ADHD and Procrastination: Why Do I Procrastinate?

Before you read this article, I suggest you read my previous post on procrastination and values. In that post, I asked you to consider whether completing a task is important to you or not. If the end result of the task has no value for you, I suggested that, rather than worry about procrastination, you should make the choice to put it aside.

In this post, I am delving into the reasons that you may have for putting off tasks, which are important to you, are truly in sync with your values. That is, I am assuming that you do value the outcome, but are still procrastinating.

My hope is that once you have identified what is important to you and the reasons that you delay those tasks, which will help you reach your goals, you will be in a better position to experiment with some of my suggestions for addressing procrastination. Please don’t jump ahead, though!

Why Do I Procrastinate?

The solutions may depend on the reasons that you procrastinate. So, here are some possible reasons:

• You fear that you will not be able to complete the task in a satisfactory manner either because of perfectionist tendencies or feelings of incompetence. We know that if you never try, you will never fail. The converse, while obvious, is worth pointing out, too. If you do not try, you will not succeed.

• Feeling overwhelmed may lead you to put aside a task, rather than choose to figure out how you can find the time. In this case, you may be in a reactive mode, just doing what is in front of you.

• You may not know how to approach a task or find the resources to help you figure out what to do. In this instance, you may feel stuck.

• Quite possibly, you do know how to do a particular task, but you also know that it will be difficult. In the short term, you may feel it is more satisfactory to spend your time on an easier task.

• You could be angry at a person, such as a spouse or a boss, who wants the tasks completed. You may be deciding not to do it to spite the other person.

• Though the outcome of an entire undertaking may have value for you, perhaps, a particular part of it does not appeal to you. So, the whole undertaking may come to a halt because a piece of it does not spark your interest.

• This may sound strange, but you could actually fear success! Success may lead to a variety of changes in your life, as well as a potential change in the expectations that you and others have for your performance. This change in the status quo, though positive, can be scary. You now have to figure out how to adapt to this change, and you may even question whether you can replicate this success. Of course, if you put it off, you do not have to change.

I, however, am a fan of change, if it leads to growth. In this spirit, I offer you an optional exercise to help digest the above material.

Choose A Task

Choose a specific task that you are putting off. Using that example, complete the following sentences

• Completing this task is important to me because

• I am delaying doing this task because (see above)

• Delaying this task is a disservice to me because

• If I complete this task, I will feel
• I am ready to consider strategies that will help reduce my procrastination. YES or NO

Added Perspectives Bottomline

Once you figure out why you are procrastinating doing a tasks, you can then figure what might help you to stop procrastinating.