There is no denying it, we all procrastinate, some more than others. To the people who consider themselves "non-procrastinator" the motives and reasoning behind some of the more avid procrastinators is a mystery. Why not get it done now? Why wait? As a person who is a heavy procrastinator and someone who knows a lot of other procrastinators, here are my thoughts on why we procrastinate.
1. Instant Gratification
This can refer to anything from video games, to watching movies, to hanging with friends. Our desire to have a sense of entertainment overrides our drive to accomplish the task at hand. This is probably the most common reason we procrastinate.
2. Lack Of Motivation
We all have those days when we just don't feel like doing anything. For the more severe procrastinators, these days are fairly common. Even if we force ourselves to do work, we might do a sloppy job or not even do it at all.
3. "It Can Wait..."
"Don't worry, I can do it tomorrow," are words procrastinators often say to themselves. We keep telling ourselves that we still have time and to not worry and then "Holy smoke! The deadline is tomorrow and I haven't even started!" This one is especially bad when talking about things that don't have a deadline, like going to the gym.
4. Lack Of Skill/Too Hard
Often times when something is to difficult or we don't know how to do something we avoid it. We don't want to deal with a task that we fear we can't accomplish so it just gets pushed back. We fall into the 'Out of sigh, out of mind' mentality, but no matter what we do, it won't go away.
5. Too Much Work
When we feel like we are just drowning in work we have to do, we tend to avoid it. We don't want to handle it right now. We just keep pushing it back until eventually it come and bites us in the butt.
6. Spite
Albeit not a very common reason it is still a big one. Say a person asks you to do something for you, but said person was a jerk to you just the other day. Many procrastinators would do what they do best and put their task off to the side or in many cases just never do it.
These are some of the few reasons I see and use as explanation to why I procrastinate. Procrastination comes in many shaped and forms, it isn't a one size fits all. We all have our own reasons as to why we procrastinate that may or may not line up with some of theses. Do all of you big procrastinators agree? Were there any other reasons that I may have missed?
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