Ep. 38: What Kind of Procrastinator are You?

This episode is focused on something that plagues many of us: procrastination! A lot of the guidance out there on dealing with procrastination is not that useful. This is because it often tends to put all procrastinators into one camp based solely on their avoidance of taking action in a timely way. They don’t address the varied reasons WHY people put things off. This episode describes 6 different kinds of procrastinators and gives a couple of simple strategies for making positive change.

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Transcript

Your Words Unleashed Episode #38

“What Kind of Procrastinator Are You?”

Hello writers! 

I hope your new semester is off to a good start.

Before I dive into this week’s episode, I want to make you aware that the next round of applications for the Princeton University Press Supporting Diverse Voices Book Development Grants is about to open on September 11th.

You may know that I’m one of the writing coaches that partners with Princeton on this initiative, which is meant to diversify the field of published academic authors.

Through this grant, I’ve already worked with scientists and social scientists on developing their fascinating projects.

Well, if you’re in the Humanities and relatively early on in your book writing process, you’ll be excited to know that this next round is for you!

The Autumn 2023 grant cycle invites Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Scholars in the Humanities to submit applications.

The press is particularly interested in projects that seek to reach a wider audience of non-academic readers.

The current application cycle will be open September 11th, 9 am Eastern time and close at midnight Eastern time on September 25th. 

 The application will become available when the cycle begins.

A lot of people ask me for advice on what they should put into their applications.

The truth of the matter is that I play no role in selecting awardees. 

It’s completely up to the editors at the press to decide which projects they want to invest in.

I will say that they seem to truly want books with crossover appeal, not just academic books that might appeal to certain non-academic readers.

But it’s worth it to apply, especially because two new coaches have been added to the mix.

If you want to find out more, check out the episode page on my website for the link (https://press.princeton.edu/book-proposal-development-grants) 

So let’s get into today’s episode!

If you’re teaching, I’m sure you’re in the midst of a very busy time. 

There’s tons of new names and personalities to learn about. 

You’re probably in the midst of trying to build rapport amongst your students and create a solid foundation for your classes moving forward.

I remember all of that stress acutely and am thrilled to say that I’ve finally stopped having those nightmares where I show up to my first class totally unprepared!

So since your mind is probably preoccupied with many minor details at the moment, I want to talk about something a little more general.

And that is: procrastination!

It’s something we all do at some points, but some folks do it much more than others.

And when you’ve become a chronic procrastinator, your self-esteem and confidence in your ability to follow through and get things done take a huge hit.

Your personal and professional relationships also suffer a great deal.

I think that a lot of the guidance out there on dealing with procrastination is not that useful.

This is because it often tends to put all procrastinators into one camp based solely on their avoidance of taking action in a timely way.

They don’t address the varied reasons WHY people put things off.

But I found a book called It’s About Time: The 6 Styles of Procrastination and How to Overcome Them by Dr. Linda Sapadin, a clinical psychologist. 

She splits procrastinators into six different personality types whose actions are motivated by different underlying reasons. 

It’s the first time I’ve seen procrastination handled with nuance.

In this episode I’m going to describe the different kinds of procrastinators and give a couple of simple strategies for making positive change.

You can find the full transcript of this episode at YourWordsUnleashed.com/38.

The Six Types of Procrastinators

So let’s get into the six different styles of procrastination.

You know, I’m a huge fan of personality types or systems that categorize people according to certain characteristics.

Whether it’s Myers-Briggs or the Enneagram or even astrology, I love thinking about the relationship between nature and nurture and how our experiences influence our personalities.

And although—being the researcher that I am—I take all typologies with a grain of salt, they do help me make more sense of peoples’ thought processes, motivations and actions.

I think they make me a better and more agile coach.

So naturally, I was excited to learn about Dr. Sapadin’s work.

In her book, she lays out six distinct styles of procrastination that she believes are instilled in early childhood.

We’re conditioned by our parents and families of origin to think, speak, and behave in certain ways.

For some folks, their conditioning leads them to use procrastination as the go-to strategy for dealing with life’s challenges. 

And although it causes endless amounts of frustration, it’s very difficult to change if you don’t understand why you do it.

So I’m going to go into a bit of detail on each of these types, which each have their own underlying psychological motivations and behavioral patterns. 

The book spends a chapter on each type and also includes a ten-question quiz for each.  

I’m not going to give you all ten questions, but I’ll give a few for each.

It is important to know is that most procrastinators are some mixture of types, although there’s probably one that is more dominant than others.

So, if you are someone who tends to put important things in your life off repeatedly and to the point where you experience guilt or shame, listen closely to figure out which one of these fits you best.

1. The Perfectionist: 

The first type is what Dr. Sapadin calls “the perfectionist.”

Perfectionists procrastinate because they are afraid that they won't be able to meet their own extremely high standards. 

They often spend an excessive amount of time on tasks, striving for flawlessness. 

