Procrastination Defined

Procrastination is a habit of delaying a start or an end of a task, even though we believe we should do it.

Conscious Delay vs. Procrastination

Let’s first distinguish between conscious delay and procrastination.

Conscious delay is a deliberate choice to postpone a task for a valid reason, like waiting for the right moment or gathering necessary resources. In contrast, procrastination occurs when we postpone without a clear reason.

Essentially, procrastination arises when a subconscious force prevents us from undertaking tasks that we think we should perform. This can manifest in various aspects of our lives, from delaying morning routines to neglecting household chores, work assignments, exercising, postponing communication and other responsibilities.

Causes of Procrastination

Specific underlying factors contribute to procrastination, whether consciously recognized or not.

Example of procrastination when we are aware of its causes: We know that a bad experience from our childhood makes us scared of going to the dentist. Even though we understand this, the fear can be stronger than our logical decision to go and we procrastinate.

Example of procrastination when we are not aware of its causes: We might delay updating and sending our CV for a better job without realizing why. Deep down, we might be scared of being rejected, and this fear guides our actions without us knowing it.

Procrastination as a Sign of Inner Misalignment

Procrastination can serve as a signal that different parts of our psyche harbour conflicting perspectives on what actions should be taken.

When we look at putting off a dentist appointment, we can see that there’s a conflict inside us. One part wants to avoid the pain associated with dental procedures, while another part knows it’s important for our dental health. Likewise, when we delay searching for a better job, there might be a conflict too. One part of us wants to move forward in our career, while another part is trying to avoid situations where we might be rejected. These two parts seem to have different goals, causing internal misalignment related to what should be done.

Another mechanism closely connected to procrastination is perfectionism. If we are prone to perfectionism, we may also be prone to develop negative traits, mechanisms and behaviours in order to avoid the consequences of the feared imperfection. We may procrastinate to avoid situations that may lead to failure. Also, perfectionists tend to spend more time on tasks chasing perfection which leads to procrastination.

To find out more about overcoming perfectionism, please click here.

Rushing & Procrastinating – Two Sides of the Same Coin

Now that we went deeper into understanding the dynamics of split parts, we can also touch upon the opposite extreme of procrastination, and that is compulsive rushing. In the case of procrastination, the subconscious fears and forces are making us delay what we mentally believe we should do.

In the case of rushing, the subconscious part is making us do things before we mentally think we should – we say things we do not think we should, and we act before we think about it.

As we can see, in both cases there is no inner alignment between the conscious and subconscious tendencies. Forcing alignment has not proven successful neither for procrastination nor for rushing. A better way is to understand the causes of inner conflict and find inner consensus utilising “softer” approaches.

Overcome Procrastination Through Inner Alignment

To overcome procrastination, it’s important to find alignment between our inner parts with conflicting tendencies.

Paradox-x Method offers processes that facilitate “negotiations” between the conflicting parts, and enables finding common ground and new solutions beneficial for both inner parts. It facilitates deep learnings required for inner integration in the form of the adoption of virtues. The virtues are necessary for establishing inner alignment and consequently for overcoming procrastination. While learnings are subjective for each of us, some of the common virtues that are beneficial for overcoming procrastination include: focus, perseverance, stability, understanding, truthfulness, and others.

We will find that, with the adoption of the learnings, our inner alignment and authenticity are strengthened. We will also increase our ability to do the right things at the right time, instead of resorting to procrastination.