You wanted to get some serious work done. But then you got distracted.
Or you’ve been postponing a certain task forever, and you’ll soon get in trouble.
You know it’s bad…so, why do people procrastinate?

And how can you stop Procrastinating to finally get the life you want and deserve?

In this article, you’ll discover 13 reasons why we procrastinate and what you can do to overcome procrastination for good.

But what is procrastination, really?

Chances are, you’re pretty familiar with the topic, am I right? We all ask ourselves, “Whyyy can’t I stop procrastinating?”

But before we get to the sneaky reasons and simple solutions, let’s start with a quick procrastination definition.

“Procrastination is a habitual or intentional delay of starting or finishing a task despite knowing it might have negative consequences” – (Joseph R. Ferrari, Ph.D.)

Now, whatever your definition of procrastination, we can probably agree that we procrastinate when we avoid doing something we know we should be doing.

Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday

Napoleon Hill

You are not alone.

About 20% of adults identify as chronic procrastinators according to different research studies and surveys by Piers Steel Ph.D., Joseph Ferrari Ph.D., Bilge Uzun, or a recent UK Google survey. And it doesn’t matter which country they surveyed.

It’s even worse for college students, with 3 out of 4 students identifying as procrastinators. This feeling may be amplified by the fact that students tend to:

• Overestimate their future motivation
• Underestimate how much time assignments will take
• Overestimate how much time they have left to perform tasks
• Assume that they need to be inspired to start working

Procrastination is not about laziness

If you think that you procrastinate because you’re lazy, you’re in for a surprise. So, why do you wait until the last minute to finish your projects?

Of the 13 reasons you’ll see below, all of them applied to me at one point or another. Heck, sometimes, I struggle with several reasons at once.

In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing

Theodore Roosevelt

Procrastination is sneaky – and laziness is not why we procrastinate. You just think that you’re lazy… but there are actually many (subconscious) reasons.

If you’re not doing what you should be doing, it must mean you’re lazy, right? Why else would people procrastinate?
This lack of motivation can even lead to serious self-esteem problems.

But soon you’ll know better.

The following list will give you insights into why you really procrastinate.
And help you overcome chronic procrastination once and for all.

So why do people procrastinate and delay their work?

You have the perfect To-Do-List and the latest Time-Management Techniques, but can’t find the willpower to get things done.

Procrastination has many layers, and it’s hiding deeper reasons why you just can’t get yourself to do the work.

And you know what?

You’re not only procrastinating when you get stuck on Netflix or Social Media.

Keeping busy can also be a form of procrastination. Because you’re still putting off what you should be doing.

“So, how’s your project coming along? Have you made any progress?”
“No, but I cleaned out my inbox, sorted my documents into categories, and rearranged my socks by color.”

Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.

Robert Benchley

Once you understand why you’re avoiding the real work, you can do something about it.

As long as you think you’re a terrible, lazy person, it’s impossible to make any real progress.

Time to find out why we really procrastinate and delay tasks, so you can get your work done!

Let’s uncover 13 reasons (not excuses) that loosely fit into 3 categories.

Common reasons why people procrastinate: Lack of direction

Analysis Paralysis kills your productivity.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re getting nowhere.

So, one way to stop procrastination is to clearly define the results you want.

You have to find your purpose first (which can be totally self-interested)!
So, what do you want to achieve?

1.You have no focus

To get the career or awesome business you dream of, it’s crucial that you know what to focus on. You can’t do all the things.

There’s too much to do, and it’s paralyzing when you have no priorities.

Your brain has to make thousands of decisions every day. Your mind needs a clear vision through which it can filter the importance of your tasks.

Focus is a matter of deciding what things you’re not going to do.

John Carmack

When you have no focus, your brain gets lost in possibilities, so it takes the shortcut of doing something easy. Like watching your favorite show instead of being productive.

Warren Buffett’s 5/25 rule helps you understand which projects you have to focus on. And the Ninja Vision Workbook guides you through the steps to discover your priorities to create the life of your dreams.

It’s much easier to stay consistent and actually do the work when you know what to focus on! That’s how you overcome procrastination

2.Your goals are blurry

Clear goals are essential. Otherwise, your brain runs into the same problem as before. Focus and goals are about the same idea, even though they are different.

