I Have a Serious Case of Procrastination

“It’s the job that’s never started that takes the longest to finish.”  J.R.R. Tolkien

It is Sunday evening and my weekend is pretty much gone.  I sit and look about me and see so many furniture rehab projects I wanted to get done.  But there are so many of them!  I can’t get any of them finished in one short weekend (along with my other usual chores and church).  So, I’ll wait until I have a couple of good days off from work in a row.  In the meantime, I think I'll pull up some of my favorite blogs and Pinterest and get some inspiration, some ideas of things to do in the future (you know, when I have those consecutive days off).  I so enjoy spending time looking at all the wonderful creative sites, but other than burning time, it ultimately adds to my stress and quilt for not getting things done.  How do those industrious ladies get it all done and I can’t?

This got me to thinking about procrastination.  I have a serious case of it.  You might call it debilitating, project speaking.  The more projects I accrue (I just can't pass up a great deal), the more I don’t get done because, hey, I can’t finish it in a day!  I decided to look procrastination up on the internet.  Of course, I had to go to Pinterest for some cute pics, didn’t I?

Procrastination is defined by Miriam-Webster as “to put off intentionally and habitually…something that should be done.”   I found a few academic psychology sites that shared the following reasons why procrastinators procrastinate:

·        Fear of failure—can’t fail if you never do or complete the task.

·        Perfectionism—the need to do everything perfectly.  When there is little time to do the task and you can’t do a quality job, don’t do it at all.

·        Fear of success—don’t want to draw attention to oneself or you have the fear of not being able to maintain success (there’s that fear of failure again).

·        Rebellion—someone wants you to do something and you are determined not to do it as an act of resistance.

·        Being too tired—task takes too long, you’re tired and don’t have the energy to get it done…so put it off to another day.

I ruminated (I like that word) on these five main reasons for procrastination and recognized myself in a couple of them for sure.  I am a perfectionist, I want to do any project I undertake to the best of my ability and if I can’t produce to my high expectation, I tend to put it off until I can.  This explains why I am surrounded by several furniture rehab projects that I want to paint and they just don’t get started much less completed.  I am also the “too tired” soul—for real, I often put in long weeks at my clinic.  Why do the furniture projects in the first place, you may ask?  I really do enjoy them, they fulfill my creative desires.  I just want it to be perfectly done, though.

Once I made this self-discovery, what to do?  The experts suggest the following “cure” for procrastination:

•  First, recognize why you procrastinate, acknowledge your fears, and determine to get the task done in spite of it.
• Break projects up into small “mini jobs” that can be tackled in reasonable time frames.
• Plan time each day to complete at least one mini-job.  Even if it is at 10 minute increments.
• Use to-do lists and prioritize, highest first—not easiest first.

So….after this self-discovery, my plan is to put these “cure” suggestions into action.  I plan on starting a “Procrastination Journal” and list my pending projects in priority order, then break each one into mini-jobs that are achievable in the time I can allot each day.  It will be like taking medication for any other illness, something you have to do daily to get and keep healthy. 

It is late now and I want to watch Downton Abbey so I will begin tomorrow…after all as Scarlett O’Hara said in Gone with the Wind, “I’ll think about that tomorrow.”  Just joking…I hope!  I will give you a mini-job report periodically to hold myself accountable.  If I don’t, get after me!