Behavioral & Thinking Patterns
Understanding Procrastination From The Lens of Philosophies
And the advice through the eyes of a roman emperor
I am still delving into the philosophies of Marcus Aurelius, who was the Roman Emperor in past. At the same time, I kept hearing about Seneca being one of the well-known sources for stoicism.
How did Seneca define procrastination? In Seneca’s letter it stated:
No one has ever finished anything because we kept putting off into the future all of our undertakings.
Procrastination is delaying what could be completed today to other days. Or being lazy and always filled with the idea that we still have a lot of time. Complacency.
What does procrastination mean to me?
If you were a comic reader, you would have noticed how Garfield the cat behaved daily. I loved Garfield a lot in the past and learned to be like it in Winter season.
There is another term by which human behavior seemed to overlap with procrastination. It is overstimulation. The highly-sensitive people (HSP) will know what it is like to be overstimulated.
Some HSPs have overlapping issues like anxiety and depression. So, it is necessary to distinguish between the 2-behaviors. You may read on HSP, which I had written before in this embedded link.
Procrastination is the act of delaying anything that can be attended right now, to later on for many reasons. Human beings are never escapable from procrastination in any time of their life.
Sometimes, it is unnoticed until someone asked and we begin to evaluate if we are really procrastinating. A person’s blind spot can be in behavior traits, unaware until someone else mentioned. But, why do we procrastinate?
Some reasons for procrastination in the eyes of a Roman Emperor — Marcus Aurelius
1 — We do not know what we want in life.
Job seekers face this most of the time after losing their sustenance during Covid19.
How did the Roman Emperor pull through his days in the past? What approach did he take whenever his heart was heavy or weary?
Do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life. Stop being aimless. Stop letting your emotions override what your minds tell you — Marcus Aurelius Meditation 2.5
Taking too long to decide on something leads to the potential to do nothing. Anything we do requires patience, forbearance, and perseverance. With a strong will, these are easy to manage. That means starting on something small. Set measurable and achievable goals. Less is more.
2 — We indulged in overthinking
We create the consequences in our heads before they happen. It usually takes place in a pessimistic family environment. It leads to a loss of direction and lack of interest in life.
But, a man like the roman emperor always has a vision and mission. He kept revisiting the purpose he had to stay focused.
Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole. Don’t try to picture everything bad that could happen. Ask why can’t I endure it? You’ll be embarrassed to answer — Marcus Aurelius Meditation 8.36
A lot of the reasons of procrastination come from fear.
3 — We feared the outcome before we even had our hands dirty on it.
Either we did not get started due to fear, or we waited for the perfect moment to begin. We lacked self-esteem, confidence, and moral support. We fear to quit halfway through whatever we started. We put on hold a lot of goals.
It happened because we lacked strong will and patience. When you have a strong will and conviction in achieving your goals, you will still get up and run the race. The presence of a strong will helps a lot. But first, reflect.
Think of your many years of procrastination; how God had repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you had taken no advantage. It is time now to realize the nature of the universe which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are, and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it then to the advantage of your enlightenment, or it will be gone, and never in your power again — Marcus Aurelius Meditation
Here I embedded a good read from someone I had made a connection with within Medium. Today’s recommendation from me, Sorina. 💌 Her article made me reflect on what got me stuck for a few days.
If you had read this far, thank you. Do subscribe to Medium with the monthly $5 so that you may read more from other writers. I had not regretted it.
