have started at some point; if that’s not the case, it might be a good idea to look at other possible explanations for current difficulties…

It’s funny how simply being aware of a goal makes it easier to work on!

Well, not really – I’d say it’s obvious, but the funny part for me was realizing that I haven’t been trying to do this for a long time, and the moment that I remembered how easy it was to succeed at it just by wanting to I smiled.

Pretty meta, eh? :p

I think this is a very important one to work on for a lot of people, for may reasons, but sometimes it’s just not feasible, so for now I’m going to put this one away and try for something I’m more likely to achieve in the short-term!