Procrastination Problems

"I need someone to hit me every time I start to procrastinate,” said the girl in the HUB.

Yeah, I need that, too.

Procrastination is an epidemic that we all suffer from. Whether it is homework related or putting off a simple task, we all do it. We all acknowledge that we shouldn’t do it. We all see how it negatively affects our productivity. Yet we all do it.

I just procrastinated writing this blog post that is about procrastination.

With that though, there are psychological reasons as to why we procrastinate.

According to Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art, we tend to procrastinate “any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long term growth, health or integrity”

Intrinsically, we have the desire to essentially “block” ourselves. I think we can all relate to how when something important needs to be done, we tend to put it off at all costs. But why?

Pressfield states that “the more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more resistance we feel toward pursuing it.” We block ourselves from the pressure.

If something is so important, an almost paralyzing force comes forth.  In its own way, fear plays a role.

Simply, when something needs to be, its best to just do it. Once you realize that procrastination is natural, we can take steps to counter it.

If you know something is important, instead of cleaning your room or doing other things, you must resist the urge and actually do what you need to do.

Though many claim that their best work is done by procrastinating, that’s a hard argument to make. No matter what you want to believe, better planning and management, in a comfortable and calm atmosphere will always produce the best work.

We must master the art of non-procrastination.