what’s behind procrastination?
Why do I procrastinate doing things that are important and would better my life and the lives of those I serve? Slow Leadership, a site I frequent often, suggests that there are subconscious attitudes that may be keeping us from performing our best.
Ignorance — “I didn’t know I was supposed to do that” (It’s not my fault).
Skill deficiency — “I don’t know how to do it properly” (I’m afraid to try in case I fail).
Apathy — “It really doesn’t make any difference ” or “No one really cares.” (Poor me) or “I’m not in the mood” (My emotions are blocking any progress).
Fixed habits and patterns — “I’ve always done it this way” (Change frightens me) or “I work better under pressure” (I’ll do it when I’m really forced, because that is the only thing that can overcome my fear of failure).
Inertia — “I just can’t seem to get started” (I’m too frightened I’ll fail, so doing nothing feels like the only way out).
Frail memory — “I just forgot” (It’s not my fault, even if didn’t do anything to remind myself).
Physical problems — “I was sick” (I usually am when faced with something I don’t want to do, because it gets me off the hook).
Perfectionism — “I can’t get started as it won’t be perfect” (I was taught to believe that nothing less than perfection is acceptable).
There may be some particularly Christian excuses as well such as, ‘It’s in God’s hands’ or ‘It’s not my responsibility.’ Procrastination may not seem like a big problem until we recognize that the underlying attitudes may reflect a spiritual issue. Fear or pride could be behind our procrastination as much as laziness. How could our faith in God help us overcome these bad attitudes?
Categories: Religion · Uncategorized
6 responses so far ↓
northpointcc // July 29, 2008 at 3:10 pm |
I think I’ll deal with this later.
Could there also be another battle going on. At the risk of not taking personal responsibility for those times I put things off, could there be times when the enemy is at work distracting us – keeping us from those things that God would have us do?
peter vajda // July 29, 2008 at 3:42 pm |
Discernment is a quality of higher consciousness that gives us the capacity to see what’s “true” in such situations. Since most folks live by habit and robotically, discenment for them is not always available so they live with their distractions “unconsciously”. Development of consciousness and awarenesss suspports one to see the truth of what they are doing—so they consciously know whether they are being self-responsible or allowing themselves to be distracted. Then, it’s a choice of what to do next.
Matthew // July 29, 2008 at 9:15 pm |
Does boredom count? Like, you find the task ahead of you boring. So you put off the boring as much as you can. ‘Cause who wants to do boring stuff?
John // July 29, 2008 at 9:19 pm |
I will add to ignorance, that some times we ignore things, we know we have problems, but we simply lie to ourself and ignore it.
We put these kind of problems or issues in a deep place in our heart and memory, we close this place and through the key away, then pretend that God has his time for us to face these issues.
Whether it’s a place, person, talent, or simply a memory. We try to hide it from our own heart and mind, the main reason we hide it is Fear! Fear from facing this issue, place, person, or memory, we feel naked when we come across this issue or problem.
One of the hardest thing in life is to look deep into your heart, and don’t feel afraid, shame or scared from facing yourself.
Anyway, I don’t know if this related to the topic or not
cabsplace // July 29, 2008 at 9:52 pm |
Rick,
This is an excellent blog and this post in particular was helpful to me. By helpful I mean, direct, concise, practical and it gave me something to think about. I’m sure I’ll revist this post and others on your blog in days to come. I’m putting you on my blogroll at both my blogs:
http://cabsplace.wordpress.com
http://thewildmind.worpress.com
Of late, I’ve been guilty of procrastinating on a number of projects for every single reason you list under the Apathy category. Hmmm, what I notice is the more I do that, the worse I feel. To kick the bleck feelings, the only solution I’ve found is to end the procrastination and do something!
rickdugan // July 30, 2008 at 6:25 am |
Thanks for the additional observations re: procrastination.
Tom, I agree that the Enemy can hit us with a barrage of stuff to distract us from what is truly important. Most would say this is just random life, and probably is to a certain degree. Though I believe that there is a personal Enemy of our souls that is actively trying to keep us from being all God wants us to be.
Peter, thanks for stopping by! (BTW, Peter is the author of the original article at SlowLeadership). I would add that in addition to being aware of the subconcious voices that dictate so many of our actions, we must also become consciously aware of the God voice that informs our reality. ‘The Son can do nothing on His own; he does only what he sees his Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does.’ (John 5:19)
Matthew … boredom is a huge obstacle to getting things done and a huge reason for doing the wrong things!
Very much on topic, John. Fear of being hurt, fear of making the wrong decision, fear of exposure for what we really are, etc…. all can lead us to do nothing but wait for reality to catch up with us. But it always does. We stop being proactive, and, in the words of Walter Wangerin, we cease to live.
Welcome, cabsplace! I enjoyed looking at your blogs. When I’ve faced difficult times in my life I’ve found that doing something … anything … gives me a sense of empowerment. I just have to make sure that this isn’t a power grab that is leaving God and others out of the equation. That usually leads to wrong decisions.
More suggestions on beating procrastination?
Now… no more procrastinating. Time for me to get to work!