The Psychology of Procrastination

I am a list person. Now granted, my lists are rarely just lists and can get utterly ridiculous, mutate into collections, morph into journal entries, transition to short stories, you get the idea. Lists for this, list for that, lists in this notebook, list on that app, lists in my head... the lists go on. 

I use lists for many purposes ranging from a way to bridle the anxiety of being a multi-passionate entrepreneur with eighteen balls in the air at any given time, to a tool to manage a multiplicity of personal projects, dreams, goals, creative pursuits, and social commitments. Lists are great until they are no longer great so I ask you why is a list great until its gotta be great? Let’s make lists great again! 

Lists are an innocuous corralling of the names of the things we want to get done and simultaneously a supercharged energetic contract we make with ourselves that outline a commitment to who we want to be and how we want to show up as individuals and members of the collective. They contain the DNA of our identity and the intentionality that we are choosing to infuse our lives with. I would even go as far as to say that how we do lists is how we do everything. 

Why do I insist on dedicating such verse to the psychology of lists and the role they play in my life? Because as a true champion and venerator of the sacred art form of the list, it only seems fitting to start with the hero when seeking to make sense of its sworn enemy: Procrastination. 

One that is obsessed with lists does not do so without being all too familiar with the mortal sin of procrastination. Delayer of dreams, putter offer of goals, dampener of ambition - procrastination wears many masks and answers to many names. Of course, there will always be those mundane yet necessary tasks presenting heavily in the traits of responsibility and duty that we would prefer not to engage with because they often lack inspiration or creative appeal. We rationalize procrastinating on these lackluster tasks because it seems to serve as a necessary buffer, in the form of silent protest, to the lack of joy they spark. And yet, it is almost as though their inclusion on our lists at all gives them a new life, a sense of importance and a reason to exist that they had hitherto been denied. And what of their completion? Their completion is to be marked with the utmost celebration because for as uninspiring as they are in their unaccomplished state, they are equally as ecstasy inducing to cross off, mark done, and put securely behind us. 

Procrastination in this form makes sense because it is digestible, logical, dare I say - reasonable. What alludes us oftentimes is why we procrastinate in actioning the items that draw us closer with each completed task to the things we deeply desire: the life we crave and becoming the people we desperately want to become. This is a special type of procrastination that I like to call “stalling” because procrastination alone is much too punitive and unfeeling a label. Stalling can not be treated with the same salve as procrastination since it is an entirely different affliction with its roots deep in our subconscious mind and its origins deep in our pasts.

So why do we stall on taking action towards the things we want the most? Simply put, because our subconscious minds and our conscious minds are not in alignment with one another. We stall because we do not feel resourced, ready, or deserving of filling the prescription that our sub-conscious mind has placed for us. Deep down we are terrified that we may fail and the shame and exhaustion of it will rob us of our remaining will to go on and ultimately, of our capacity to thrive… so we hesitate, second guess, pull back, wait, stall. We let a lack our program feed an imposter syndrome until the cycle of self-sabotage becomes innate. 

The next time you feel yourself stalling on a task you’ve self-assigned in the service of becoming a better more valuable version of yourself, take a moment to investigate the source of your resistance. What belief are you holding in the shadows of your consciousness that is in stark contradiction to the light you must hold yourself in, in order to reach the outcomes you desire? Perhaps now is not the time to act but rather the time to investigate. After all, the knowledge and skill you need to tackle the next task on your list may very well lie in the introspective journey into the very source of the stall itself.

Every item on every list we have ever and will ever create for ourselves is a patchwork of prayer and intention that serve as both markers and milestones on the path of our evolution. Lists mark and make real the investment of our free will and energetic expression of personal purpose. Our beliefs set the intention from which they are created and our actions solidify their value and weight in our personal solar systems. 

Taking the time to investigate our beliefs and make sense of and accept the emotions that arise as a result of them is not just a side mission in this life but rather both the journey and the destination. We would not encounter ourselves a changed person at the final achievement of our goals if not for the growth inherent in fortifying ourselves with every task and every adversity overcome along a well-laid path of worthy challenges, rewarding sacrifices, and experience informed choices. 

So next time you sit down to write out a list, whether it be for weekly groceries or grandiose goals, remember this: each item is a choice, each task an intention, and each pen stroke or keyboard impression a promise to yourself and an invitation first to self-discovery, but ultimately to greatness.