Why Do We Procrastinate?

Procrastination is a common human trait.  Why do we do it?  I can only ask myself why I procrastinate in order to try to answer this question.  It's somewhat ironic.  I'm a workaholic.  I don't know how not to work.  Yet, I often put off a project until the last minute, but eventually get it done on time.  The only problem is a project without a deadline.  It's easier to procrastinate when you don't have a deadline.  This type of procrastination can lead to never finishing such a project.

Somehow, over my lifetime, I've made a habit of putting things off until their deadlines.  I've also made a habit of getting those things done.  Suddenly, I'm living a less structured life without many deadlines.  Procrastination becomes a more significant problem under these circumstances.  Hence, why it's time for me to understand my propensity to procrastinate.

I know that there are times that I procrastinate out of some type of innate fear of failure.  Yes, it sounds crazy, but I know it to be true.  Either I'm not sure how I'll do with something, so I put it off until I reach a point in time where I have to get it done anyway.  Then, I get it done.  It really doesn't make a lot of sense, but making sense isn't the issue.

Over my lifetime, the world has evolved from one where there were delays in communication.  One sent a letter.  One left a message with someone.  One left a message on an answering machine (which didn't really start until the 1980's).  The advent of emails changed the timing of communications.  Today, we carry our phones with us.  We struggle with the immediacy of answering calls, emails or texts.  Do we answer them immediately, hence, keeping up with our messages in a timely fashion?  Do we wait, whereupon new messages come in and the old messages start piling up?  This begins a new procrastination process.

How we fit projects into this further complicates the situation.  Our opportunity to procrastinate increases with the complexity of our lives.  Perhaps finding ways to simplify our lives would help.  I've often wondered what it would be life to go off the grid, so to speak.  There is something appealing about getting away from the morass of communications and information that hit us daily.  Something to think about.