Procrastination is essentially a hedonistic behavior, as I will explain. And hedonism is always self-defeating.
We put off a task because we find something about it particularly unpleasant. Perhaps it entails solving a knotty problem: like an impasse with a coworker or a complex decision about family finances. We may be confounded as how to even begin unravelling it. That makes us feel ineffective, inadequate, insecure, and ashamed.
So we recoil from that emotional pain and flee from its source (the daunting task). We take refuge in an alternate activity that we hope will soothe, deaden, or distract from the negative feelings. We check Twitter, watch a TV show, or have a drink. These are what psychologists call “mood repair strategies.”
As psychologist Timothy A. Pychyl wrote in his book Solving the Procrastination Puzzle:
“Procrastination is best understood as… a problem with our self-regulation. Why do we fail to self-regulate? Although there are many factors that contribute to this, the most important thing to understand is that we ‘give in to feel good.’ That is, we want to feel good now and we will do whatever it takes for immediate mood repair, usually at the expense of long-term goals.”
Although Dr. Pychyl doesn’t use the term, to my mind, “giving in to feel good” is hedonism. Usually we think of hedonism as the single-minded pursuit of intense carnal pleasures, like those associated with sex, drunkenness, and indulgent eating. But it can be useful to think of hedonism as also including fleeing from displeasure and seeking relief and comfort above all else.
And hedonism is always a losing strategy. Since it sacrifices our best interests for our base impulses, it eventually comes back to bite us. This much is widely known, even among those who yield to impulsiveness anyway.
What is less appreciated is how hedonism is also generally a terrible short-term strategy, too. It not only eventually boomerangs, but immediately backfires.
A diversion may momentarily help us forget our troubling task, but only at the conscious level. Even while we are scrolling through our Twitter feed or watching our show, the undone task is still lurking in our unconscious, gnawing at the back of our mind and hampering the enjoyment of our pastime.
Moreover, now we feel additional guilt, shame, and worry over putting off the task and acting against our own standards for ourselves and our own best interests. As a result, the task is now even more painful to think about, and we are driven to procrastinate further, creating a vicious cycle.
And so procrastination very quickly traps us in what blogger Tim Urban has designated the Dark Playground:
The Dark Playground is a place every procrastinator knows well. It’s a place where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening. The fun you have in the Dark Playground isn’t actually fun because it’s completely unearned and the air is filled with guilt, anxiety, self-hatred, and dread.
In fleeing pain, we only compound it into torment. In seeking a stress-free haven, we find an anxiety-ridden hell.
The only truly effective mood repair strategy is to repair the broken things in our world that are making us moody. The only way to get genuine relief with regard to a stressful task we know we need to do is to do it. And we don’t even need to wait until we finish the task to enjoy that relief. Inner peace will grace us as soon as we earnestly commit ourselves to doing what we should.
Relief will forever elude our grasp if we seek it directly. But as soon as we orient ourselves toward seeking the ideal, relief will immediately be added unto us.
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
MATTHEW 6:33 KJV
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee…”
ISAIAH 26:3 KJV
I never thought of procrastination as hedonism. But I kind of see the connection now.