The End of Procrastination

If you read my review of my favorite books of 2009, you will know I hold Bill Giruzzi in high regard. His book ‘A Life Worth Living’ is probably the most original book I have read on self-development in the last two or three years.

So imagine how excited I was to see him leave a comment on this blog. I shot him an e-mail and asked if he’d be interested in writing a guest post and he said yes. Well obviously he said yes, it wouldn’t have made for much of a blog post if he’d told me to swivel, but I digress.

I think Bill is truly a unique thinker and even if you don’t agree with what he says I guarantee he will challenge your old beliefs and help you look at the topic of procrastination in a whole different light.

So read on….

Based on the title, you might be thinking this is a nice little article with some tips about how to handle your procrastination. It’s NOT!

When I say “The End of Procrastination,” I mean the end of it. I mean the end of the concept, the end of the word “procrastination”.

Why? Simple. In reality, there is no such thing as procrastination. “Procrastinate” means “to defer action, delay. To put off to another time or day.”

If you think about procrastination and how people use this term, it doesn’t make any sense. It describes what didn’t happen!

In other words, in reality, there’s only what you did. You cannot show me what you didn’t do. Describe to me how you didn’t call your mother, or how you didn’t go to the grocery store. You can’t. You’d have to describe to me what you were doing. “I was watching the game” or “I was sitting around thinking I should call my mother and feeling guilty.”

Procrastination is a lot like “trying;” another concept that doesn’t exist in reality. Try to get up from the chair you’re sitting in. Show me trying. You can’t. Either you’re sitting or you’re standing. If you’re butt is just barely touching the chair, you’re in some form of sitting.

There is no state of trying.

Why does this matter so much? It matters because the concept “procrastination” keeps us from being authentic about our lives.

First, if you have ten things on your list to do and you did nine and “procrastinated” about one; it doesn’t acknowledge what you did do. It doesn’t acknowledge that you actually made choices about how you spent your time. It keeps the focus on what didn’t happen.

Second, for most of us, we use “being a procrastinator” as a copout. It’s just a worn out excuse and it keeps us from examining what’s authentically going on with us.

Chances are that whatever you are procrastinating about, you have some resistance to, and you’ve decided that the only pathway to what you want is through this thing you’re procrastinating about.

Your mind has become so focused on this action you’re supposed to be taking, generating all this negative emotion and energy because you can’t quite muster enough force to get yourself to do it.

But wrap your head around this.

Whenever you’re doing that … well … that’s what you’re doing!!! In other words rather than actually take the action or alternatively, let it go so your mind can be free to come up with a different pathway that would actually catapult your life forward, you are affirmatively spending your time resisting the action, and life itself.

You’re not delaying. You’re spending your time thinking about something you’re not doing. You’re not acknowledging that you have in fact made a choice. Instead, it’s “Oh it wasn’t me, it was the procrastinator in me.” Hogwash. It was you. It’s always you.

And so here’s the really question you want to ask yourself,

“Why would you want to spend your life doing things you don’t want to do?”

“Oh c’mon Bill, all of us need to spend time doing things that we don’t want to do. That’s just ridiculous.”

Are you sure about that?

Clearly you don’t absolutely need to do those things in your life that you’re procrastinating about. How do I know that? Well, YOU’RE NOT DOING THEM, and you’re managing to keep yourself alive, employed, fed, etc.

So it’s simply not true that you need to do those things. The end of procrastination doesn’t mean that you’ll never put off things until another time. In fact, the reason that the concept is so ridiculous is that it’s impossible not to put off things until another time.

You can only do one thing at a time, and so everything else you’re not doing in any moment has been put off until a time in the future. In every moment, you’re procrastinating about every other thing in your life other than what you’re actually doing.

It makes one wonder why we created this character trait that only makes us feel bad about ourselves? Why have we made it more acceptable to say, “I’m a procrastinator” rather than be authentic and say, “I’m not going to do this” or “Doing this frightens me and I need help in coming up with another way”?

