How to Embrace your Inner Procrastinator
I am the biggest procrastinator I have ever met. Funnily enough, when I meet people of my own kind they seem to think they are even better at procrastination than I am. Turns out there are a whole bunch of us and we all love avoiding responsibility, hard work and sometimes just life in general. But it’s who we are and up until this point it has worked for us. Fighting an integral part of your being only makes you feel worse about something that may in fact be exactly what you need in order to grow.
This is what it looks like for me.
A day in the life of a procrastinator
When I get up each morning (let’s say for the purpose of procrastination to be in full throttle, it’s a non-working day), I think about what I’m going to eat for breakfast while the kettle boils. I roll around on the floor for 15 minutes attempting to open my hip flexors to decrease the discomfort of my stupid sciatic nerve giving me grief again and I look out the window. I probably start thinking about an ex-boyfriend, my closest friend who I haven’t seen in almost 6 weeks because work is slowly killing us both, and, If I ever get the motivation, where I want to travel too next. I think about how I could have handled that conversation better at work and write a to-do list in my head noting all the ways I will better myself as a professional. I look at the clock and its 9:17am (I got out of bed at 8:00) and decide that I want eggs for breakfast. The scenario repeats itself after I have finished eating and continue to put off dealing with the day.
Procrastination equals rest, growth and reflection
I solve a lot of the problems of the world in this time and space. I rarely have any actual epiphanies in these (very drawn out) moments, but when I finally get on with my day and relay my thoughts to others (or write them down), everything becomes crystal clear to me.
For all those workaholics out there who can’t stop and breathe in fear that they may have to deal with their own thoughts, procrastination can also be translated as ‘rest’. And yes, you may break down and have a heartbreaking realisation that has you moping around for the rest of the day overdramatising the thought, thinking that your life is over. But it’s not. You have successfully begun the process of grieving an issue you have been avoiding which you can now begin dealing with in a more healthy and productive way. All because of procrastination. Who would have thought?!
Discovering your priorities
Have you ever noticed that in the process of procrastinating from something ‘important’ you end up doing your washing, moving your entire lounge room around, dressing up in an outfit you intend on wearing the next time you go out (yeah ok maybe that’s just me) or texting a friend you haven’t for way too long to organise catching up. These are all important parts of life (yeah ok, maybe not the practicing outfits part) that you would otherwise neglect during a day of ‘productivity’. I get that I’m using inverted commas a lot here but it is hopefully displaying my sarcasm in relation to what I actually value as genuinely important in life. Think about it.
The straw that breaks the procrastinators back
It is very easy to fall in the dark hole of procrastination and soon it’s not even called procrastination anymore. It’s called depression. Sometimes our instinctive reaction to traumatic and excessively stressful situations is to either hide in bed for days (or weeks) on end or do something crazy. This can look somewhat destructive or it can spark a change you have been avoiding for the comfortable months or years of your recent past. The point I’m trying to make is that whilst you have accepted the fact that procrastination is a large part of who you are (and you naturally beat yourself up over it) sometimes these ‘life events’ spring themselves on us for a reason. The instinctive reaction to do something drastic to distract ourselves from the tragedy in question (and possibly out of pure desperation) could be the one thing that saves us from succumbing to a life of stagnant daydreaming.
When putting things off becomes a negative life sentence
Don’t get me wrong. You can have too much of a good thing. Like putting off getting your wisdom teeth out for about 3.5 years and having your dentist shake their head disapprovingly every time you visit. Or not calling your grandpa for months even though you mean to and then one day he’s just not around anymore. Or to the extreme point that you wake up and realise you’re already on your death bed talking to the nurse about your biggest regret being all the risks you didn’t take, thinking you had all the time in the world.
So I guess for all us procrastinators the first thing to acknowledge is accepting you are procrastinator, and that regardless of what anyone else says, that is ok. Secondly it is never useless time. If you have a brain, chances are you use this time to reflect and prepare for the next step in your life, whatever that may be. Thirdly it may help you find a positive in a challenging situation because without it, you may have been more likely to remain dormant for a longer period of time. Finally, accepting that riding the ‘procrastination wave’ is a part of life will potentially save you from ruining your valuable rest and thinking time worrying that you should be doing something ‘productive’. Just make sure you have a life raft handy so it doesn’t end up eventually drowning you.
