I wanted to write a blog, but I put it off due to concern that I might not do it well.
Does this sound familiar? Do you often put things off? There is a good chance that many of you reading this story are delaying doing something. You do not need to panic if you are.
It is common to procrastinate. About 95% of people admit to putting off work.
Piers Steel is one of the top researchers and speakers on the science of motivation and procrastination. He writes:
“to procrastinate is to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse off for the delay”.
Procrastinating is not the same as putting off a task because you want more information, want to talk to someone before completing it or have an urgent item to attend to before starting the job.
When you procrastinate, you know that putting off doing a task is probably not a good idea. You still do it, though.
Consequently, procrastination can be viewed as an irrational behavior — delaying a planned action despite knowing that doing so will have drawbacks.
Why do you procrastinate?
Contrary to popular belief, procrastination has nothing to do with your ability to manage your time. Instead, it is an emotion regulation problem.
You procrastinate because you prioritise regulating your unpleasant emotions over completing the task at hand.