Why we Procrastinate

By Puravida Trainer Chris Brinson

Here are some reasons why we procrastinate, and don’t get things done in a timely fashion.

It’s too hard. The first reason why we might procrastinate is because we often think and believe the task at hand is too difficult. We tend to put the harder things to the side and start with the easier things. By doing the same things that we usually do time and time again, keep us from moving forward towards our goals. I know that I’ve done this myself, and it kept me from moving towards my goals. It takes time to tell yourself this, but if you keep at it, good things will happen. Think about it this way, it would be the same thing if I led myself through the same workout with no variety.



The second reason why we procrastinate is the fear of failure. This is a key reason because I’m sure everyone at least once thought of this at one point in their lives. I can relate to this: one time I had a project in school and it was typing up a 5-7 page paper on what makes me myself. I kept telling myself “Oh I’ll do it tomorrow night when I have more time.” Well as it turns out I waited until two days before it was due, and I had stayed up all night for two nights trying to cram in everything. All it made me do was to stress about not getting a good grade. But as it turns out, I had gotten a B on it. Was a happy about that? Yes I was, but if I had started a little bit earlier and taken the time to really focus on it, I think the outcome would have been far greater.



A third reason is Time Management. Procrastination can be also influenced by our fear of being overwhelmed by our time. We usually have busy lifestyles such as work, at home things, kids, pets, etc. If you have a project to do or trying to balance working out into your schedule, time management is huge. Take a look at your schedule, see when your free gaps are, and plan to use those times as fillers. Fillers meaning things you want or need to get done. But start looking at your schedules this way and you’ll find that giving yourself even 15 minutes to start something you need to get done will help in the long run.



I hope this is helpful for everyone, because I know that I’m starting to plan my time better to get things I want and need to get done.