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You’re Not Lazy, You’re Just Scared
How I Beat Procrastination in 3 Steps
Since I was a little girl, my father praised me for my work ethic and focus. And he often did so in contrast to my brother’s tendency to put everything off until the last minute. So I grew up believing that procrastination was little more than a character flaw. Until I became a procrastinator myself.
It happened suddenly. After 4 years as a data analyst, I started putting off big projects. My will to dive in headfirst seemingly evaporated overnight.
No matter how much I self-flagellated or tried to psych myself up for the job, I couldn’t stop. I overate, rearranged my to-do lists, paced around my living room, and did every other task imaginable before buckling down every day for several weeks. Then it dawned on me.
I was beyond burned out, and the technical migration I’d just been assigned to was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. Being thrown into a situation where I felt neither competent nor confident in my ability to figure it out on the fly sent my anxiety through the roof. And I was turning to avoidance to make it through the day. I wasn’t lazy, I was just scared.
This realization has allowed me to do 2 things.
- I swapped shame for self-compassion. In other words, I quit piling on and looked inward…
