We all hear a lot about procrastination. The word literally means "to tomorrow." But that says nothing about why we put off doing X.
I think, for me, it's about motivation. I'm more motivated to do X when I can answer these kinds of questions:
- Why do I believe I should do X?
- How does X fit into my larger credo?
- What long term goals does doing X fit into?
This may sound like all too much pointless philosophizing. Aren't we meant to simply get off the couch and do it?
I don't believe so. I've found that, for me, at the root of "procrastination" is a crisis in meaning.
It's an existential dilemma. I don't do something when I don't know why I should. I avoid X if I can't determine that it will benefit me or make me happy or meet my goals . . . or even work right. Or if I can't figure out how to make it work within the chaos of life. Or if I can't seem to make it my X. Or it seems doomed to be waylaid. Is it really worth it? What heroics are called for to make X happen?
Simply getting started may get me motivated for the moment. But so-called procrastination returns quickly. And it happens when I can't foresee fitting X into a system of activities that arrives at a state of being in the future that matters to me. In itself, completing X isn't a strong enough goal to counter the weight of all of life's burdens challenging X.
For example, I signed up for an online class several weeks ago (wherein they teach about procrastination, as it happens) but for two weeks I couldn't get motivated to start on it.
However, it was only yesterday that I had the opportunity to construct a six-week path through coursework in this and a number of other classes. Now I have a strategy. So I probably won't avoid doing the lessons at this point—I'm motivated by my plan.
Furthermore, I have also been busy for the last few weeks (instead of doing the lessons) constructing a career plan that this class fits into. So now I have some very specific, concrete reasons for taking this class. And I have evidence that there is a logic to what I am doing, because I am doing research about my goals. This gives me enthusiasm about doing something I might have put off. Now I will approach my lessons more directly, more forcefully, more intentionally, more confidently.
Yet if I didn't know why I was taking the class, if I was simply wandering through it, just vaguely feeling like it was a good idea, I might not be so motivated. I'd get through the intro video, but then there would be the unexpected overtime, the funeral, the cat sitting, the turning point in a commission, the vacation planning, the homework for the career coach, the unexpected house guest . . . and I would blow off the class and watch Youtube while drinking a beer and I would put off the second lesson until tomorrow.
Procrastination. Pro-crastinus. To tomorrow.
Fortunately, however, I've transferred into a new session of the course that began this week and I've already finished most of the first week's work. So far, so good. This time I'm on track. But at some point in the coming weeks of the course, I will have an existential crisis. I will say, when faced with the next online lesson, "what is the point of this?"
I could follow some "procrastination tips" but many of those are simply immediate solutions. They are designed to help me to avoid putting off the online class. What I really need, however, is to find clarification that I am not crazy and that completing the lesson is a really good idea. It's a good idea because it's an integral part of a larger plan where it compounds with other tasks to construct success and happiness. I can use a little trick to counter so-called procrastination and get me started, but very quickly I'm going to need to place my activity within a larger scope of meaning.
Finding meaning in the next class lesson that relates to long-term goals is important. Also, taking a long term stance helps me determine when I should do something right now, when to strategically stall, and when it would be wiser (and safe) to assign something to a later date. That way, I'm not feeling like a bum for letting tomorrow actually have some tasks.
And also being heroic. Being heroic is important. Because this does appear to be a fight.
