Well, it's April. This is the annual EIL Home & Garden issue. And that means it’s time again for the dreaded spring projects you’ve been putting off all winter. The “I’ll get to it when it’s warmer outside” excuse is no longer viable. All winter long you’ve been lying on your couch every Saturday morning, watching your favorite home improvement channel. After six hour-long episodes of home-buying/selling/renovation reality TV shows, you are now an “expert.”
The problem is where to start! Watching someone on TV remodel a 4,500 sq. ft. home, including adding a pool and landscape, in 30 minutes is one thing. Trying to put together and hang the bird-feeder your in-laws gave you for Christmas in 30 minutes is another thing!
Procrastination is really the way your body and mind tell you that you need to focus on another task. It’s like the secret guide that points the direction to what is really important in life. I bet you thought procrastinators are all the same. In fact, there are different types. Here are some you might recognize:
The Busy Procrastinator: This one loves to complain how busy they are. They are always complaining how they cannot possibly find time to complete the work they are procrastinating on.
The List Maker Procrastinator: This type of procrastinator plans out every little thing and step of the process of the project, but never starts the project, much less completes it.
The Over Doer Procrastinator: This type goes all out and becomes involved not in one project, but in several at once. Of course, none of the projects ever end up getting completed. Most of us have a neighbor who fits this description.
The Dreamer Procrastinator: This procrastinator has good intentions but gets lost along the way. It’s not that they don’t want to do the work, they just find it much more pleasant to dream about the results then to actually follow through with them.
And finally, there is my favorite, The Chronic Procrastinator: Most people can identify with this type, because they are the kings and queens of putting stuff off. The Chronic Procrastinator has a major time management issue and a tendency to grossly underestimate how much time something will take. They always believe they have “plenty of time!” to finish that project they are tasked to complete.
There’s a cognitive bias called “Sunken Cost Fallacy” that applies to procrastination. When we put time or money into something, our brains think, “Ok, that’s it. Now I HAVE to finish this.” How many times have you been watching a terrible movie or TV series on Netflix and instead of walking out or changing the channel, you say to yourself, “This is terrible, but I might as well keep watching because I’ve seen an hour of it already.” We’ve all been there, right?!
Of course, we procrastinators lie to ourselves about why we are not working at this very moment. “I don’t feel like doing it right now, but I’ll do it later, when I’m more in the mood.” Or maybe, “It’ll be ok. Even if I don’t finish this now, what’s the worst thing that can happen?!” And MY go to line: “I work best under pressure and I’m much more productive, so I’m just going to wait until the last minute to get to work on it.”
I’ll get to it right after I take down my Christmas tree...