A goal is a specific outcome you want to achieve.

And when your goals are blurry, your brain gets confused. If you simply want to “make more money”, your brain doesn’t know what to do with this.

But if you want to make “$5,000 within the next 3 months by selling X on Social Media” you can immediately see logical next steps.

People with goals succeed because they know where they’re going

Earl Nightingale

It’s crucial that you know what you want to achieve. You need a clear vision and a specific target.

3.People procrastinate because the deadline is vague

So, your goals need to be specific. And you also need to have a concrete deadline.

If it doesn’t really matter when something is due, you’ll delay it indefinitely.

Set a deadline – and stick to it.

And don’t cheat because it’s just a made-up date.
You want to stop procrastinating, right?

What may be done at any time will be done at no time

Scottish Proverb

Setting deadlines for yourself and keeping them is self-integrity!

4.You feel overwhelmed

“There’s so much to get done. I don’t even know where to start”.

It’s daunting to think about what you

• have to do
• should do
• and want to do

This brings us back to focus and goals. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you have no clear vision and no strategic goals – because you don’t know what to prioritize.

Take the guesswork out of your priorities. Clearly identify your life’s vision and set specific goals.

Once you have concrete goals, you’ll know what things don’t matter. And you’ll be able to say “no” to them.

When you’re trying to do all the things, you’ll never get the life you dream of.

You not only waste hours on meaningless tasks. When you have no clue what’s important to do next, you procrastinate.

You do nothing because your overwhelmed brain prefers something easy like zoning out in front of the screen.

If you procrastinate when faced with a big difficult problem… break the problem into parts, and handle one part at a time

Robert Collier

So, how can you stop procrastinating?

Break down big goals into small steps. When you do something, you build momentum.
Become an action-taker, even if you do just one small task.

One task leads to another, and suddenly, you’ve made huge progress.

Why do people procrastinate? Momentum issues

Imagine a car that’s rolling down the hill. You forgot to put on the brakes, and you watch as it slowly starts rolling down the street, picking up ever more speed.

You can’t just run over there and stop the car because now it has got momentum. And it’s the same with any given task.

5.You have bad momentum

Uh sorry, I have bad what? Momentum.

Do you ever do things in a super inefficient way? But you continue like that because you’re already in the middle of it?

You know you’d be much faster if you got a different tool. But you don’t… because you have momentum.

Momentum can go both ways. The worse it gets, the worse it gets. And the better it gets, the better it gets.

Don’t you just love days when you are super inspired, highly productive, and get a ton of stuff done? That’s positive momentum.

If you’re in a funk and don’t feel like doing anything, try to find a small task you can do. Little by little, you’ll build positive momentum.

And if truly nothing gives, you may need to relax and recharge your batteries, so you can tackle your task later.

6.You want to do it perfectly

Ahh, perfectionism. As a recovering perfectionist, this is a very sneaky reason why people procrastinate.

You want to get it right. You want everything to be perfect.
Especially if the task is important.

And this type of procrastination can show up in 2 ways.

You get stuck with your project forever because you’re tweaking it ad nauseam. You waste so much time on every tiny detail.
And you haven’t even finished the darn thing.

It’s like rewriting your intro 30 times, although you still have 2 pages to finish…

Done is better than perfect

Sheryl Sandberg

The second way a perfectionism sabotages your motivation is by convincing you that you’ll never get it right anyway.

Why start?
Why go through the pain of disappointing yourself? It’s much easier to do something that puts less pressure on you.

Know that perfectionism is overrated and a huge waste of your time. Not everything has to be perfect.

Once this clicks, you’ll get much more productive. Don’t aim for perfection. It’s enough to make something great. And often, even “good” is enough.

I’m still working on this every day. It’s hard to shake old habits, especially if they are as deeply ingrained as lifelong perfectionism.

But perfectionism is a waste of time! Get things done instead of wasting a day because the color isn’t perfect.

7.You’re missing a skill

Sometimes we simply lack a specific skill we need to reach our goals. Especially for ambitious long-term goals.

Since you can’t snap your fingers to learn it (we’re not in the Matrix) this missing skill holds you back.

Yes, sometimes that’s why people procrastinate.

Learning the required skill would cost time or money – or both. It’s just too much hassle, so you postpone it. Meanwhile, you’re stuck.

