Procrastination
Procrastination is a silent killer. We're all familiar with it, that subtle fear which manifests as avoidance. The funny thing is, procrastination isn't just the impulsive pursuit of entertaining distractions like watching a TV show or scrolling away on our phones, all the while ignoring that pestering voice telling us to get off our butts and go address what we're avoiding–our minds have an incredible ability to justify our evasions in complex ways.
Productive Procrastination
I had a conversation with my mom recently about this topic–it usually goes like this: We have a task before us that is scary for whatever reason, so we turn our attention to something else that seems important. For example, I might be struggling to write a challenging scene for my novel, but instead of embracing that discomfort and slogging my way though it, I choose to clean the apartment instead. Hours later I have a spotless kitchen, vacuumed floors, and a reorganized closet, but that blank page remains at my desk, taunting me with its incompleteness. When I begrudgingly pick up my pen again, I suddenly remember that I haven't gone to the gym today–oh, and I'm hungry, maybe I should cook a five course meal from scratch! Before I know it the sun has set and that blank page is scarier than ever.
A Root of Anxiety
The truly wicked consequence about our sophisticated procrastination techniques is that in spite of the long list of completed tasks that we accumulate, our anxieties only continue to increase the longer we avoid our original problem. Going to the gym, cleaning the apartment, and cooking a nice meal are all great things, but the positive momentum that would otherwise be gained from those activities is muted by our avoidance. It's a negative spiral–we feel worse about ourselves the longer we procrastinate, and the task at hand feels increasingly complex or unachievable–until we finally face the source of our anxiety, that is. My boy Jordan B. Peterson likens these tasks to dragons that hide under our beds, growing bigger and bigger with each passing moment, eventually taking over the whole house and even beyond; the cool thing is, these dragons shrink back down to size when we finally address them.
Beating Procrastination
Lets face it, we're all going to struggle with avoiding difficult problems–it's a deeply human enterprise. The challenge is made worse by our complex methods of avoidance. It can be hard to even recognize when we're avoiding something. I think even the most elaborate of our pursuits and interests can be categorized as some grandiose act of procrastinating–years worth of unsatisfying career choices made out of fear of failure in some business or creative pursuit; moving thousands of miles from one place to another under the guise of an adventure, when really it is an attempt to evade a situation where we used to reside; even stubborn mindsets can be a subtle way of avoiding a change we are compelled, yet afraid to make. I'm probably guilty of all three.
To be clear, I'm not advocating that we doubt every desire we have or become adversarial to our immediate goals and ambitions. I'm merely advocating that we take the time to investigate the sources of our anxieties. I think a lot of them come from unaddressed challenges that we feel compelled to wrestle with, yet aren't sure how to even approach.
3 Steps I'm Going to Try:
- Break the challenge down into tiny parts
- Face them first before anything else!
- Recognize failure as progress
I'll let you know how it goes. Let's be honest, facing tough situations sucks, but in the end I think it's preferable to the alternative. Through challenge we grow in our capabilities, learn more about ourselves and the world, and develop a sense of peace with ourselves because facing fear is a form of honesty.
Till next time,
Ethan Mark
