I’ve been asked to write and deliver a presentation about procrastination for “Blue Monday” the name given to what is considered to be the most depressing day in the calendar.
I’m off to a bad start because I like January and can think of many other dates that would cause me much more distress than a dark, wet, cold offering in the midst of a British winter.
Any day where the temperature rises over 25 degrees, for example.
“I can put a jumper on but I can’t take enough off when it’s hot,” I hear myself saying to anyone long-suffering enough to be around when I’m trying to deal with the oppressive heat of a momentary summer.
I’m only telling you all this to avoid getting on with writing a presentation about procrastination.
Prior to beginning this post I was pondering on “the hump” I reach with every project over which I procrastinate.
It comes after the brainstorming bit which I find easy.
Mind-mapping was a technique I discovered many years ago and seems well suited to the delight with which my brain dumps a whole host of ideas onto a page in random order.
I sometimes use coloured pencils and, when I was training, I often considered submitting my workings along with the finished essay believing there to be some artistic merit in the spectacular outpouring of thought that was eventually distilled into what then became a sterile academic offering.
But when that stage is finished I have to leap into the bit where I’m actually writing the slides and in order to get there I have to organise my thoughts into workable order.
This is the point at which I tend to decamp into an online groceries order and calculate the cost per wash of my usual washing powder versus the detergent capsules that are on offer this week, allowing for some small variation in dosing of the powder versus the set amount provided in the capsule.
I arrive at a calculation of 12p per wash which seems exceptionally reasonable, especially if I cram more washing into the machine than is seemly.
As a bonus, I have managed to avoid the emotional consequence of “the hump” in my project at the same time.
Anxiety – “will it be any good?”
Frustration – “why can’t I just get on with it?”
Impatience – “shall I do another ADHD assessment?”
Self-doubt – “do I actually know what I’m talking about?”
These are the roots of procrastination which is not, as so many people assume, anything to do with laziness or a desire to avoid the tasks themselves but rather a problem in our ability to control the emotions that emerge when we set out to do something.
In this sense, procrastination is self-harm because we know it’s bad for us but we do it anyway.
Something familiar to procrastinators will be the stifling loop of stress that is caused by avoiding something, feeling stressed about putting it off, and then, in order to avoid the feelings of stress, finding something else to do that stops you thinking about what you really ought to be doing.
For example, writing a blog post about what procrastination really is.
In the end, I’ll get it done, but not before I’ve put a load of washing on (it’s such good value) and taken the dogs out onto the downs where it will be especially cold, wet, and windy. Just the way I like it.
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