So, I’ll be truthful, I’ve put off writing this entry for a minute. I even went so far as to organize my tax receipts instead of writing. Seriously; tax receipts. And no, the irony of procrastinating on the act of writing an entry on the topic of procrastination is not lost on me.

You might think that would shame me into abandoning the whole process. But, come on …

Procrastination, My Old Friend

I’ve had a long history with procrastination. I am guessing that you probably have also. In fact, I once read that several independent studies determined that 80% to 95% of all college-aged students procrastinate regarding their academic assignments. Personally, I don’t buy it. My gut feeling says that the number is nearly 100% and it is far more pervasive that “academic assignments.”

When I was young (young being everything before the age of 40) I was mired in procrastination. More than that, I practically reveled in it. I procrastinated so much that it was part of my planned schedule! How deranged is that? And the worst part was that I never suffered from the postponement. I was always able to get acceptable (not great) grades, do acceptable (not great) work, and just plain get by.

This led me to the misguided belief that I did “my best work under pressure.” I thought that pressing the task to the 11th hour somehow improved my work. Like time was a fruit, and by compressing it to the end I was getting some sort of Jack Lalanne Power Juicer effect. The fact was that I was had always been capable of great work and procrastinating was robbing me of that.

Procrastination Rationalization

There I was, procrastinating. On everything. And getting by on mediocre results. And I thought that I was ahead of the game. Today I know that procrastination is a stall tactic. We all stall, pushing off some unwanted task until a later date. Somehow, we imagine that raw lemons are going to taste like chocolate if we just wait another week. For myself, it was even worse.

I was not only pushing off my current task, I was usually circling back to catch the tail end of some other task that I had previously procrastinated on. This led me to what might be the single greatest self-delusion of my life: I wasn’t procrastinating, I was being productive. I even jokingly called it “productive procrastination.”

How could this entire cycle of assign, procrastinate, circle back, and repeat be detrimental if everything was getting done? Take my opening to this entry, for example. I was definitely not wasting my time while I organized my papers. I was doing good stuff. It just wasn’t the stuff that I should have been doing.

Procrastination Realization

The truth is that procrastination is addictive. And it is addictive on multiple levels.

Being lazy is habit forming. If you take an assignment or a task and boil it down. What is it? It is something that some outside force has put your name on and made your responsibility. That is not an act of control. But deciding, defiantly deciding, that you will not do that now, that you will do it later, that is an act of control. And people crave control.

Additionally, there is the pressure of the situation once procrastination catches up with you. “I do my best work under pressure.” The impending deadline. The race to finish, to meet the stated requirements, all of it comes together to activate the brain’s amygdala and hypothalamus to take control. You might know this area by a more common name, the Lizard Brain. And its most popular function? The fight or flight response.

It can be difficult to understand that procrastination is addictive and deceptively harmful. That is, until you realize that procrastination is perhaps the most benign form of risk and danger that most of us can place on ourselves in day to day life.

Procrastination Remediation

If you are the sort of person that procrastinates, it’s time to ask yourself some tough questions. It’s time to determine if you are lazy or addicted to pressure. If you are thinking “well sure, I procrastinate a little, but my work is fine,” then you need to accept the truth. The work that is “fine” has the potential to be exemplary, if you only gave yourself the proper resources. Resources that procrastination is robbing you of.

As for me, well I cannot say that I have gotten the procrastination monkey completely off my back. But I can say that it is a much smaller part of my life. I take the active steps needed to ensure that I plan and schedule most things in reasonable order. However, like they say, old habits die hard.

So, do yourself a favor and work to remediate the procrastination problem that lurks in your life. Commit right now to improving your timeliness, first in one area and then more. You will undoubtedly by astonished with the results of your procrastination transfiguration. Or you know … you could just do it later …