I Think There Are Three Types of Procrastination
Posted on November 22, 2010 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Productivity
Mondays are productivity days at SimpleProductivity blog.
I ran into this article about The Two Types of Procrastination, which in turn quotes a New Yorker article. The point is made:
In essence, Surowiecki is making the statement that we procrastinate in two ways: we either do something truly against our better judgment or we are simply acting on our deep impulse that we’re merely avoiding something that’s a waste of time.
To me this says that we procrastinate on something because deep down it goes against our core beliefs or because we know it’s a waste of time.
I think there is a third type of procrastination: where we procrastinate because at some level we can’t accept the larger meaning of our actions.
Here is my example: when I was expecting my daughter, I decided I needed a will. In the state I live in, you can make your own will as long as it is notarized and witnessed. So I went out, got some software, and wrote the will. Then I got it witnessed and notarized.
Now here’s the catch. That process I just described started before my daughter was born, and was completed less than six months ago. That’s a grand sum total of 8 years.
Talk about procrastination.
But the truth is, neither one of the definitions above apply. This is something I believe deeply in, and goes with my core value that I must look after my daughter. I do not believe it is a waste of time.
The reasons I had two major bouts of procrastination were that I hit two sticking points that I had to work through psychologically. The first one was the realization that if should both my husband and I be killed, my daughter will not be given to the guardianship of any of our relatives. That’s a big deal — admitting that even though my husband and I were raised by a set of people, we would not given them my daughter to raise.
The second stumbling block was getting the thing signed. That took almost six months of carrying the papers back and forth to work every day. I simply didn’t want to admit that dying was a possibility, and I sought to get around that by not having a will.
Thank goodness this type of procrastination has not occurred very many times in my life. But when it has, it’s usually dealing with the big stuff, the life-and-death-and-future-well-being stuff.
I’m interested to hear what you have to say about this. This article really made me think about procrastination and why I put things off.
Photo by Rennett Stowe
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Comments (5)
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by GetItDone GTD News, LJ Earnest. LJ Earnest said: New SPB Post: I Think There Are Three Types of Procrastination – http://tinyurl.com/3575waf [...]
Just wanted to let you know I enjoyed your blog. I agree about the type of procrastination you described. I do it myself.
Joanne
[...] interesting little post at SimpleProductivityBlog discusses 3 types of procrastination: we procrastinate on something [...]
I’ve been sitting here extrapolating what you have said into other situations where I have been truly stuck. There might be something there, but I’m going to have to do some thinking on it. I am definitely willing to say that you are right; there is no grand generalization that works for everyone. We’re all individuals.
I think the thing that got me about the article was that neither one of the “causes” presented really fit the deep down murky stuff I have procrastinated on. It was much deeper than either of those presented.
Deciding on the guardians was a tough call, and probably for the reason you described. I still don’t *know* that I made the right decision. Hopefully it will never be put to the test.
I know for sure that the fear of getting the will signed and witnessed was an outright fear of death. It hit home when my daughter’s teacher from last year passed away after a three day illness a few months ago. She was only a few months older than me. Staring mortality in the face is not something that comes easy for me. But it was demonstrated very clearly that anyone can go, at any time.
It’s funny how your statement – we’re all individuals – would’ve been completely alien prior to the 1920′s. It took 50 years for business to catch up with the social movement to individualization, and consumerism has yet to be perfected even in the 40 years since.
…so it’s no surprise we still don’t understand how we create if the greatest minds in the world are still stumped on how we consume.
The reason for these stumped chumps — the way we consume is always changing, either through our own shifting understanding of ourselves, or through the ideas put in our minds by others. We have such a diversified stream of inputs these days it would be impossible to force everyone into one unified form of thought – as was possible prior to the 20′s thanks to limited media saturation – so any and every generalization can only remain true about as long as that video on YouTube stays hot.
There are patterns, but those patterns keep changing. Psycho-social demographics shift significantly about twice each generation.
So if you can figure out what makes you tick, you’re ahead of us all… for about 20 years