Postponing Performances, Or The Technique Of Leaving For Tomorrow What Can Be Done Today

Human beings are very complex. We use mechanisms that relieve us in the present moment, but that at the same time cloud it, leaving us with a trace of remorse. This is what happens with deferred actions. Postponing what we can do today is not something we do consciously.

Many times, we put things off because we are lazy or because we don’t feel like doing them today. However, is there something behind the act of procrastination? Perhaps fear, perhaps refusal to face a certain situation … Today we are going to discover what is behind postponing actions.

Deferred actions: self-deception and escape.

There are situations that we leave pending for multiple reasons. Next, we are going to describe some examples with which we may feel identified. Have you ever put off something due to the following:

• We are afraid to face them thinking that we are going to fail: ” I’ll do it later .”
• They carry a change that we fear: ” the time is not yet .”
• We tend to use inertia as a life strategy: ” I hope everything goes better .”
• Waiting for the ideal moment to start the action: “I’ll do it when the circumstances are right”
• Pure perfectionism: “I will do it when I have all the necessary resources, and the certainty that everything will be fine”

This same postponement does not allow the present moment to live, canceling it with the anguish of what remains to be done. It is actually an escape and self-deception strategy. In it, the person prefers the anguish for what he has not done yet, than the tension of having to face the situation.

Like any mental strategy, it has important hidden advantages that need to be brought to light:

• Avoidance of unpleasant situations, saving the conflict but preventing the situation from being resolved.
• Not facing a change in life, getting rid of the effort that this change entails, of criticism from others, of the responsibility of assuming new vital circumstances, but keeping life in a line that is not what is desired.
• Blaming external things for doing nothing: lack of time, illness, fatigue, bad luck, something important that has happened in the environment …

Despite these advantages, the delay itself creates a vicious circle from which it is difficult to get out: the very tension generated by waiting causes us to doubt our own worth more, wrapping ourselves in negative thoughts that result in impoverished self-esteem, which in turn Sometimes it takes away our strength to face situations.

Some strategies to break the procrastination cycle

When we become aware of the action of procrastination, the reasons behind this act and the damage it is doing to us, we can try to minimize the anguish that they create in us with basic exercises like these:

• Look at your life carefully : are you doing now what you would be doing if you knew you only have six months to live? If not, you have put off really important things. Now is the time to start.
• Of all the postponed actions, think seriously which ones can help improve your life and make you feel better. Some of them may be as delicate as talking to a person about an issue that worries you, others may be as simple as starting your favorite hobby.
• Pick one of those projects and get started. Prepare a life diary, write the name of the project, divide it, set a specific time in the day and start it as if it were a job. Before long, the satisfaction of being able to do it will be the best incentive.

• If you are putting off something that also involves the people around you, get together with them and talk about it. Tell them about your wishes and your fears, and see if the fact of having postponed it “for them” was nothing more than an excuse.

In short, if the postponed actions are simply due to the holiday effect of the dolce far niente, there will be no more added problem than that of the backlog, but if the postponements are due to escape strategies and self-deception, you need to take measures to avoid it..