It’s Not About Procrastination
It’s the Analysis Paralysis Paradox
This has been an enlightening moment. One of those moments when you think you’re not thinking, but your brain is doing its job.
I firmly believe that it happens all the time, and we don’t even realise it
We throw all our thoughts into this mixer, but before doing it, we focus on each single word. We peel the carrots, we cut the apples, and we contemplate the expiration date of the yogurt. We don’t even like carrots that much. Then we hit the mixing button, and we leave it for a while. We do nothing in the meantime, but once it’s ready, the smoothie is way better than what we would have expected from the initial ingredients.
And I kind of feel this is how our brain works!
Do you know when you’ve always wondered about something you do you don’t really like about yourself, maybe a habit, but can’t figure out why you keep doing it?
It happens to me all the time. In particular, I find myself thinking about why I procrastinate so much.
Is it only because I sometimes don’t enjoy the work I have to do? No, since I do it also in my personal life.
Is it because I don’t have time? No, since I do have time to waste on social media.
Is it because I believe someone else will do that task for me? No, since in the end, I still do it myself as I’m not good at delegating.
Now, the enlightenment
I was listening to a podcast and they mentioned the phenomenon of analysis paralysis. And that was like hitting the stop button of the mixer at the perfect time.
I don’t procrastinate, I just overanalyse!
Every time I want or need to do something, I start thinking of all the steps necessary to complete that task. Invariably, I find a step that I don’t know how to complete, and that is my blocker. I start thinking of ways to complete that step, and if I don’t know where to start, I will probably google it and perhaps even watch videos on YouTube that have made the same process before.
Can you imagine how much time I waste by analysing every single step of each task? And that feels so overwhelming that I give up and do something else. I can always figure out that step later.
Well begun is half done
This is what I should tell myself instead of overanalysing!
The solution to this issue would be to start immediately without even thinking about it, and then adjust the process while doing it.
If you’re like me and think you’re a procrastinator, maybe you’re not. Maybe you simply think too much your tasks through.
