Written by Heather Richards
We’ve all experienced procrastination. Whether it is a school project, cleaning, or doing the bills, sometimes we simply don’t feel like doing something until the last minute. But what’s the problem with procrastination? After all, some people might be better than others at doing things at the last minute. In fact, some people don’t find anything wrong with procrastination as long as they get the job done eventually.
But there is a fundamental issue with procrastination that goes beyond simply postponing doing something. It is painful. If procrastination wasn’t a negative experience, we wouldn’t complain about it. But the fact is that many of us dread procrastination more than the activity or chore we’re procrastinating. Why? Because it’s actually a painful experience to avoid or postpone something we have to do.
In a recent blog post Dr. Eric Amidi sheds light on this issue by telling a story of a dog. While two people were having a conversation, a dog that belonged to one of the men kept moaning and groaning. The other man asked if the dog was okay, and the owner said yes, he’s fine. But as they kept talking, the dog continued to moan and groan. Finally, the owner said, yes, he’s fine. He’s just lazy. He’s lying on a nail and the pain is enough to make him groan, but not enough to make him move. Procrastination is painful because we’re being lazy!
So how do we stop procrastinating? Dr. Eric Amidi suggests that to come out of procrastination we should focus on a single target until we’ve reached our goal. Stop trying to focus on many goals at once. To learn more, please visit the blog of Dr. Eric Amidi.