Procrastination

According to Dr. Fuschia Sirois, a professor of psychology, procrastination is essentially irrational. We know we are avoiding a task that needs to be done and that makes us feel rotten - and yet we avoid it anyhow! It has nothing to do with our ability to focus or manage our time, instead it is a way of coping with challenging emotions and negative moods, often induced by anxiety, insecurity, and self-doubt. Dr. Sirois says “Put simply, procrastination is about being more focused on the immediate urgency of managing negative moods than getting on with the task.” In other words procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not a time management problem.

Putting off the task provides temporary relief, however only for a short time because we know the task needs to be completed and therefore weighs heavily on our minds. Unfortunately, we can’t just tell ourselves to stop procrastinating. The solution is to manage our emotions in a new way. Once we recognize that we are procrastinating, we need to find a better reward than the temporary relief of avoiding the task. One helpful way is to reframe the task by identifying a positive aspect of it. And then engage in self-compassion. For e.g. “That’s okay and understandable that I don’t want to do it, however, once I have done it, I will feel a great relief, and how will I feel about myself after I have done it?”

Why not make the decision for the month of December to clear up any of your 2021 ‘procrastinations?’ See yourself starting 2022 with a clean slate. What a positive way to start the New Year!

“What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.”
~Vern McLellan