I’ve wanted to write about this topic for a while but I kept putting it off for another day and kept putting it off. Why do I procrastinate? It’s not such an easy answer. For some people it might be laziness or rather do it later when its convenient for them. I have a few reasons why I procrastinate and some are just weird to me.
For the past few years I’ve been on this journey to understand myself and to better myself not just personally but professionally as well. It started when I found what made me happy and decided to continue to do what makes me happy. Now it’s just unlocking all the puzzles to figure out how to be the best version of me.
Now I’m at the point of my journey where I have to figure out why do I procrastinate on certain things and what are the reason why behind it. The thing about self discovery journeys is that you have to be honest with yourself and while some truths can hurt, they more you figure out about yourself the more you understand why you do certain things.
Afraid of Success
Most people are afraid of failure and procrastinate doing certain things because they’re afraid of failing. I’ve realize failure is part of the process and to be honest, failing has never scared me. Success does. I’ve always been of afraid of being successful and all the pressure people put on your for being successful. I figured if I procrastinate and not respond to emails or return phone calls I can miss the opportunity to be successful. Maybe I don’t get the gig from the big client and I feel relieved because what if I knock it out of the park and they hire me again and they want more from me? Can I do it? And that is where my fear of success comes in. What if they think I’m a fraud because I have impostor syndrome? That is one of the main reasons I procrastinate.
Lack of a Challenge
I will procrastinate if I think a task is too easy to complete. There is no challenge in me doing a mundane task so why rush to get it done? Even when I was working in the corporate world I would do projects and tasks at the last minute. Not because I was lazy, but because the project didn’t challenge me enough and I had to find a way to challenge me. So I would wait to the absolute last minute to start and then the adrenaline rush of trying to get the project done was what really got me moving. That was one of the reasons why some corporate jobs are blah to me. They don’t challenge me or my boss didn’t know how to properly motivate me because they felt that their way works on everyone and that is never the cases.
I Have A.D.D
Another reason for procrastinating is I can be a scatterbrain at times. I could be focusing on something and all of a sudden, squirrel and then I’m all over the place except where I need to be. My mind starts racing, ideas and thoughts are bouncing everywhere I’m just trying to follow the pretty butterfly. And all the while I forgot about the task at hand until it’s pretty much too late. It may seem like I was procrastinating but in reality I forgot all about it. And this is where writing things down helps out. Problem is I usually forget to write things down and well, some things don’t get done.
Selfish Reasons
And there are times I really just don’t want to do something. It could be because I think it’s not worthy of my time or effort or maybe I think why am I even be asked to do this. So I just put it off till later or more often than not I just put it off altogether. It is selfish of me and I won’t deny that I don’t do things for selfish reasons. Not really an excuse, but in trying to find out the reasons as to why do I procrastinate, I have to be completely honest and honestly I don’t do things for selfish reasons. I’m trying to be better at that; honestly.
Those are my reasons for procrastinating. Some are out there and some are just plain stupid and I can freely admit that. What are some reasons you procrastinate? Leave them in the comments below.
Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash