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I know I have to get things done but leave things to the last minute. I have a lot of various unrelated projects but they are important. What makes me avoid the things that really need to get done? Has anyone heard of this being hereditary?
why do i keep procrastinating?
Answers
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There are a number of reasons people procrastinate:
Poor Motivation - analyze your reason for doing things. Sometimes "it needs to be done" is not enough. You need to link it in to things you find truly important.
Impulsiveness - impulsive people are much more likely to procrasinate and will probably be tempted to more often
Easiness - it is often easier to put things off than to get them done. You can make procrastination harder or the task easier by putting your computer and tv remotes out of the way somewhere, splitting tasks up into more manageable chunks, etc.
Poor Attention - it is harder to focus on tasks if there are distractions or if your ability to focus is otherwise affected (tiredness, stress etc.)
Lack of deadlines - If the task has no real deadline or the deadline is very far away it's a lot easier to say "I'll do it tomorrow" because there are no perceived consequences of putting it off
Habit - you can think of procrastination as either a bad habit, or lack of training in the good habit of self-dsicipline. The more you procrasinate, the more likely you are to do it again. The more you resist the urge, the better you will get at resisting. This process takes time so don't expect yourself to change overnight.
Mental Disorders and Personality Traits - Depression, learned helplessness and ADHD can contribute to procrastination. So can poor self-esteem and perfectionism.
In terms of it being hereditary, that sort of thing can be hard to determine as we pick up a lot of behaviors from our parents (they are normally our primary role-models). A quick search shows that there have been links made to genetics and procrastination but that there is some contention over how big a factor that is. The general consensus, however, seems to be that procrastination is still fixable, regardless of your genetic heritage.
You might be interested in this link, which explains the "procrastination equation" and has a handy poster you can use for ideas. The basic premise is that your likelihood of procrastinating is defined as (expectancy x value) divided by (impulsiveness x delay), though there are no given metrics to measure these by.
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The symptom is lack of action, but the cause may be a lack of decision.
The most common reason for my own procrastination is not having clarity on exactly what I'm going to do. Strangely, I'm not always aware that this is why I'm procrastinating. However, I've come to understand that this is the way I'm wired, and that I just have to accept it and deal with it.
I find that the best way to get over this tendency is simply to write down the next action that I need to take on the thing I'm supposed to be working on. The act of writing usually helps me clarify things. If I struggle with this, it is usually because I don't have enough information to make a decision. In that case, my next action will be to seek out that information.
More often than not, once I've clarified what I'm supposed to be doing then I can just get on with it, or at least see clearly why I don't want to do it (fatigue, fear etc.).
What if it's fear, where does that stem from? – Colton – 2015-05-14T21:16:31.253
Before asking a question, you should first check the site if your question was already asked. It seems that you have not done so, otherwise you would have made references to other posts and asked a better question. Now it is only a vague and broad "why do I procrastinate?". StackExchange sites are not for "can you do my work for me?" - some research on your part is required.
– Jan Doggen – 2015-05-14T09:54:17.010