Procrastination is a message from your nervous system that you need to pay attention to. It’s telling you something about the task you don’t particularly want to do right now. If you listen to it, you can discover how to make procrastination your partner instead of your enemy.
In this episode, we’ll dive deep into decoding procrastination—from the different procrastination styles to how we can address them.
Listen to learn more.
Procrastination Styles
- Anxious Type: You set unrealistic expectations and over-schedule, leaving no time for rest. This causes anxiety and a sense of being unproductive. The remedy is “unscheduling” by planning breaks or enjoyable activities before tackling tasks—like “paying yourself first” before addressing work. This approach helps you feel motivated instead of resentful.
- The Task Is Not Fun: This style avoids tasks because they’re boring or unpleasant, preferring fun activities instead. You might fear being trapped in tedious work or a situation with people you don’t want to be around. To combat this, give yourself enjoyable breaks to regain motivation, such as watching videos during work breaks to boost energy.
- Plenty of Time: People with this style procrastinate until the last minute, thinking they work best under pressure. However, this causes stress, not productivity. The solution is breaking tasks into manageable chunks and scheduling smaller, incremental work sessions to make the task less daunting.
- Perfect Partner: Perfectionists procrastinate due to fear of disappointing others and negative self-talk. To manage this, forgive yourself for procrastinating and focus on past successes that weren’t perfect but still worked out. This reduces constant self-criticism and fear of failure.
Roles That Emotions Take in Procrastination
- Protector Role: Seeks to shield you from discomfort, often manifesting as “police” or “first responder” part of you that wants to prevent pain or uncertainty.
- Manager Role: This role constantly tells you what to do, urges you to follow rules, and warns against risks. It’s often associated with guilt or “shoulds.”
- Past Moment Role: Represents a vulnerable part of yourself, often from the past, that was never healed or comforted. This can cause emotional blocks when facing tasks.
To overcome procrastination, acknowledge and name the emotions you feel when faced with a task, measure their intensity, and notice the sensations in your body. By doing this, you can start to release emotions and move past them. If the “manager” or “protector” roles surface, ask them to step aside to help you access the vulnerable part of yourself. This will lead to greater emotional integration and less procrastination.
This process helps align your body’s messages with your conscious mind, making it easier to work together as a whole person. Acknowledging emotions and sensations helps reduce sabotage and allows you to use procrastination as a partner in your work.
My Recent Experience with Procrastination
Recently, I procrastinated on a project that required calling unresponsive stakeholders, which left me frustrated. I recognized feelings of annoyance and measured them at a 6 or 7 in intensity, noticing tension in my chest. I realized a “manager role” was telling me I was behind. I acknowledged this and took a short break. When I returned, I tried calling the stakeholders again, and surprisingly, they all answered.
This experience showed me that things often fall into place when you stop fighting yourself. Recognizing the “shoulds” and “have-tos” from the manager or protector roles can help you integrate them and move forward.
