35 Reasons Why We Procrastinate

Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash

This is part of my How to Stop Procrastinating series.

Hey, friends!

I'm researching the underlying causes of procrastination. I've discovered 35 reasons why we put things off. And I just wanted to update you all on my progress.

Below is a list of the causes, and I've bucketed similar ones together.

Let me know if I missed any!

We're blocked on a project

1. We don't have everything we need, e.g., information, resources, etc.

2. We feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the project. Where do I even start?

3. We avoid having to deal with difficult and condescending people.

We just feel so unmotivated

4. We're tired, overwhelmed, frustrated, and/or burnt out.

5. We're waiting until we have more motivation. Future me will be brimming with motivation and get so much done.

6. We have an underlying physiological basis, like low vitamin D, ADHD, depression, etc.

We crave constant stimulation

7. We seek out distractions to soothe negative emotions.

8. We've hit the project's boring/tedious/difficult bits.

9. We feel like there's always something more interesting and stimulating than the boring work in front of us

We lack a big enough why

10. We lack a big enough why. Why does this project even matter?

11. We lack urgency. This can wait until tomorrow.

We struggle with distractions

12. We're surrounded by tantalizing distractions

13. We struggle to get started because we'll just be interrupted in a few minutes, breaking our flow.

14. We get sucked into distraction spirals. A 5-minute Reddit break turns into two hours.

We're soothing negative emotions

15. We seek out distractions to soothe negative emotions.

16. We seek distractions to quiet the monkey brain. (If we could snap our fingers and silence the mental chatter, we'd be more productive.)

We fear the unknown

17. We dream of creating something amazing and perfect. Once we start the work, the ability to create something perfect disappears. As long as we don't start, perfection feels possible.

18. We dream of doing so many things. It's hard to commit to one project because it means saying No to a dozen others. Not starting on a project means we're keeping our options open.

We fear what others might think/say/do

19. We fear judgment and criticism.

20. We fear making mistakes.

21. We fear failing

22. We have a fear of success. If we succeed, what will others say about us or expect us? What will this mean for our identity?

23. We have imposter syndrome.

24. We struggle with perfectionism.

We have too many things on our plate

25. We do many urgent but unimportant tasks, so there's no time/energy for the important stuff.

26. We have too many concurrent projects/responsibilities. This causes us to constantly switch contexts and/or feel overwhelmed. This kills any chance of getting into a flow state.

We lack social support

27. We don't have anyone to cheer us on, celebrate tiny wins and small victories, etc.

28. We don't have anyone holding us accountable.

29. We feel lonely, so it's hard to find the motivation to do stuff.

We're just used to procrastinating

30. We're not sure how to break free because procrastinating is a deeply ingrained habit.

31. We talk about projects and daydream a lot. These feel good and feel like progress. But these good feelings diminish our motivation to actually get started.

32. We're surrounded by people who procrastinate, so it feels normal to put things off. Who wants to be the only person not procrastinating?

33. We're so used to instant gratification. We avoid things that have no instant payoff.

We feel angry/jealous

34. We feel like other people don't have to work as hard, and it's unfair that things take so much effort for us.

35. We feel angry that these ridiculous expectations have been put upon us.

Read more on How to Stop Procrastinating.

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Thanks to Brynn Stewart for reading a draft of this!