This fear of NOT being able to achieve perfection can lead them to delay starting tasks or projects.

The personality type of the perfectionist is critical and the thinking style tends to be all-or-nothing with a strong need for control.

Now, I no longer procrastinate much, but I did was when I was younger—probably from elementary school all the way up to the end of grad school.

When I was like 9 years old, I remember not starting projects that were due to the next day until late at night because I was trying to think of the very best way to do it.

And then once I decided on an idea, I would get to work and finish it quickly, usually earning a good grade.

This reinforced in me that I could get away with doing things at the last minute and not have to change my own standards.

In college I would procrastinate, especially when it came to doing term papers. 

I would wait until a few days before it was due and then go full force.

I had a really hard time making consistent progress on a project.

Because I was holding myself to impossible standards, I almost quit doing my senior honors’ thesis that ended up putting me down the road to becoming an academic.

If my supportive advisor had not helped me develop a feasible plan and talked me out of quitting, I may never have pursued a PhD and I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.

So here’s a few questions to determine whether you’re a perfectionist procrastinator:

-Are you reluctant to delegate tasks or work with others unless they do things your way?

-Are you critical of what you’ve accomplished or how long it took you to do something?

-Do you look at your failures as embarrassments that you would hate to have revealed?

-Do you feel upset or humiliated if you don’t do something as well as your peers? 

2. The Dreamer

So let’s move onto the second group, called dreamers.

These folks enjoy the initial excitement and creativity of coming up with ideas, but they struggle with the practical and often less enjoyable aspects of implementation. 

Does that sound familiar to any of you?

They tend to lose interest once the novelty wears off, causing them to delay taking action.

Dreamers tend to be more fanciful in their outlook and more passive in their actions, hoping that things will just work out somehow.

As I’ve talked about in other episodes, this is a major problem that many academics face.

When it comes to research, it’s often so much more fun to brainstorm new projects and collect data than to write up the results.

For dreamers, it can be incredibly difficult to keep themselves motivated to follow through.

And once they establish a pattern of not completing projects, it starts to become a fulfilling prophecy.

But then they’re often off to the next project in an effort to feel productive again.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the folks who fit this type tend to excel more as teachers than as researchers.

I think a lot of this has to do with the forced accountability and structure of teaching. 

If you don’t prepare for lecture, then the consequences will be immediate and painful.

On the flipside, when things go well, the consequences are also immediate and enjoyable.

I personally think it’s a shame that research is so much more heavily rewarded in academia than good teaching, but I digress.  

Long-term writing projects require researchers to implement a lot of different strategies to stay motivated and on-track, and the outcomes can be years away.

So a project like a book would be very tough for a dreamer to accomplish without major external help.

Here’s some questions to help you figure out if you’re a dreamer procrastinator:

-Do you think a lot about what you’d like to accomplish but rarely get projects off the ground?

-Do you wait for opportunities to drop into your lap rather than take an active, ‘go get ‘em’ approach?

-Do other people sometimes accuse you of having my head in the clouds?

-Do you expect great things from yourself but wonder why they never seem to happen?

3. The Worrier

The third type of procrastinators are called worriers.

These folks procrastinate due to anxiety and fear of failure. 

They are cautious and security-oriented and tend to focus on potential negative outcomes, which can paralyze them from taking action. 

They might delay starting a task because they're worried about not doing it perfectly or about facing potential difficulties along the way.

Unlike perfectionists, who see things in an all-or-nothing way, worriers tend to be more indecisive about taking action because of all the ways things could go wrong.

In the book, the author talks about one of her clients who was stuck in a job she hated in New York.

This woman really wanted to move to California and make a new start, but she was held back by her fear of things not working out.

So instead, she stayed in a job she resented in a place she disliked rather than taking the risk to do something she really wanted to do.

Here are some questions to figure out if you’re a worrier procrastinator:

-Do you have difficulty making decisions about what I should do?

-Do you need—or seek—approval, advice, or assurance from others before you do things?

-Do you hesitate to leave my comfort zone, avoiding situations that may cause stress or anxiety?

-Do you sometimes paralyze myself before starting work on a project, wondering about the ‘what ifs’?

4. The Defier

The fourth type is called the Defier.

Defiers are rebellious procrastinators who resist being told what to do. 

They may feel a sense of resentment or defiance towards authority figures or expectations. 

Their procrastination is a way of asserting control over their own decisions, even if it's at the cost of productivity.

They can be very dramatic and tend to be oppositional, non-conformist personalities.

I don’t think this type is as common amongst academics, who tend to be more security-oriented and thrive in structured environments.

Although I have noticed that every department has at least one person who drags their feet when it comes to committee work because it’s stuff they just don’t want to do.

The folks I’ve met who fit this category often pride themselves on being anti-authority.

And unfortunately, by being ineffective at service work, they are generally rewarded by being assigned less of it.

The onus then falls onto their younger and/or female colleagues who are responsible and want to do a good job.