Whatever the story is behind our fixation on procrastination; ultimately, what I care about is that you experience more joy, love, freedom and connection in your life. What I want for you is to experience more of the things you want.

When you’re talking about being a procrastinator, when you’re resisting the things you think you need to do to get to where you want to go; in those moments, you are most certainly not experiencing more joy, love, freedom and connection.

Which if you think about it is really silly because that’s where you want to get to anyway. That’s why you decided you needed to do the thing that you’re now resisting – so you could accomplish something that would allow you to experience more joy, love, freedom and connection in your life.

The end of procrastination is not an assault on something; it’s simply about removing the delay we’ve built into life so that we can experience more of what we want today. Getting the delay out of the way allows us to be more authentic about who we are and how we live our lives. And that’s not something that should be put off until another day.

You can read more from Bill at his website A Life Worth Living and also at his blog The Conversation Is Growing. I’d also love to know what you think about his take on procrastination? Let us know in the comments.

By the way, word has it that the Pun Intended website has finally relaunched it after several months. I’m sure some of you know Flying Lama Fish and Bamboo Forest from around the blogosphere, well now you can follow them once again.

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15 Comments So Far.

Comment by SusanJ on 30 December 2009:

Wow, you bring up so many interesting concepts here! Yes, acknowledging the choice we’re making and freeing up all the energy we’re using to obsess about it is a good thing.

But I disagree that it’s a cop out. I think sometimes it’s more of a marker for our resistance to something that’s so important to us that it just won’t let us alone.

So we’re in a conundrum where we can’t move forward and it’s too important to let go of – like a calling. (I don’t think this applies to menial chores, etc.)

I DO agree that we could just drop the whole label and drama that we get into about our resistance and come up with a completely new, empowering, creative, forward thinking way of approaching “the choice to defer”, and with great results too!

What new concept and label could we use?
Comment by Bill Giruzzi on 30 December 2009:

Ooo I like this – “it’s more of a marker for our resistance to something that’s so important to us that it just won’t let us alone.”. I think this gets to the heart of it in someway – getting us to talk about the commitment behind the complaint. What is it we really want? What is it we really want to be spending our time talking about? I don’t think it’s just a new label (although that might help be a trigger for a new conversation), but to shift about talking about that thing that’s grabbed us and won’t let go. What would that look like?
Comment by Bamboo Forest – PunIntended on 30 December 2009:

@ Tim: Thanks for the mention, we really appreciate it!

@ Bill: This was a very interesting article and I do like this take on procrastination. The more angles the issue is looked at, the more likely someone will awaken. That’s a good thing. And this is certainly a unique angle.

Kinda reminds me of what Yoda says, “Do, or do not. There is no try.”
Comment by Sue on 31 December 2009:

Great ideas, Bill!

What we call “procrastination” is really the failure to make a decision. It’s the same tendency that leads to clutter. We need to decide, sooner rather than later, that we either are or are not going to do the dreaded task (or get rid of the unnecessary thing cluttering up our home).

And like the junk mail offer that you finally tend to after it has expired, if you put off a task long enough, it may end up no longer being necessary…which means it really never was.

With physical clutter, I ask myself, “Do I use this? Do I love this? Would I miss this?” If I can’t answer yes to at least one of those questions, out it goes.

Maybe we should have similar questions about tasks we’re avoiding. They might be, “Is this task really necessary? Is there another, more pleasant way to get the same result? Is there any benefit to me in waiting to do it?”

Depending on the answers, we can either jump in and get it done, schedule it for another time, or cross it off the to-do list altogether (our secret hope!).
Trackback by uberVU – social comments on 31 December 2009:

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This post was mentioned on Twitter by TimBrownson: I think this is one of the best guest posts I’ve ever published. The End Of Procrastination by Bill Giruzzi http://snipurl.com/tx7tg...
Comment by Brian Lagoni on 31 December 2009:

very well put.

