Why Do We Procrastinate?

If you’ve been reading this blog for very long, you know that I (almost) always wait until the last minute to write my blog post. In fact, there have been many times where I’m grinding it out and hitting publish from my bed at 11:30 PM, just so I can say “At least I got it posted on Wednesday!” In fact, I tried to start this exact blog post yesterday in the morning, gave up, and came back to it last night. So if you think this blog is going to be about how to stop procrastinating, you can assume by now that is not the case as it’s obvious that is not an area I have a lot of skills in.

I’ll be the first to admit I am a huge proponent of “later”. While procrastination doesn’t consume my life, I can think of numerous times where I definitely would have been more accomplished without postponing my productivity. I blame my mom for this flaw by default, only because my dad is so on top of things it’s sickening. I’m definitely ahead of the things that REALLY matter, like paying my bills or cleaning, but other things like homework and small projects for myself? Yeah, not happening…

If you’re like me, you can relate to that push and pull of doing what you want to versus doing what you should. Thankfully, I can motivate myself at the very last minute, so my procrastination doesn’t typically prevent me from getting things done. I do know, however, that I would be so much farther ahead if I could just kick procrastination to the curb all together, like a 2010 Ke$ha song. How do we do it?

I. Don’t. Know.

Quite frankly, if I had the end-all cure for putting things off, I wouldn’t be writing this blog because I’d be too busy speaking at fancy conferences in Mariot ballrooms with fancy pens on the tables. What I do know, through nothing but my own self reflection, is why we procrastinate. Well, at least I know why I procrastinate, but I’m guessing many of you can relate to that, too.

(Of course, I have to make the disclaimer that “I’m no scientist” and I “haven’t done extensive research”, blah blah blah. But honestly, if you cared about any of that stuff would you be reading this blog?)

I find there are usually four things that encourage me to procrastinate, sometimes all at once. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I procrastinate the most when I have the most to do. I just get so anxious and focused on all the other things I have to do that I can’t get down to business on any particular item on my to-do list. I find it incredibly difficult to just sit down and get to work on something and only focus on that particular task. It could be because I’m a bit of an anxious person anyways, or maybe it’s because I’m someone who attempts to multitask too often. Regardless, I find that it’s hardest to get to work when I have a lot of work to get to because the more you have to do, the more you have to worry about getting done.

There’s also an element of economics in the “science” of procrastination. Opportunity cost is something that plays a major factor in my ability to procrastinate. For those who are a little rusty from their Econ 101 class, ‘opportunity cost’ is essentially what you give up to do something else. “If I go out with friends tonight, I won’t be able to watch Chicago Med.” “If I get up early to go to Burgies, I won’t get to sleep in.” It’s essentially acknowledging a tradeoff you’ve chosen to make.

If you’ve been following the blog since Day 1 (we love you!), you might remember a blog Katie wrote about a year ago putting FOMO in its place. Call me shallow, but I am someone who struggles with FOMO in almost every way and it’s especially heightened when procrastination becomes involved. Just last night, I knew I needed to get this blog post written. Instead, I chose to watch the State of the Union address on TV because I didn’t want to miss out. I decided that the opportunity of watching the SOTU live was greater than the cost of staying up later to finish this post that I put off. Whether it’s some political news coverage or a night out with friends, I’m always afraid of missing out.

Along with FOMO, there’s a pleasure complex that goes with procrastination. It’s why we scroll through Facebook pointlessly for 3 minutes, close the app, and reopen it a few moments later. Or, it might be why you sleep in even though you know there’s work to be done. The instant gratification your brain feels in that moment appears to be more valuable than the long-term satisfaction you would eventually experience if you worked on the task at hand instead. YouTube is my worst encouragement of procrastinating. It’s pretty crazy how one short TEDtalk can turn into a conspiracy theory video and then eventually you’re watching someone play “My Heart Will Go On” on a plastic school recorder. (I know this goes against the whole point of the post, but I highly recommend you take a few minutes to lose a few brain cells while watching this.)

And then, friends, there’s the Big Kahuna. The motherload of all procrastination causes. When I work on a project, whether it’s for myself or someone else, I want it to be perfect. Not fine, not good enough but perfect. You might think that’s a benefit, and in some ways it is. It helps me to be more detail-oriented and to always strive to be better. There’s one problem: How often do we do things perfectly? Definitely 0% of the time. Because there’s no way to be perfect but it’s still what I strive for, sometimes it can be difficult to start a project because I don’t have a clear, complete vision for how I’m going to finish it. While I love writing, I do my best work when I make time to outline, write notes, and visualize the story I want to tell before my fingers even hit the keyboard. In my head, I tell myself I’m just going to wait to start until I know I can do it perfectly, and you can imagine how well that works for my productivity…

Have I got you confused yet? The point is that there are lots of factors that play into our ability to do things “later”. Maybe there are others for you that aren’t on my list. But once you recognize why you procrastinate, how do you stop it?

I like to visualize procrastination as a curb. Imagine you are in your car in a parking lot on the top of a hill. The “thing” you’re trying to get done is the hill. If you just tap the gas a little bit and then stop, you’re never going to get your car to hop up over the hill. Now, back your car up, smash the gas, and drag race right over the curb and down the side of the hill. When overcoming procrastination, getting started can be the hardest part. However, once you get over that bump it’s smooth sailing to the end.