Part 1 of this blog post outlined, from a cognitive behavioural perspective, why we procrastinate. Put simply, we procrastinate because of how we feel—i.e. anxious, bored, or frustrated. We feel the way we do because of how we think. Our beliefs about the task at hand arouse emotions, and these emotions then lead to avoidant, often detrimental, behaviour.
Originally, I had intended this blog post to be in two parts, with Part 2 focusing on strategies to overcome procrastination. However, I wanted to first outline some of the more common thinking patterns or beliefs associated with procrastination. This is because some of the strategies I recommend in Part 3 involve identifying and challenging these procrastination-related beliefs. So, I think it might be useful to describe six ‘types’ of classic procrastinators and their associated beliefs.
Firstly, I’d like to point out that we all have it in us to be any of the six types I’m about to outline at different times. These ‘types’ of procrastinator are not equivalent to personality traits—which are generally considered relatively stable. Rather, the types are based on the underlying beliefs that lead to procrastination. Depending on past experiences and other factors, we all have the ability to procrastinate in different ways across different situations.
The six types of procrastinators.
These six types are taken from this great book by Linda Sapadin and Jack Maguire.
As I explained in Part 1, on one level we procrastinate because of how we feel. The first three types of procrastinator avoid doing the task or behaviour they know they should be doing because of anxiety in some form.
THE WORRIER
The Worrier doesn’t start that important or difficult task because they don’t believe they’ll be able to do it. They fear they won’t succeed and feel anxious at the thought of failure. Thus, it feels better not to start the task—as you can’t experience the negative emotions associated with failure if you don’t make an attempt in the first place. The issue with this logic is that you’re guaranteed to fail if you don’t start. The typical procrastinating belief associated with the Worrier is: “I won’t be able to because…”.
This was the basis of my procrastination around smoking. I didn’t quit because I didn’t think I’d succeed. I didn’t think I’d succeed because I didn’t think I could cope without a cigarette. I’ll outline how I recently overcame that in Part 3.
THE PERFECTIONIST
In a similar vein to the Worrier, the Perfectionist doesn’t start the task because of a fear of failure. However, for the Perfectionist, failure equates to not doing the task perfectly. The typical perfectionist belief might sound something like: “If I don’t do the task extremely well, then I’m a failure.” A good example of this is people who delay starting their business until everything is perfect and organised. As the world is often messy and chaotic, these perfect conditions rarely exist. Often, with successful entrepreneurs, I see that they make things happen even when conditions aren’t perfect—and plan to fix the flaws later. A great example of this is Richard Branson. In his autobiography, he talks about how if someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you don’t know how to do it, say yes, then learn how to do it later.
THE OVER-DOER
The third type of procrastinator motivated by anxiety is the Over-Doer. The Over-Doer commits to too many tasks and then fails to prioritise the most important ones, thereby failing to get them done on time. The classic ‘Over-Doer’ belief around procrastination is: “If I don’t accomplish all of this, then I’m not good enough.” The fear of not living up to their own impossible standards, or the imagined standards of others, leads them to take on too much and neglect the critical tasks.
Procrastinators motivated by boredom & frustration.
The second three types of procrastinators are motivated by what is called Low Frustration Tolerance (LFT). LFT is the belief that we won’t be able to cope with or tolerate the frustration of the mundane, repetitive, or boring aspects of a task or situation. This leads to two emotions: boredom or frustration/anger.
THE CRISIS MAKER
The ‘Crisis Maker’ believes that, in order to be motivated to do a task, they need the stress or pressure inherent in last-minute action. Without this, they believe they won’t perform at their best. They rely on pressure to alleviate boredom. There is an issue with this: if you compare the quality of work started at the last minute with work started within a reasonable timeframe, which do you think will produce better results? Tim Urban, in his well-known talk on procrastination, describes how he wrote his master’s thesis in 48 hours—the results were predictable. (One of the best TED Talks, in my opinion—funny and profound!)
THE DREAMER
Number five on our list of procrastinator types is the Dreamer. The Dreamer doesn’t believe they should have to work hard to get what they want—they think it should all fall into their lap. We’ve all met (or even been) the Dreamer. Grand ideas, but very little action. The thought of actually having to do the work either bores or frustrates them—so they think, “I shouldn’t have to work hard to fulfil my dreams.”
THE DEFIER
Imagine the situation: your boss has given you a boring, mundane, or just downright pointless task. You think it’s not worthwhile. You feel angry—maybe resentful. So you delay. You put it off and focus on other tasks you believe are more important. However, what you’re forgetting is that you’ll have to complete that task eventually, as the person who assigned it is your boss. The typical belief underlying the Defier’s frustration and rebellious behaviour is: “I shouldn’t have to do it!” The reality is that, in life, you often do have to do it. This is also commonly seen in stroppy teenagers.
Next time, I’ll outline some science-based strategies on what to actually do about procrastination.
Hope you found this useful.
Explore. Understand. Act.
Jayson
If you’d like to discuss what working with me on your procrastination might look like, book a free consultation or reach out via the form below.
