Procrastination(prō-,prəˌkrastəˈnāSHən) is a Practice(ˈpraktəs) Ground for Life Mastery(ˈmast(ə)rē)

Procrastination(prō-,prəˌkrastəˈnāSHən) is a Practice(ˈpraktəs) Ground for Life Mastery(ˈmast(ə)rē)

By Leo Babauta

There isn’t a person among us who doesn’t procrastinate(prō-,prəˈkrastəˌnāt) — put off your work for the day, distract(disˈtrakt) yourself, put off pursuing(pərˈso͞o) your dreams, put off putting your work out in the world for fear(fi(ə)r) of being judged(jəj).

But here’s the thing: most people think that this procrastination is a problem.

Most people stress(stres) out about being a procrastinator, and feel bad about themselves for doing it.

Au contraire (that’s French(frenCH), don’t bother looking it up, it means you’re way wrong).

Instead(inˈsted), procrastination is the perfect place to practice all the most important life skills.

Our tendency(ˈtendənsē) to procrastinate is exactly(igˈzak(t)lē) how we’ll see how our minds work, and learn to be better at all the difficulties of life. Because life will always have these difficulties, no matter how much we’d prefer to avoid them, and how we respond to them will determine everything.

Let’s work on our responses to the hardest things in life.

How We Usually(ˈyo͞oZHo͞oəlē) Respond

When we procrastinate, this is the usual process:

We have something difficult or uncomfortable(-ˈkəmftərbəl,ˌənˈkəmfərtəbəl) to do.

We don’t feel like doing it, because it’s difficult, uncertain(ˌənˈsərtn), uncomfortable.

Our minds habitually(həˈbiCHo͞oəl) turn away from this task, and find a more comfortable, certain thing to do, like watching videos or playing games or checking email or social media(ˈmēdēə).

We run to the easier thing, and then put off even thinking about the other thing.

We feel bad that this happens, and start to form a negative(ˈnegətiv) image(ˈimij) of ourselves. We rain harshness(härSH) and criticism(ˈkritəˌsizəm) upon our psyche(ˈsīkē).

This makes us less likely to do better the next time around. It’s a vicious(ˈviSHəs) cycle(ˈsīkəl), I tell ya(yə).

We can learn to do better.