What are procrastination excuses?

Procrastination excuses are those explanations and justifications that we tell ourselves to convince ourselves to postpone, avoid or reschedule a task / activity / behaviour we want to do, planned to do, know we should do or would be beneficial for us to do. They represent the ideas that we tell ourselves right before we make the decision to procrastinate.

We have become experts at using these excuses and it is a skill that we have learned to master through repetition.

Procrastination can become a reward itself: when you avoid by doing a pleasant activity, you teach your brain that postponing is a good thing. And so, next time when you would want to start that task or a similar one, you will procrastinate again. Because it is easier and more fun.

In this way, we end up getting stuck in the procrastination circle.

Common procrastination excuses

Excuses related to how you are feeling

• “I am too tired to start today.”

• “I will do it tomorrow when I am more rested.”

• “I can't concentrate as well as I should.”

• “I don’t feel motivate enough to start.”

• “I will wait until I feel more inspired and then do this task.”

Excuses related to your time perception

• “I still have so much time to do it, I don't have to start now.”

• “I only have 10 minutes, I will not achieve enough in this time.”

• “I cannot focus if I have this time pressure, I will start tomorrow when my schedule is less busy.”

• “It’s too late to start it now.”

Excuses related to your environment

• “I can’t work on this if my desk is disorganised, so I have to deal with that first.”

• “I can’t focus if my hour is messy, so I need to clean it before I do this task.”

• “I don’t have the right equipment / instrument / prerequisites that I need to start.”

Excuses related to the conditions that you set for yourself

• “I need to do X, Y, Z, and afterwards I can start / continue / complete my task.”

  • “I have to relax a bit before I can do it, so I will go for a walk or take a break.”

  • “I should cook and eat before I can begin.”

  • “This task is not as important as other things that I have on my list. I will work on finishing those first.”

  • “I need to gather even more information before I can start. Let me do some more research.”

The difficulty with these kinds of excuses is that those initial behaviours that you believe you have to do before you can move on to your task are just a distraction - they might take a lot of your time, energy and resources, and after you have completed them, you are even more inclined to continue to procrastinate and even less likely to do your planned task.

How to manage procrastination excuses?

1. Identify your excuses

In order to change something, you need to know precisely what you are dealing with. So, start by raising your self-awareness and paying attention to the explanations and justifications that you use to procrastinate.

You can also do this step by writing down what comes up and trying to go back and noticing patterns in your procrastination behaviours and excuses - journaling can be a helpful technique to add here.

Reflect on your excuses by asking yourself:

• What am I telling myself right before I procrastinate?

• What excuses did I use to postpone this task or behaviour?

• How did I manage to convince myself to avoid or reschedule this activity?

2. Dismiss your excuses

After you know what specific excuses you are using, it is helpful to try to put the situation into perspective so you can start or go back to your task or activity. You do this by showing yourself that there isn’t actually such a strong connection between your excuse and your task.

The excuses that you are using might be valid and based on reality and your goal is not to try to eliminate them. A lot of the times, we feel tired, we lack energy, we are demotivated, our office or apartment might be disorganised and we could benefit from a nice walk or a relaxing activity. Those ideas are all true.

But even though they are true, that doesn’t mean that they are powerful or important enough to interfere with my task, to stop me from starting or completing my task, doing my behaviour or achieving my goal.

Examples to guide you in dismissing your excuses:

• “I am too tired to start today.” - “It is true that I am feeling tired, but I can still do a bit now and see how it goes. I can invest a few minutes to get it started and rest afterwards.”

• “It is better to do it when I am more motivated or feeling inspired.” - “It would be great if I felt motivated or inspired right now. But I know from previous experiences that my motivation and inspiration can come after I begin working on my task or goal. Let's try a bit.”
  

Breaking the vicious circle of procrastination can be difficult and challenging, but it is certainly not impossible. Understanding your procrastination better, being more aware of the excuses that you tell yourself and knowing how to make them less credible is an important step in the right direction.

Let’s Talk

If you are noticing that your procrastination is negatively affecting your life, that it is hard for you to manage it and you are ready to start changing this behavior, get in touch. We can discuss your needs and goals and make a plan of how we can work together.