April 2008

Topic of the Month

In conjunction with the American Counseling Association, April is identified as Counseling Awareness Month in an effort to call greater attention to counseling and counselors.  In that vein please take the time to take a look at this month's Topic of the Month from PDCC Services, LLC and feel free to make use of it as you wish or feel the need.  

Please watch this web page for the Topic of the Month coming out in May 08 related to managing stress in our everyday lives.  May 5-11, 2008 is Mental Health Awareness Week and the Alabama Mental Health Counselors Association has dubbed this week "Mental Health Awareness BLAST" and intends to hold stress management workshops statewide in Alabama throughout the month of May, 2008.  Links at the bottom of the PDCCS, LLC web page will lead interested persons to the ACA and/or the ALMHCA main web pages.   

What Leads Us to Procrastinate?

By J. Danny Dutton, Ph.D., LPC, NCC, NBCCH, MAC

     Just over one month ago a colleague of mine forwarded an e-mail from an individual seeking a therapeutic solution to what sounded like a profound case of procrastination.  The person even described it as procrastination that had gotten so bad that it wasn't possible to get children to school on time.  Being late for every occasion had become a very regrettable part of life for this seemingly very frustrated individual.  Related to this call for assistance perhaps many of you reading this have the same difficulty and have often wondered "what is the reason I procrastinate the way I do, knowing that negative consequences are coming in response and not always just for me".  Well, read on…

     All of us procrastinate on occasion.  For some it's a chronic problem.  For others, it's only a problem in particular life areas.  Procrastination is always frustrating because it results in wasted time, lost opportunities, disappointing work performance, and generally feeling bad about one's self.

     When one procrastinates, he or she allows less important tasks to take up time and space that should be devoted to more important things.  Doing things like hanging out with friends when an important work project is due or going shopping instead of doing assigned homework are signs of procrastination.  It can an also be evident in behavior such as talking about trivial things with one's partner to avoid discussing important issues in the relationship. 
     Most people don't have a problem finding time for things they want to do.  But once they see a task as too difficult, painful, boring, or overwhelming, the procrastination behaviors begin.  Don't feel alone if any of the following sound as if you said them:

• It's too cold to exercise outside today.  I'll wait until tomorrow when it's warmer.
• I've got too many other things to do first.
• I'll do a better job when I can concentrate on this project.
• I still have lots of time to get this done.
• They don't pay me enough to do a more complete job.  This is good enough.
• This problem is too hard to talk about.  I wouldn't know where to start.
• I work better under pressure.
• It's too noisy to work while my teenager is at home.
• I should get the shopping done now because the stores will be more crowded later.
• I can eat this pie tonight, because I'm starting my new eating habits tomorrow.
• My tooth doesn't really hurt that much.  The pain will probably go away tomorrow.

     Most of the time, excuses such as these seem fairly innocuous.  However, they're not as innocent as they seem, because they cause us to postpone important duties and projects.  Ultimately, these excuses can keep us from accomplishing important goals and make us feel bad about ourselves.

The Reasons People Procrastinate

If the desire was for a simple answer to this riddle then disappointment may be at hand because there are many reasons why people put things off. The following list includes just a few:

• Avoiding Discomfort.  People are primarily Hedonistic – we seek pleasure and avoid pain, and avoiding pain makes a lot of people shift into procrastination mode.  However, the longer we delay, the worse the discomfort will be. The rash gets bigger, the tooth hurts worse, or the brakes squeak even more loudly.
• Perfectionism. Those who believe they must produce everything with perfection may obsess about uncovering every last information source and then write draft after draft.  The search for the "perfect product" last so long they miss the deadline.
• Laziness. Sometimes people delay tasks that involve only slight inconvenience or minor discomfort.
• Thinking you're not good enough. Some people are certain they are incompetent.  They think they will fail, and procrastinate to avoid ever putting their skills to the test.
• Self-doubt. If you second-guess yourself, you probably suffer from procrastination.  You may avoid new challenges and opportunities unless you are certain that you will succeed.  Perhaps you make feeble attempts to begin a project, and you tell yourself you could do a better job if you put in more effort.
• Workaholism. At the opposite end of the spectrum, many people who work excessively also fall into this category.  They drive themselves ruthlessly, fearing that if they stop working they will not be able to start again.  Most self-doubters are driven by the belief that they must meet strict standards in order to see themselves as successful.

     So, why don't we just say no? Since procrastination produces mostly negative outcomes, why don't we just participate in behavior modification and eliminate these undesirable consequences?  The reason; procrastination reinforces itself. For some reason, it seems more difficult for most humans to start change than to keep it going.  We avoid getting started by cleverly diverting our attention from the things we really should be doing.  We do something else instead or make up a story about how we will accomplish the task in the future—when we are inspired, motivated, or when we have completed a preliminary step, or some other parlor trick!

     Recognizing the origin of your own procrastination is an excellent beginning to start working on the problem.  There are specific steps for stopping procrastination, but these steps; set specific goals, set priorities, organize your work, divide and conquer, make it a game, schedule a small amount of time, ward off self-defeating thoughts, making a commitment, and reminding yourself will be the topic of the month later on, perhaps June.

For now,

"Get to it"

Dr. Dutton