
I’m the kind of person that gets sh*t done. Unless I don’t. Which seems contradictory, but isn’t.
So I will happily wake up at 5am. Get kids' lunches ready. Head to yoga. Grab a coffee. Tag team with husband to get kids ready for school. Get to the office. Tick off my to-do list which could involve writing 20-page research reports or preparing a presentation which I’ll give to a crowd of hundreds of industry professionals. Kicking goals, right?
Except in the boot of my car I have a jacket that’s dry-clean only that I have not yet taken to the dry cleaner.
It’s been there for three months.
Watch: 5 tips to end procrastination. Post continues below.
The remote control needed new batteries, so I just stopped watching TV.
Since starting my job, my super has been going to an old, dormant super account.
I’ve worked here for a decade.
And it turns out I’m not alone.
In a Facebook group I’m part of, someone posed the question: What’s the longest you have ever procrastinated about something? Cue the comments explosion.
Decades to change a married name. Ten years to correct official documents. Piles of photos intended for albums sitting in boxes, the albums still blank. Oh my god yes, I thought, these are my people.
Why can I be hyper-efficient in most areas of my life but fail to drop off a charity bag that has been sitting by the door for the better part of this year?
Procrastination isn’t about putting off a task because it just seems "too hard". We do plenty of hard things, every day.
Researchers have found that procrastination is a coping strategy for avoiding difficult feelings (hello, anxiety and self-doubt).
It’s true. When I think about updating my super details, I get a bit panicky and stressed. My superannuation bungle isn’t a matter of just clicking a few buttons (easy!) but dealing with the underlying feelings that I don’t know how to adult properly.
A voice somewhere deep down tells me that everyone else has their sh*t together. That I’m no good at this kind of thing.
Side note: What on earth is 'revenge bedtime procrastination'? Find out on this episode of Mamamia Out Loud. Post continues below.
This tiny, little, seemingly insignificant and totally fixable bit of life admin becomes a giant, unmanageable beast that confirms my belief that I am, in fact, a very bad human being.
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