Did you know that procrastination is a form of self-sabotage? An article in the October 2011 issue of “Psychology Today” shares, “When it comes to self-sabotage, procrastination is king.” Why does such a harmless behavior such as procrastination merit such an ugly title? There are a myriad of reasons, but for the sake of brevity here are two primary ones. One, it creates a pattern in us that we begin to believe. We begin to believe that we are procrastinating for a valid reason. So internally that is what we see as happening. Externally, others view your behavior as irrational or irresponsible. That is a misperception gap that can have huge negative implications. Secondly, when we delay action by procrastinating a very obvious thing happens…we delay action. Mark Twain’s quote about eating the frog first thing in the morning and the rest of the day will be better applies to procrastinators. Whatever you are putting off, for whatever reason, will not be any better if you wait to do it. The short-term mood repair we gain by procrastinating does not merit the damage that will be done. Procrastination messes up your ability to create and implement through setting strong intentions. It undercuts how people perceive you as a doer and label you as a talker. Procrastination allows your emotions to run wild and leave you subject to whims rather than controlling your day. And while you may think that you are merely putting off one task, the reality is you are completely undermining your ability to set and implement both short and long-term goals.
Where Is Your Focus?
Where is your focus? Present, past, current moment or future? There are two elements that without, you will not move forward…focus and action. So where is your focus? There is a very fine line when it comes to focus that can trip us up. It is this: Are you focused on yourself or are you focused on ‘the plan’? One will lead to action. The other will lead to delay and possibly excuses. Now there is nothing wrong with taking care of yourself and finding the right path. There is however a propensity to use the taking care piece as an excuse not to develop and plan and not to focus on putting it in to action. The challenge is being honest enough with yourself to admit where you are and what your true intent is. So many things in the name of ‘self improvement’ can become crutches and ways of putting off the discipline and work that are necessary to get where you need to go to be the person you want to be. It is so easy to put off action and procrastinate in the name of more investigation. Procrastination is just failure on an installment plan. Do not put yourself in that position.