“I work better under pressure.” 

“I need a deadline to do my best work.”

Who has said that to themselves? 

I hate to break it to you, but it isn’t true. Here’s what actually happens when you procrastinate. 

The brain is designed to seek pleasure and avoid pain. So humans avoid negative emotions at all cost. You procrastinate because you are trying to avoid the negative emotion you will have if you do the thing. Then, at some point, the negative emotion that comes from NOT doing the thing becomes worse. So to avoid that emotion, you do the thing.

Your brain wants to avoid threats, but it doesn’t understand that neither the work nor the deadline are actual threats. It doesn’t recognize that you are not in danger. 

During the procrastination phase, the negative emotions come from thoughts like these:

“This project is too hard.”

“If I mess this up, I’m going to get fired.”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“I don’t feel like doing this.”

“This is going to be boring.”

Those lead to emotions like anxiety, boredom, overwhelm, dread, and fear. So of course you avoid the project, so you can avoid those emotion. (Here’s the thing though – when you think those thoughts, you are actually feeling those same emotions RIGHT THEN. So you aren’t actually avoiding them by procrastinating.)

Then during the fire drill phase (when they deadline starts looming), the negative emotions come from a thought like this:

“If I don’t meet this deadline or get this done, [X terrible thing is going to happen].”

This leads to feeling anxiety or fear. And a stronger version of negative emotion than the one that comes with doing the thing. So you get the thing done so to avoid that emotion.

Ultimately, you very rarely, if ever, work better under pressure. You may get things done and sometimes you might do them well. But you aren’t doing them better than you would if you hadn’t procrastinated. 

You do better work if you have time to think it through, plan fully, outline, research, set the thing down and come back to it with fresh eyes, and be creative.

AND procrastination robs you of feeling good. You are never just procrastinating. You are also thinking mean thoughts about yourself because you are procrastinating. Unable to be present because you are worrying about not having done the thing in the back of your mind. Feeling all of the uncomfortable emotions that come with procrastination. Creating a circumstance where you will inevitably be unable to do your best work.

There is no net benefit to procrastination. 

The first step to stopping is creating awareness. 

Stop telling yourself that procrastination benefits you. Start getting clear on why you are actually doing it. 

Your thoughts create your feelings. Your feelings cause you to act in a certain way or not to act at all. Those actions and inaction always relate to or prove the thought you are thinking. 

For example, if you think “I don’t even know where to start,” you feel overwhelmed. When you are feeling overwhelmed, you want to hide. So you buffer. You do other work. Scroll on social media. Read the news. Check your email. You don’t take actionable steps towards figuring out where to start. So, you prove to yourself that you don’t know where to start, and you create more overwhelm.

The next time you find yourself procrastinating, ask yourself these questions: What are you thinking about the thing you are procrastinating on? What is that thought making you feel? How are you showing up when you feel that way? 

That awareness will allow you to start making different and more intentional choices immediately.