Why People Procrastinate
We’re all guilty of procrastinating at one point or another in our lives. Waiting until the last minute to tackle a project; knowing that a deadline is looming but putting off what we are supposed to do as long as possible.
There are a number of reasons why people procrastinate and they can vary from person to person. However, for most people there are some common threads as to why they put things off. Here are some reasons why people procrastinate:
1. Fear of Success or Failure
Understanding fear of failure is fairly easy - after all, no one wants to fail. Fear of success, on the other hand can be a little more difficult to wrap your head around. The truth is that many of us are afraid of succeeding just as much as we are afraid of failing. There is a fear that success can change your life, that it will be difficult or impossible to maintain or that it will change you as a person. Both of these fears - failure and success - can cause people to put off projects or not do things until the last minute. In the case of fear of success it can be an act of self-sabotage. With fear of failure it can provide an excuse in case you do fail (well if I had started it sooner I would have done much better with it)
2. Not Feeling Inspired
When it comes to creative projects such as art, music, or writing it can be difficult to start a project if you aren’t feeling inspired. Many people put off starting and instead sit around waiting for inspiration to strike. Ironically, in most cases if people start something even if they are feeling uninspired, inspiration will come much more quickly than if they just do nothing and wait for it.
3. Loss of Focus
Let’s face it - most of us have busy lives and have a million things going on all at the same time. When you have too many projects going it is easy to lose focus and put off certain projects or things in favor of others. What usually winds up happening is that we wind up making a mad dash at the end to finish the projects we have put off and don’t do them to the best of our ability.
4. Lack of a Schedule or Structure
When you don’t have a set schedule or structure in your life it can be very easy to put things off or procrastinate. Given free time with no restrictions most of us naturally would choose to do the things we enjoy rather than the things we have to do.
5. Underestimating the Amount of Time it Will Take to Complete
Some projects seem like they are going to be simple. It is only after we start them that we realize that they are a lot more complicated and in depth than we thought. If you have waited to start a project thinking it would take less time to complete than it actually does it can lead to a pretty stressful situation.
Although there certainly are other reasons as well, these are some of the most common reasons why people procrastinate.
Comments
Leave a Reply