?I?m a Procrastinator!? ?I?m a HUGE Procrastinator!? ?I?m SUCH a Procrastinator!? ?Have you ever said something like that to yourself or anyone else? Have you ever heard someone say it? I bet the answer to both questions is YES! But why?

I mean,?when did admitting to being a Procrastinator become acceptable or desirable?ultimately, something we willingly do?often, without direct provocation?

Just?what is it about Procrastination that has all of us admitting to it? ?Seriously, what do you think? Please add your comments below on this question. ?Meanwhile, I?d like to share with you my?Top 5 Reasons WHY we Procrastinate?and the solutions to each one.

Reason #1: You don?t actually know HOW?to do the thing you procrastinating on doing!

Solutions: LEARN how to do it or DELEGATE it?to someone that knows how to do it! ?This may seem overly simple or obvious, but it?s not! LEARNING HOW to do the thing you need to do creates the illusion of procrastination. The older we get, the more that ?learning something new? becomes a threat to our comfort zones and egos?and, of course, our busy schedules!

An example from my life was producing my first E-Book. The writing part was easy, but I didn?t know all that was involved in designing it and creating the electronic delivery system for it. Once I partnered with a vendor that knew how to set up a landing page and connect that with my email software (etc.), I was on my way?but I probably ?procrastinated? for over 2 years prior to partnering with someone that ?knew how to do it!?

Reason #2: You don?t enjoy it!

Solutions: Create enjoyment for that task or DELEGATE it?to someone that DOES enjoy it! ?Let?s face it! Our lives are FILLED with things we ?must do? that we do NOT enjoy doing. We know that they must get done BUT we will push these to the very last minute if there is something (ANYTHING) else to do ?right now? that we enjoy more!

You may know HOW to do it (you might even be the only person that knows how) but you just don?t enjoy it!

An example from my life is Grading Papers. I LOVE teaching classes, but I HATE grading papers (especially ?bad? papers)! I could train a Teaching Assistant to grade my student?s work?but what I do instead is put on my headphones and rock out to music and drink beer when grading papers. Honestly.

So I don?t tell my students in class, ?I am a HUGE procrastinator when it comes to grading papers!? Instead, I tell them, ?Hey, some of your work will be graded within the first 2 beers and others of you might not be graded until the last 2 beers.? That seems to go over much better?for them, and me!

Reason #3: You?re NO GOOD at it!

Solutions: GET GOOD at it or DELEGATE it?to someone that is good at it! ?Sorry?don?t shoot the messenger, but one reason you may be procrastinating is because you suck at whatever it is! Come on…you KNOW you suck?and the thought of performing poorly keeps you from doing what you want/need to get done!

You may know HOW to do it?and you may ENJOY doing it?but you totally SUCK at doing it!

And example from MY life would be playing Golf. ?Nuff said, thank you very much! ?:-)

Reason #4: You are NOT THE RIGHT PERSON for the job!

Solutions: FIND the right person for the job and DELEGATE it!

This might not be as funny as the other three reasons because we are talking about MONEY here. Ask yourself how much money per hour your time is worth. What is it? $50/hour? $100/hour? $500/hour or more? Well, every hour that you spend doing something that could be done for $15/hour or $20/hour or anything LESS THAN what your time is worth per hour is an hour that you are stealing income from yourself! Your $100/hour ?talent? is being ROBBED (for $90/hour) by the $10/hour task-management decisions you are making.

So, you may know HOW to do something that you ENJOY doing?AND that you are really GOOD at doing?but that doesn?t mean you are the BEST PERSON (or even the ?right person?) to be doing it!

An example from my life is entering info into my database from the Business Cards I collect at Networking Events. I KNOW this is a $10/hour task?so until/unless I find someone that will do it for $10/hour, I ?procrastinate? on getting it done at all.

Reason #5: It doesn?t NEED to be done at all?perhaps it is even best that it is NOT DONE at all?but you haven?t realized and ?released? it yet!

Solution: Realize and ?release? the unimportant and inconsequential things in your life that you have come to believe you ?need? to get done! ?Honestly, one of the many wonderful benefits of hiring a Life/Business Coach is for the goal-setting, prioritizing, critical thinking, ?devil?s advocacy? and sound-boarding that it takes to clearly understand what we TRULY ?need? to get done?more importantly, what we DESPERATELY NEED TO NOT DO or stop doing! So many of us say, ?I need to do this?I need to do that?I have to do this?I have to do that??but DO WE?

Imagine how liberating it is mentally to ?de-commit? to something after realizing that it is not a ?need? at all. A procrastinated thing that goes from a ?need? to a ?want? or ever further to a ?don?t need? and ?don?t want? is a refreshing springboard of motivation (and free time) to get the things done that you DO TRULY NEED to get done!

Example from my life??I ?needed? to write this Post?ironically, I have no longer procrastinated on it!

Thanks for reading?please leave comments or questions!

To Your Success!
Jeffrey Klubeck, M.A.