The Shades of Procrastination

The Shades of Procrastination

We looked at passivity and the contaminating effects of passive compliance.  You’ll notice that complying while not ‘buying in’ to a request, task or even relationship poisons the air and distorts all possible communication.  This is so because others cannot possibly know who you are, what your intentions are or even if you’ll stay with it – when your compliance is an adaptation not a choice.

Dangerous stuff. While it’s OK, even useful, to be compliant with the laws of your community, even so, a healthy democracy allows for challenging those laws through the courts we ourselves create.

Procrastination is a form of passivity.

Here’s how it looks: when in the presence of power and there are many options confronting you – delay.  By not deciding you decide, but the trick is, you don’t believe you have to take responsibility for your ‘passive’ decision.  Like not answering when you don’t know what to answer rather than confronting your dilemma and simply stating ‘I don’t know what to answer to that.’

A teacher I knew cajoled students to actively participate in a question and answer part of the lesson then shamed anyone who gave a wrong answer by saying ‘well, you didn’t do the reading did you!’

Procrastinators believe they need more time when in fact the time they use in delaying action will typically exceed the time needed to complete the task – something every college student discovers when confronted with a difficult assignment.

Procrastination in its simplest form is just avoidance.  Avoidance is probably fear.  So embrace the fear, see it for the illusion it is, grab an accountability partner and decide.  As the philosopher Goethe many years ago, reminded us “whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

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