Today’s passage, “What is the root cause of procrastination?” I had a friend once remark to me, “Have you ever eaten something salty like peanuts then wanted something sweet like chocolate, then next thing you know an hour has past and you’re in this vicious cycle of eating salty and sweet until you’re bloated and feel disgusting?”  That’s a great metaphor for what it feels like to procrastinate when it comes to meeting our daily objectives, work tasks, taking care of our personal health and other meaningful activities that requires a steady stream of ‘follow through’.

Just like the cycle of sweet and salty snacking leads to lethargy, stomach aches and weight gain, the cycle of procrastination leads to low self-esteem, fear over failure, fear over success and ultimately a feeling of trepidation or anxiety in facing the task at hand.

Like with the root cause of many bad habits in our lives, there may be the sense that it’s not a really harmful habit until there is a negative outcome, say for example, developing type 2 diabetes as a result of poor eating. When faced with a consequence, we may then decide that the habit is no longer working as a temporary fix in distracting us from whatever it is we do not want to face, because all bad habits in life are a distraction, providing a false sense of control.

·        So what is the root cause of procrastination? Why do we as humans continue a routine that makes us feel so bad?

Procrastination sparks a myriad of opposing emotional responses, which is one of the many reasons think procrastination is used to connect to oneself. We may feel both anxiety and fear in procrastinating with elements of relief and calm by delaying the inevitable. 

Why do we do this? I believe that reviewing moments in our early childhood where we felt a similar range of opposing emotions in succession might be instrumental in understanding why we continue behaviors that ignite those same feelings in adulthood. 

It is my personal belief that every bad habit or addiction develops from an unmet emotional need in our life...

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