The Misconception of Procrastination
We’ve all had that experience where the end of the work day comes, and the whole world is there for us to take advantage of. We’ll go home and check off the next ten items on our to-do list. We’ll write the next chapter of that book we we have planned. We’ll call our friends for a game night. All we need to do is get out of these work clothes.
Only, we get home and push all of the rest of that aside to just do… nothing.
Often times, we hear this phenomenon get brushed off as procrastination. “You’re not a self-starter!” you might tell yourself. “You always do this.” Maybe you even hear such comments from someone else. In either case, the question of ‘why?’ has likely come up. Why is it that we can feel so motivated when we’re leaving work (a time we might think of as the most drained moment in our day), yet we feel it fade away by the time our evening commute is over.
One of the misconceptions about this is that you likely aren’t simply slipping into a passive state. This is not an instance where you recede into the background while life begins to rush by for a few hours. Instead, what has actually happened is that you have, indeed, made a very deliberate choice. This particular choice comes down to the fact that you experience that rush of motivation right after leaving work.
A Brief Analogy
Throughout the day, everyone expends energy. That seems obvious. After enough energy has been expended, you will need some amount of sleep to regenerate. At some point during the day, your body starts sending signals that it would be a good time to disengage and to get some sleep instead.
However, you probably still have things that need to be done before you can get that sleep. So you ignore those signals. In turn, your body takes measures to keep you going. You have a stress response that produces adrenaline. Now if you try to sleep, you likely feel to hyped up to calm down.
How this Applies to Procrastination
At the end of the work day, it makes sense that a few competing feelings run through you at the same time. On one hand, work has potentially worn you out. Whether you have a physically demanding job or a mind-numbing one, it becomes taxing to do it day after day. Therefore, there is a part of you that absolutely is somewhat exhausted and relieved to be away.
However, a different part of you is very excited to be done with work. This excitement fuels a drive to get other things done. Everyone has a running list of things that they have to tend to, and this is finally the opportunity in the day to accomplish as much of it as possible.
Then the commute comes. Whether it’s five minutes or an hour, there is a pause between the moment you walk out of the office and the first opportunity you have to engage in anything else. This pause opens the door for that exhausted part of you to take over. Once this happens, you act out of that desire to unplug a little bit. After all, you have to get up and do it all again tomorrow.
How to Overcome
Becoming aware of the different parts that pull you in different directions allows you to understand and connect with why you are engaging or disengaging when the opportunity arises to check off some to-do items. First, though, it is necessary to form a relationship with yourself and the different parts that have different motivations. This allows you to take a step back and bring your decision-making process to the forefront of your mind instead of allowing it to happen in the background.