Procrastination

Oops, I have not written anything for a long time. About 20 drafts are sitting and waiting for me to show up and release them from the storage. It looks like the time hasn’t come for them yet! However, I could push a blog to mention coming back to writing so that I get started.

What happened? Is my writing brain has taken a rest? Have I become lazy? Lost interest in writing? None of them is true. My daughter asked me a question one day, what is the most populated nation. Knowing that it was a tricky question, I wondered what the answer was? I found out that I am a part of its population. The nation is none other than Procrasti-Nation!

I had loads of ideas to write and missed making notes of them. I was eager to put out a lot of content online, ideas are buzzing in my head. But at the end of the day, there was no writing or posting.

By not writing for a long time, there is an additional resistance to start. Work, chores, gardening, walking, reading, and many more things to do. No time to write! Seriously, how is it possible? I was wondering about this and came across an interview with Rory Vaden on procrastination and it caught my attention. I found clues on my excuses and how I could do away without writing a single page!

Sophisticated ways to describe the dreaded word, procrastination would be creative avoidance, distraction, and priority dilution! Apart from the classical one which allows us to avoid the task, take a nap, watch TV or shopping.

Creative avoidance is linked to subconsciously creating things to do so that we feel productive. I agree with it by 100%. I was busy doing everything but writing. I have excused myself from writing as reading is important. I did not laze around and kept myself occupied with so many other activities. I filled the days with trivial works that made me feel like the days were moving faster.

Distractions pull you in different directions. Your attention gets fragmented which leads to doing something little here and there. It keeps you occupied but does not lead to the completion of the tasks. At the end of the day, you have worked hard but are not satisfied. It could be overwhelming while closing the day with nothing to feel good about it.

Priority Dilution refers to situations where we attend urgent tasks of lesser importance that result in postponing the important ones. We are not lazy, but our attention goes in another way without prioritizing the tasks.

I think most of us would have different types of procrastination in varying percentages. I am not sure whether any person would exist in the world without it. One may have more of it while others may have less. I think only robots could do all programmed tasks without spending energy on answering internal dialogs and resistance.

The Just do it strategy would be ideal in case of creative avoidance and distraction-related instances. However, if the priority is not in place, intended results may vary.

Being an ordinary mortal, I get carried away with these kinds of procrastination. I am trying to minimize them to improve productivity! But don’t attempt to reach perfection or match someone else. I’m doing my best to find my rhythm and embrace it.

Let me publish this blog today without procrastinating further and wait for ideas to write on steps to reduce it. Let me do it! We can discuss those steps in another blog!

Which type of procrastination is your forte? Is it the classic one or any of these fancier ones?

—Anitha KC

Images: Google images