The root cause of procrastination.

A little while ago, my co-founder and I started to understand what causes us to procrastinate. I want to share what we've learned.

For us, the main cause of procrastination is lack of clarity on what needs to be done.

It's tricky, because sometimes you might feel like you know what needs to be done. But your next steps are too high-level. You're holding too much in your head at a time - and it's stressful. You don't know precisely where to start.

People used to think procrastination was a sign of poor time management and laziness. Now, psychologists understand that "procrastination is an issue with managing our emotions, not our time." [1] When the task we're putting off isn't clearly defined, it seems too difficult. It makes us "feel bad". And so "to make ourselves feel better in the moment, we start doing something else."

The best way to address this is to start breaking things down. This will make the task easier, and so there won't be an emotional burden with getting started.

Start by jotting down a list of everything you can think of that's related to your task. In this brain-dump - let ideas flow freely. Don't cut yourself off to try to write better. And don't make your list in your head! Write it down. [2]

Once you jot down your first list, scan through what you've written. Is there anything that's not specific and actionable? If so, zoom in and do another brain-dump on that task. Repeat until you only have very specific items.[3]

When you're done, you'll have a very simple next task to do. You won't be intimidated anymore and you'll be able to get started without pressure.

So, the next time you see yourself procrastinating. Ask yourself - "How completely do I understand the next task I need to do?"

[1] https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200121-why-procrastination-is-about-managing-emotions-not-time

[2] See how creator Adam Stanton uses checklists to tackle big creative problems: https://www.wired.com/story/adam-savage-lists-more-lists-power-checkboxes/

[3] Specific tasks use specific verbs. Read more: https://blog.amazingmarvin.com/break-large-projects-tasks-bite-sized-tasks/

[4] More on how my team does brain-dumps: https://medium.com/better-programming/cultivate-your-can-do-attitude-10864742d76d