Do yourself a favor and decide if you’re going to learn this skill or not. Don’t keep yourself in procrastination limbo forever!

8.You’re exhausted

Procrastination has a bad reputation and we often feel guilty about it. “What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I be more disciplined?”

But sometimes procrastination is a sign that you’re exhausted!

When your energy levels are low, it’s okay to rest and spend a day on Netflix or binge on YouTube videos.
You don’t have to hustle until you pass out.

The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it

Sydney J. Harris

Sometimes, you simply have to recharge your batteries and there’s no reason to feel bad about it.

Even if it’s a whole day or an entire weekend.

It seems counterintuitive, but taking a break is one way to stop procrastinating. Do something you enjoy, which will give you the energy to start fresh tomorrow.

Why people procrastinate: Other people

Other people are no “Get out of jail” free card. You are responsible for your actions (and the actions you don’t take). It’s your job to overcome your lack of motivation.

But sometimes, other people can be part of the reason why we procrastinate.

Let’s take a look at a few of these reasons!

9.You’re stuck waiting for others

In his book “Getting things done” from 2001, David Allen presents pre-internet and pre-smartphone systems to increase your productivity.

I loved the ideas and even had an epiphany.

David Allen had a category called “Waiting for…” for tasks that require someone else to do something before you can continue working on your project.

This is easy to understand when your mechanic has to repair your broken car before you can sell it. When there’s nothing you can do, you don’t feel guilty.

So, people procrastinate – but do we really?

This situation isn’t always so obvious.

The problem is that you could often work on your project for a while longer. But subconsciously, you know you’ll need someone’s input soon enough.

Think about tasks you’ve been postponing.
You may find that although you’re not stuck yet, you would hit a roadblock shortly.

• Maybe you miss a crucial piece of information, and you don’t even know how to get it.
• Or you need your boss’s approval, and that’s complicated because she’s super busy, on a business trip, or _______ (fill in the blank).
• Maybe you need input from someone. But you’ve already asked them 4 times, and you’d rather not ask again.

And so, instead of working on your project for the little progress, you could still make, you drag it out.
And you feel guilty about your lack of motivation.

When in reality, you’ll get stuck pretty soon and that’s why you’re putting it off.

Once you figure out that missing input is holding you back, you can do something about it.

Instead of feeling guilty for procrastinating, you can now follow up with whomever, so you can make progress again.

10.You hate what you’re doing

This is a no-brainer.

We’ve all procrastinated and postponed because someone else wants us to do something boring or tedious.

But sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do. You have to eat the frog.

If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.

Mark Twain

Chores could be on this list.
We often only do them to avoid problems with other people.

Like doing the dishes so no one yells at you. Or doing that crappy task your boss dumped on you, that you couldn’t care less about.

When we do something mainly to avoid trouble, we don’t feel super motivated.

Instead of running on autopilot, ask yourself if this is really what you want to do.

If the answer is a clear “no” try negotiating with whomever you’re doing this for.

Anything worth putting off is worth abandoning altogether

Epictetus

But if negotiating would cause more problems than it solves, you can shift your mindset around this hated task.

This is how to overcome procrastination when your tasks suck:

Don’t focus on how awful, unfair, and frustrating it is. Concentrate on the positive. Yes, it’s still a crappy task. But if you do it now, you won’t get in trouble. You’ll be done with it.

And then you can do something more fun. Guilt-free.

11.Other people procrastinate, too

How can you stop procrastinating if everyone is doing it?

Your environment has a big influence on your behavior. This doesn’t let you off the hook, but procrastination may seem normal to you.

You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with

Jim Rohn

Are the people around you having trouble with discipline?
If procrastination is the norm, you may also feel less motivated.

Before you know it, you are unproductive and avoid doing what needs to be done.

Are the people close to you hard-working, inspiring, and uplifting?
Or do they procrastinate and drag their feet?

It may be time to change your environment. Find people who naturally make you feel more motivated.

Now, it’s no one’s job to motivate you. You need to be accountable.
But it can be hard to be self-disciplined.

It’s always easier to get motivated when you have great role models. Be around people who have the work ethics you admire.

12.You’re afraid of failure

No one wants to get their heart broken, so the fear of failure is a huge reason why people procrastinate.

