Are You a Procrastinator?

….Or is it not procrastination but something else altogether?

 We are talking and you tell me that you think you waste time on crap that just doesn’t matter.  You know it’s true because you don’t even care about the stuff you are wasting your priceless time on. Ask yourself, how much to you procrastinate?  Minutes, Hours? Are you a procrastinator…really?

I am guessing you procrastinate more than you are aware of. If you are like me, being on guard for it has become a way of life. Lets face it, in this modern world, there are so many shiny objects around it is can be really difficult to just focus. They make  ‘plug ins’ designed to block websites that suck away your time and I used one for a while.  I discovered that I was looking at crappy news sites, political junk, and of course, there are all those really productive social media sites. I was spending time like I could just go out and get more. It really can suck when you know you have a problem but can’t, or don’t want to fix it.

Here is the thing, when most people, (myself included) recognize that they aren’t getting their stuff done, they immediately start to look for some new program, some just out, system, app, hack, plan, list….book or tool. You probably don’t think of it this way, but all that time is just as wasted as your time was before.  It didn’t help you get your stuff done; it just sucked away more time.

This time though, you convinced yourself that you were doing something good for yourself, when actually you were just wasting time in a slightly different way. It was just one more way to procrastinate. In the end, you still didn’t get your stuff done on time. You just completely walked past the point without ever seeing it. The point is to get shit done. You missed the ball again. It’s possible that there is a very simple, right in front of you, explanation for not getting your stuff done.

You aren’t getting your stuff done because you don’t frigging want to! Own it.  You just don’t want to frigging do it. The bottom line is hard to hide from once you see it.

So, you are at a business workshop.  They give you work to do each night but you decide to go do something else other than study in the evening. To do what ever you want, you push back the time you allocated to do your work. It never gets done well.  Objectively you understand that if you do poorly at the workshop it will affect your future at work. Still, a part of you what doesn’t want to do the work. Is it watch a movie, or play an online game, or maybe it is your PowerPoint presentation for next week? Regardless, none of it is what you are supposed to do. Maybe it’s something deeper, maybe you are in a job that you hate and can’t imagine doing for long.  Maybe you hate the workshop. Maybe you aren’t sure of your future direction.

(I see this one more often than not for personal tasks) Maybe you are required to do something particularly unpleasant but necessary (ending a relationship for one) yet you don’t want to deal with the immediate consequences.  Or maybe, you’re afraid of your future where you are that person who always gets their crap done on time. Maybe, maybe, maybe….

All of the reasons ball up together and can get in the way of your future. You might not be procrastinating because you cant focus, consider that it’s because you don’t want to focus?  School, family, work, it can all be the same thing.  You just don’t want to do it. If you don’t really want to do it, the sky’s the limit for good distractions.  It’s not the distraction in particular that gets you.  What gets you is that you allow the distraction into your life because you honestly don’t want to do the task. You just don’t give a hoot about the task at hand.

I am a life coach and the same is true for me. If I am working on something that should matter, but doesn’t, it is really hard to focus and give it the attention that I should.  It is then that I am forced to recognize that deep down, I just don’t want to do it.  Then it is time to reassess and move forward with my new plan.

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Frank Hopkins is a life coach in Baton Rouge who is certified as a Professional Coach (CPC) by the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC). Frank has helped numerous people to go through emotional change in a way that is positively transformative. You can see Frank’s other website, www.frankhopkinlifecoach.com on line as well.