The Origin of Procrastination

The Origin of Procrastination

Why do we, as humans, frequently act in ways we do not want to? How many times have you said or done something that makes you uncomfortable when you think back on it? The truth is that most of your activities, especially those that are hardest to explain intellectually, are controlled by your unconscious mind. 

When you know what you should do, have the ability and desire to do it, but still don't, you've engaged in procrastination. Although there are various apparent reasons for procrastination, your subconscious mind is the primary source of this unreasonable behaviour.

Your conscious mind's ability to deal with life is severely constrained. The amount of conscious control you have is usually limited to one thing at a time. This is why relying on your willpower to effect long-term change rarely succeeds.

 What you need to do is alter your automatic behaviour, which is stored in your unconscious mind, the part of your brain that regulates all of your mind's and body's critical functions. 

Willpower can be used to overcome procrastination, although it is usually only a temporary solution. It is your unconscious connections, not your conscious acts, that are to a considerable measure responsible for your procrastination.

Your nervous system was designed to protect you, and when you are afraid, your nervous system will “kick in” to “defend you” through sub-conscious activity. The irony is that we unconsciously teach ourselves to fear some things by connecting them with false meanings. 

Nothing in life is meaningful unless you give it one. You literally connect your brain to events that are "stored" in your nervous system so that you can respond quickly and effectively the next time. Whenever anything happens to you, the way you express yourself about it gives it meaning.

Unconsciously, you're continually trying to figure out what anything means, and at the most basic level, you're trying to figure out whether it signifies pain or pleasure. This meaning is then stored in your subconscious mind, where it will later help you act (or re-act) appropriately. The problem is that when associations are reinforced, beliefs are formed that have a significant impact on your behaviour and are frequently the source of procrastination.

Despite the fact that procrastination defies logic, it exposes a lot about your unconscious and self-imposed limitations and (in)abilities. Worry, primarily the fear that taking action would result in pain or a terrible experience of some type, is the leading cause of procrastination. At some level, your unconscious mind mixes and searches its "files" to find a "link" that connects the behaviour to a traumatic experience. 

This might be anything from a minor annoyance to something that is really severe. Even if you consciously desire to do something, your unconscious mind will stop you because it associates the activity with pain. We, as humans, are programmed to think in a certain way.

As humans, we instinctively seek comfort and will nearly always choose whatever feels most comfortable at the time. This is why you delay on chores that don't feel good right now but will provide you a lot of joy in the future.

Learning to push against this craving for comfort is what leads to all of the essential progress for you to achieve actual success. When you consider procrastination as a gift in disguise, you may begin to exploit it and benefit from the behavioural insights it provides. 

Procrastination exposes your anxieties and, by design, provides the necessary resistance for you to expand and grow in your ability to push over your concerns and create the life you truly desire. The amount of "discomfort" you can comfortably deal with determines the quality of your existence. Procrastination can also reveal some of your most important goals, as your fear of procrastination might reveal.

It's been said that we shape our habits first, and then our habits shape us. This is also true of mental habits, and procrastination is frequently manifested as a habitual pattern of thought. Your thoughts influence and are influenced by your actions. Your actions will “play the same tune” every time, just like an engraved pattern on a record. 

Your connections with pain and pleasure play an essential role in determining what you will or will not do in your regular behaviour. When your habit pattern is triggered, you create habitual thinking patterns that cause you to automatically act or retract in specific ways.

In order to address the fundamental cause of procrastination, you must be conscious of your connection with pain and pleasure. There are several symptomatic treatments that will not provide a long-term remedy. Although willpower is required at first, the goal is to re-establish your connections with the chores you are avoiding. 

If you can overcome your self-imposed anxieties and take action, you can be, do, or have anything your heart desires. Although the root of procrastination is in your subconscious mind, your conscious actions are ultimately in charge.