I’ve procrastinated writing this post. Not because I didn’t know what to write, but because I have been busy and just assumed that it would somehow get done. Yet, here I am on Monday night trying to pull a post out of thin air. And, just now it hit me. While this type of procrastination is not healthy, it is very rarely harmful either. Procrastination is different when there is a deadline.
Over the past week, I’ve known that at some point I’m going to have to get this post done. I didn’t plan on it being so late or so spur of the moment, but regardless here I am writing.
What I realized, however, is that procrastination becomes a problem when there is no deadline or nothing holding you accountable.
Think about it, procrastination in PT school was risky, but very rarely detrimental. Deadlines and school requirements were going to hold you to some level of action and productivity.
But, after school, there are no deadlines. There is no external force that drives you to eventually end your procrastination and finally get something done. It is when you have all kinds of things you “should do,” and yet never get around to doing any of them. This is the dangerous form of procrastination because nothing is holding you accountable and nothing requires you to take action.
Think of that course you’ve been meaning to take, that marketing you’ve been meaning to start, or that dream job you’ve been meaning to create. Why aren’t you?
The truth is, nothing is going to make us do it. Unless we take action, there is no end to the procrastination. We don’t lose ten points for handing something in late, we lose an opportunity for putting something beneficial off another day.
What do you keep putting off?