So here are some questions to help you figure out if you’re a defier:

-Do you become sulky, irritable, or argumentative when asked to do something you don’t want to do?

-Do you work deliberately slowly or ineffectively in order to sabotage a task you don’t like doing?

-Do you feel like others make unreasonable demands on you?

-Do you frequently criticize or ridicule people in authority?

5. The Crisis-Maker

The fifth type is called the Crisis-maker.

These folks are adrenaline-driven procrastinators. 

They thrive on the pressure of tight deadlines and often believe they perform best under pressure. 

As a result, they delay tasks until the last moment, using the rush of urgency to motivate themselves.

I have many clients who have operated this way all the way through grad school and their early careers, pulling all-nighters and stressing themselves out to no end to get things done.

But everyone reaches a point where their body literally won’t let them do this anymore.

Because we are not supposed to work as if we are in crisis unless we actually are!  

This time often coincides with having kids who also take much of your energy.

Even so, many crisis-makers treat important things in their life like a game of whack-a-mole, where they deal with only the most urgent and pressing items while ignoring the rest. 

So here are some questions to help you figure out if you’re a crisis-maker procrastinator:

-Do you ignore important tasks then, at the last minute, work frantically to get them done?

-Do you feel like life is chaotic and that you can never be sure of what the next day will bring?

-Do you get easily frustrated and show it by displaying anger or quitting?

-Do you prefer action, having little patience for things that are too slow, predictable, or safe?

6. The Overdoer

Finally, the sixth type of procrastinator is called the Overdoer.

Overdoers take on too much at once and become overwhelmed. 

They struggle to prioritize tasks and end up juggling numerous responsibilities, leading to delayed or incomplete work. 

Their avoidance of tasks can stem from feeling incapable of managing everything on their plate.

I have a feeling that this might be one of the most common types for academics.

This why I devote so many podcast episodes to creating healthy work boundaries and learning how to say no.

Here’s some questions to figure out if you’re an overdoer procrastinator:

-Do you run around doing things, without really feeling like you’re accomplishing very much?

-Do you have difficulty saying ‘no’ to people who ask for help, then feel resentful later?

-Do you give priority to what you think you should do, putting off what you really want to do?

-Do you find myself complaining, “I have no time,” “I have too much to do,” or “I’m too busy?”

-And here’s another one for good measure: Do you enjoy being busy, but secretly think that you don’t know how to be any other way?

Simple Strategies for Overcoming Procrastination

So now that you have a sense of the kind of procrastinator you might be, you can start thinking about ways to change.

Remember that procrastination is not just about your behavior, it also directly relates to your thoughts and negative self-talk.

According to Dr. Sapadin, the first thing you need to do is stop denying you have a problem, then you need to commit to wanting to change, then you actually need to make a change.

She says the second stage of getting to commitment is actually the hardest, because people will come up with so many objections that she calls “But factors.”

They say things like, “I’d like to change BUT it’s too hard, BUT I’m afraid, BUT I’m too lazy, BUT I’ve got too many things to do,” etc.

That ambivalence is that hardest thing to get beyond. 

It sets up an all-or-nothing approach where you are likely to fail.

So she offers two simple strategies for resolving this internal conflict so you can commit to change.

The first is to switch the order of the BUT statement to emphasize the change you want to make.

You put the negative part of the statement first and the positive part last.

For example, “I’d like to change but I’m afraid” becomes “I’m afraid, but I’d like to change.”

Or, “I want to finish my book but I always wait until the last minute to do my writing” becomes “I always wait until the last minute to do my writing but I want to finish my book.”

Her second strategy is to replace the word “but” with “and” in order to get rid of the false dichotomy between the two sides.

So “I want to finish my book but I always wait until the last minute to do my writing” becomes “I want to finish my book AND I always wait until the last minute to do my writing.”

This creates two different issues that you need to contend with instead of pitting them against each other.

But you can’t stop there. You also need to add a “SO” statement that will resolve this conflict and help move you forward.

Therefore, to the statement “I want to finish my book AND I always wait until the last minute to do my writing” you can add something like, “so I’m going to work on it for 10 minutes now and see how I feel.”

Ultimately, the goal is to start matching your words with your actions.

Summing It All Up

So let’s sum it all up. 

This episode has described six different procrastination styles. 

Again, most procrastinators are some combination of styles, but one of them is likely more dominant.

If you identify as a chronic procrastinator and it’s harming your self-esteem and your relationships with other people, the most important thing to keep in mind is that changing your behavior depends on changing how you think.

Being a procrastinator is not something that is set in stone for some people and not others.

I, for one, no longer procrastinate much but I used to.

But true change can take a long time to achieve and means understanding more about how your mind works and why it works that way.

This requires a heavy dose of self-compassion, which is something that tends to be in short supply when we are constantly feeling disappointed in ourselves.

So I hope this episode has given you some useful food for thought and new ways of thinking about procrastination.

I’ll talk to you again soon!