Episode 14
How to Stop Procrastination (and Why You Do It)
Summary:
In this conversation, Corey Wilks, Psy.D., delves into the complexities of procrastination, identifying two primary reasons for this behavior: lack of prioritization and fear. He emphasizes the importance of reframing procrastination as a prioritization issue rather than a failure, and discusses how fear can lead to avoidance behaviors. Wilks offers insights into overcoming procrastination through understanding its root causes and suggests practical strategies for personal development and productivity.
Takeaways:
- Procrastination often stems from a lack of prioritization.
- Reframing procrastination as a prioritization issue can be helpful.
- Understanding what truly matters is crucial for effective time management.
- Fear can be a significant driver of procrastination.
- Procrastination can serve as a way to avoid facing fears.
- Productivity hacks often address symptoms, not root causes.
- Identifying what procrastination helps you avoid is key to overcoming it.
- Fear inoculation is a technique to combat procrastination.
- Self-sabotage is a common struggle for many individuals.
- Coaching and psychological strategies can aid in personal development.
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Socials:
Website: https://coreywilkspsyd.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@coreywilkspsyd
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreywilkspsyd/
Twitter: https://x.com/CoreyWilksPsyD
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coreywilkspsyd/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/coreywilkspsyd.bsky.social
Other Resources:
The Availability Paradox: https://coreywilkspsyd.com/the-availability-paradox-how-to-succeed-by-saying-no/
The Needle Movers List: https://coreywilkspsyd.com/the-needle-movers-list/
The Four Horsemen of Fear: https://coreywilkspsyd.com/the-four-horsemen-of-fear/
Transcript
So how do you actually beat procrastination? You've probably heard about all the popular productivity hacks, the promise to help you finally beat procrastination. Things like the Pomodoro Technique, the Eisenhower Matrix, the Pareto Principle, Parkinson's Law, habit stacking, and like a Pokemon master, you've collected them all. But here you are watching or listening to this, trying to figure out why despite knowing all the things,
procrastination is still kicking your ass. This is gonna be part of a fundamental series where I break down common struggles people have and give no bullshit strategies to help you succeed. So here's the thing with procrastination. We procrastinate for one of two reasons, largely. Either because the thing we're putting off just isn't a priority or because that thing actually scares the shit out of us. So let's break down both and what to do about them. So the most obvious reason
people procrastinate is whatever that thing is just isn't important to you. Or at least it's not important enough relative to the other things you have to do, given your limited time, energy, and attention. For example, one thing I procrastinate on is replying to emails. Now yes, most emails typically aren't worth replying to, but a few are. But I front load my day with the most cognitively demanding tasks and my needle movers, which are my top priorities for the day.
So then whatever time and mental bandwidth I have left over at the end of the day is what I have left to dedicate to replying to emails. Some days that's zero. So some days I don't get to replying to any emails. I didn't procrastinate per se. I just didn't prioritize replying to them. And that's okay because I did prioritize the most important things for me for that day. So instead of saying something like,
I didn't have time to do X. Or, I know I need to do X, but I keep procrastinating and I don't know why. Reframe it as, I didn't prioritize X. Or, I know I need to do X, but I keep putting it off because it's just not a priority for me right now. And this reframe helps for a couple reasons. One, it helps you stop making bullshit excuses. Two, it helps you end the blame cycle and constantly beating yourself up.
Corey Wilks, Psy.D. (:And three, it helps you take responsibility for what's actually happening. But this assumes you know how to prioritize the things that matter. If everything's a priority, then nothing is. So learning to filter what matters from what doesn't is critical for this to work. If you have a habit of taking on too many responsibilities or you struggle to prioritize, check out my piece on the availability paradox for some solid strategies to help. But let's say the thing you keep putting off is a priority, yet you continue to not do it.
That's where this next concept comes into play. So sometimes you want to do something and you know it's a priority, but you just can't seem to actually do it. In this case, you're probably afraid and procrastination serves the function to help you avoid the thing you're afraid of coming true. For example, let's say one of the four horsemen of fear is holding you back from launching your next thing, like fear of ridicule. If you're afraid that people are going to judge you or react negatively to it, then the longer you kick the can down the road,
the longer you can avoid risking this coming true. So you endlessly tinker, you overcomplicate everything, you jump around from one project to the next, you do everything you can to prevent your worst fears coming true. That might come true when you finally launch. Procrastination in this case is just fear avoidance, which is why all the productivity tips like Pomodoro technique, Parkinson's law, the Pareto principle, all those other things won't do jack shit to help you overcome
procrastination because they're only addressing the superficial symptoms, not the root cause, which in this case is fear. So don't ask, why do I keep procrastinating? Instead ask, what is procrastination helping me avoid right now? And then once you clarify this, you can try out one of my techniques called fear inoculation to help you overcome it. And I'll link that around here too. So kind of wrapping up, procrastination is one of the most common.
and most commonly misunderstood self-sabotaging behaviors we all struggle with. So hopefully today's piece helps you understand it and yourself a little bit better. And if you know somebody who struggles with procrastination, consider sharing this with them so it can hopefully help them as well. Until next time, take it easy.
