excerpt from:

Perfectionism &
Procrastination

I’ll Work On My Procrastination Tomorrow…

All of us procrastinate sometimes. It can be a chronic problem or
situational. Working on the issue is a double-bind:
procrastination reinforces itself because we put off addressing it.

Procrastination can be about anything from returning a phone
call to filing taxes to postponing a life-or-death medical
procedure. Since procrastination produces mostly more
problems and bad feelings, why don’t we just change our
behavior and eliminate these undesirable consequences?

Some think that we as humans procrastinate to avoid
discomfort, or because of laziness.

Yet we often later tolerate much worse discomfort than the task
we avoided. We avoid sending in a resume and then handle
financial stress. We make more work and errands and
paperwork and distress and excuses and hassles and
explanations for ourselves later. It doesn’t seem to make sense.

It does if you realize that the part of us that avoids certain things
is different from the part of us that suffers the consequences
later. And those parts aren’t collaborating.

People are not inherently lazy. A healthy Self needs to relax,
replenish, and rejuvenate and then later is naturally motivated
to action, creativity, and novelty. When this doesn’t happen,
something in the process has been disrupted. What we call
“laziness” is not a personal quality; it is a coping
mechanism.        

It is very easy to give suggestions about how to stop
procrastinating.But most of us really don’t need advice – we do
know what we should do more of less of. What prevents us from
doing what we know would be good for us?

Unconscious Processes

Procrastination is a way to cope. As upset as we get with
ourselves for procrastinating, those feelings are easier than the
underlying emotions and experiences that are being kept out of
awareness, such as

Being Measured

It may be self-protective to put off doing a task and to avoid
being put to the test. It may be safer to say, “The job isn’t good
because I procrastinated too long. That’s just the way I am.”

Anger

If expressing anger has not been safe and healthy rebellion has
not been acceptable, procrastination can be an unconscious
protest. Fear of disapproval is very powerful.
Perfectionism
Those who believe they must produce perfection often have
difficulty beginning projects. They may feel nervous initiating
without a guarantee that they are on the right track, are
completely ready, are at their best, have a clear plan, and can
assess the outcome. The perfectionist who believes that he or
she will be rejected or might fail may become paralyzed and
unable to produce or perform at all.



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