Advice for Parents with Procrastination Pangs

Dealing with procrastination woes? Are you putting off important tasks or events. Procrastinating leads to bad habits, relationships suffer, and professionalism declines. Dr. Jay Earley offers tips for breaking your procrastination habit and heading towards success. 

Do you know the number one cause of failure to succeed? Procrastination.

Ironically, some people are really good at procrastination: government bureaucrats, politicians, and kids, especially when it’s time for chores or bed time. In a professional setting, the most common impact of procrastination is missed deadlines, which raises costs to the employer or client. For people who are self-employed or work at home, procrastination can literally mean lost wages or reduced income. In some cases, the failure to act can cost someone a job or cause problems in a relationship. For students, procrastination can seriously impact grades and future job possibilities.

According to Dr. Jay Earley, author of Taking Action: Working Through Procrastination and Achieving Your Goals, people typically avoid a task or a project that needs to be done because there is a part of them that doesn’t want to do it. In most cases, this part is unconscious and rooted in childhood experience.

Procrastinators are often unconsciously afraid of what will happen if they attempt to do the task. They may be afraid of failing, being judged, shamed, rejected, or other painful consequences. 

They may be also afraid of succeeding, and getting rejected or attacked if they do.

Even if there is some danger of failure, shame, etc., what the procrastinator is faced with today usually isn’t nearly as bad as what happened back when they were a child.

So what do you do?

Deal With It

Get in touch with what you are afraid of. This will take a little introspection because these fears may not be totally conscious.

Recognize that you aren’t in the danger your unconscious part thinks you are. Or you can handle whatever hurt might come your way. This because you aren’t a child any more!

Create a Plan of Attack

If there is some danger of getting shamed, rejected, etc, devise a plan for how to handle this by asserting yourself, setting limits, etc.

Pay Attention to How You Avoid

Now you are ready to change your behavior. Become aware of exactly how you procrastinate. Do you get distracted, forget, become busy with other things, put it off? When do you procrastinate? Related to what tasks?