A Procrastination Pattern You Should Dump Right Away for Your Big Dream

Last updated on November 1st, 2019 at 05:17 pm

Are you stuck procrastinating when it comes to working on your big dream?

Recognizing from where your procrastination pattern emanates and why you make the decisions and choices not to complete specific everyday dream tasks is what self-awareness is all about.

What is even better is to learn how to break the pattern, especially when it is standing in the way of you and your dream.

I did something entirely new for me and spent the whole weekend in a course to help me recognize my procrastination pattern and focus on how I can catch when I am avoiding taking specific actions that will support my dream success.

Without too many details about the weekend course, there are 5 motivating reasons behind procrastination:

1. Fear of Failure.
2. Fear of Harm.
3. Fear of Rejection.
4. Fear of Success.
5. Inner Defiance.

The real work happens in figuring out what my motivations are for procrastinating on the tasks that will push my dream forward. But what surprised me the most is that I alternate between patterns of procrastination and patterns of being a taskmaster.

Bill Knaus Ed.D. is a licensed psychologist who works with people suffering from anxiety, depression, and procrastination. Dr. Knaus is considered the foremost authority in the field of procrastination and best-known for his work in the cognitive revolution in psychotherapy. He has a Procrastination Test to help people uncover their procrastination patterns.

These are his 20 procrastination pattern questions:

PROCRASTINATION BEHAVIOR	A. NO	B. SOMETIMES	C. YES
1. Procrastination comes naturally to me.
2. I have responsibilities that I'm not doing.
3. I have plans that stay on the drawing board.
4. I sidestep uncomfortable priorities.
5. I tell myself that later is the time to begin.
6. I start things that I don't finish.
7. I have a habit of showing up late.
8. I delay acting to meet a deadline.
9. I find ways to extend deadlines.
10. I come up with excuses to explain delays.
11. I put off hard decisions.
12. When I'm not sure, I'll avoid the situation.
13. I put off making a needed lifestyle change.
14. My pessimism causes delays.
15. My emotions affect what I do.
16. My intimate relationship is going nowhere.
17. I avoid what frustrates me.
18. I get side-tracked by conflicts.
19. My doubts and fears inhibit my actions.
20. When I feel anxious, I'll avoid what I fear.
TOTAL EACH COLUMN:

I take responsibility for my procrastination pattern.

Inner defiance is my dominant procrastination pattern. The discovery of my procrastination model may not sound like an earth-shattering realization, but recognizing this pattern walloped me. You know that big, red, candy-like “Aha” button? The “Ding-Ding-Ding, You Are CORRECT!” moment? That was me. It was a revealing experience, and worth the work, although I’m still recovering. What does inner defiance procrastination mean for my dream success?

The Inner Defiance pattern indicates I am rebelling against the part of me that is pushing me to work on my dream goals or be the person I need to become to achieve my big dream. This inner defiance also means that I often defy the part of my mind that follows a Taskmaster Pattern of nagging me excessively to get work done.

Sometimes my inner taskmaster wins, and sometimes she doesn’t. The best way for me to handle my procrastination struggle is to accept full responsibility for where I am on my dream journey; the choices I’ve made and the options I’ve ignored. I learned that part of my defiance stems from taking on too much at once where it feels like I am working 24/7. I need to add more playtime to free time which doesn’t involve my big dreamwork.

Here’s what Ted speaker and best-selling author, Mel Robbins says about procrastination:

So who’s in the driver’s seat? Me. I can change my reaction to my pattern.

And the best part about knowing my procrastination pattern is that I now can recognize when I am falling into a defiance trap and take measures to help keep me focused on my long-term dream goal.

Because procrastination is dream negation!

Heather Montgomery

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