It’s much easier to say that you’re lazy than to pour your heart & soul into something and fail.

Procrastination can be a defense mechanism. You’re not lazy – you’re afraid of the pain of failure.

Thinking you’re lazy doesn’t hurt nearly as much as believing you’re a loser who can never get the life of your dreams.

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult

Seneca

If you hand in a project you started working on way too late, you have an excuse if it isn’t good.

You couldn’t do your best because you “had no time”.

And so, if your project isn’t up to par, it’s because you were “too lazy” to start sooner.
It could be heartbreaking to give it your all only to realize that you simply weren’t good enough.

“Lazy” can be protection

You see how procrastination can be an excuse to never fully commit so you don’t get hurt?

Calling yourself lazy is much easier than to bare your soul and get rejected.

While this seems like a great plan, you’re self-rejecting yourself and your dreams. If you don’t dare to take risks, you’ll never have the life you want.

Fortunately, you can work on your courage. It’s only when you do scary things that you can grow.

And failure doesn’t have to be this big, terrifying thing. Look at it as an experiment.

You’re trying things.
And if you really do fail, you get valuable feedback and information. This will help you to do better next time.

“Good people are good because they’ve come to wisdom through failure.

William Saroyan

This mindset will help you overcome procrastination.

13.You’re scared of success

On the flip side of the fear of failure is the fear of success. This fear makes you sabotage your progress.

“That’s ridiculous. Why would I be scared of success?”

As with most of the reasons why people procrastinate, this one can be subconscious, too.

On the surface, you think that you want to be successful. It may be all you dream about – all day, every day.

But deep down, your success represents a risk.

What if your family and friends think you’re a bad person if you have money and status?

Or if they suspect that you think you’re better than them?

Imagine if they make fun of your ambitions or your beautiful car.

Maybe you’d even feel self-conscious around strangers who judge you, your success, and your money…

Even though you want to be successful, you may subconsciously feel guilty about it. And so you procrastinate and self-sabotage without even knowing why.

You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will

Stephen King

How to overcome procrastination once and for all

You always have a deeper reason why you don’t feel like doing something. Sometimes, you even struggle with several issues at the same time.

Temptation and negative self-talk can be hard to beat.

But now you have the tools to get started, stay focused, and complete your tasks. Now you understand where your lack of motivation comes from.

Get the Ninja Procrastination Infographic!

https://www.pinterest.ch/pin/610730399462608902/

 
 
Want to use this Procrastination Infographic on your blog or Social Media? I’d love that. Simply tell me in the comments, and I’ll send you the link!

I hope this list of 13 reasons why people procrastinate helps you identify more clearly why you’re sabotaging yourself.

At the very least, it should stop you from beating yourself up for being a chronic procrastinator. You’re not lazy.

Overcoming procrastination is possible.

You know how to stop procrastinating because you can see what the real problem is.

Laziness has nothing to do with your lack of motivation. Once you know what’s truly holding you back, you can stop procrastinating!

Bonus: fun quotes about procrastination

“I’m not a procrastinator. I’m just extremely productive at unimportant things” – Anonymous

Nothing says work efficiency like panic mode

Don Roff

“Procrastination taught me how to do 30 minutes of work in 8 hours and 8 hours of work in 30 minutes.” – Unknown

“How does a project get to be a year behind schedule? One day at a time” – Fred Brooks

Do you know what happens when you give a procrastinator a good idea? Nothing! – Donald Gardner

“I’m good at multitasking and procrastinating, which means right now there are at least 28 things that I’m putting off until later.”

I’m very busy doing things I don’t need to do in order to avoid doing anything I’m actually supposed to be doing

Anonymous

Warning: dates on this calendar are closer than they appear

“I do my work at the same time each day — the last minute.”

Okay, now start working on what you need to do, haha. To a great, productive future,

PS: Let me know in the comments if this post helps you stop wasting your time.

Level up & start reaching your goals

No more confusion, stress or overwhelm. Stop procrastinating and make achieving the life of your dreams a no-brainer! 

More helpful posts for your success

• 13 Reasons Why People Procrastinate ★ And How To Stop
• 25 Healthy Morning Rituals You Need to Succeed in Life
• 5/25 Rule – Why You May Never Reach Your Goals Without It