Acceptance of were you are is crucial for going somewhere else. If you are always a step a head, you are actually a step behind.

I think 2010 will be the year when I consciously will procrastinate my procrastination as much as I possibly can.

Happy new Year
Comment by SusanJ on 31 December 2009:

@Bill – I totally agree about shifting the conversation from the resisting to the desire or longing behind it. I feel a blog post coming on….

Perhaps we should start a campaign this year to shift this conversation.

@Sue – your comment really helped me get the distinction between chore things that we put off and deeper desires that we’re just not ready to pursue yet. I LOVE your questions to ask about chores we’re avoiding. My best strategy right now is to invite someone over to the house, because then I get all the household chores done in a single morning!

But with desires and longings, it seems that sometimes we need to be with them for a while. We’re not always ready to jump right in, because they could result in big changes in us and our lives. What I’d really like to see is a way of allowing that to be OK that doesn’t leave us all dramatic and gnashing our teeth over our pathetic procrastination.
Comment by Tim Brownson on 31 December 2009:

@ I just wanted to offer another thanks to Bill for writing a really interesting and thought provoking post!
Comment by Sue on 31 December 2009:

SusanJ, I wanted to respond to this:

“But with desires and longings, it seems that sometimes we need to be with them for a while. We’re not always ready to jump right in, because they could result in big changes in us and our lives.”

It sounds like we need to differentiate in our language between procrastinating and deferring.

Procrastinating is avoiding a task because of an underlying doubt, fear or other resistance. Deferral is consciously choosing to wait to complete a task because there is a valid reason why it would be best to do it later (see my third question, above). It might be what you mention about being with our desires and longings for a while.

It’s kind of like the technique sometimes used to deal with phobias: exposure therapy. If there is an action you’re thinking of taking that feels like a big leap, you can desensitize yourself to the fear of doing it by having it sit beside you for a while, getting used to the idea, and planning for it.

It only becomes “procrastination” when you never actually take action. I guess the trick is knowing how much time is reasonable and when we’re in avoidance mode.
Comment by SusanJ on 31 December 2009:

@Sue – Great points. In my experience nothing brings up more doubt, fear and resistance than a longing or desire of the heart. There is SO much riding on these, and we care so deeply about them, that there’s ALWAYS a valid reason to wait until later, like the chance to avoid very real heartbreak.

But I want to tie Bill’s point back in, because what I’m reflecting on today, is the realization that what we CALL it determines a lot. And calling the avoidance “procrastination” is, I believe, actually reinforcing an identity as someone who “can’t” do it. And that’s just going to be one more road block.

Thanks Tim for inviting this post and thanks Bill for provoking this fascinating discussion!
Comment by Sami Paju on 1 January 2010:

I am speechless. A magnificent post :-)

I will definitely try to explore my emotions deeper the next time I feel like putting something off, to see if I have some inner resistance to doing it.

//sami
Comment by Bill Giruzzi on 2 January 2010:

Wow. A lot of very great insights and a very rich conversations.

Thanks all!!!

And thanks Tim, for the opportunity.
Comment by Hulbert on 6 January 2010:

Hi Bill. It’s my first time on this site. Very nice post on procrastination. I like your examples on how we can’t try to explain our process of procrastinating. It’s either what we are doing or what we are not doing. There’s no in between.

I think a lot of why people procrastinate or put things to the side is because they don’t like to change – change brings on discomfort and so they would rather delay it and feel comfortable in the moment. We may think that by doing this we are free, but it’s counter intuitive. We are never free unless we are taking action. Doing so then helps us become free of procrastination.

Thanks for this wonderful post.
Comment by Hulbert on 6 January 2010:

Oh, by the way, thanks Tim for sharing this guest post. I thought he was the owner of the site. :)
Comment by Vlad Dolezal on 9 January 2010:

Awesome article!

I especially like this quote – “Clearly you don’t absolutely need to do those things in your life that you’re procrastinating about. How do I know that? Well, YOU’RE NOT DOING THEM…” :)