Types of procrastinators

It may help to think in terms of two fundamental kinds of procrastinators: one tense and the other relaxed.

The tense type often feels both an intense pressure to succeed and a fear of failure; the relaxed type often feels negatively toward his/her work and blows it off–forgets it–by playing (Solomon and Rothblum, 1984).

John, described early in this chapter, is the relaxed type; he neglected his school work but not his socializing. This denial-based type of procrastinator avoids as much stress as possible by dismissing his/her work or disregarding more challenging tasks and concentrating on “having fun” or some other distracting activity; if their defense mechanisms work effectively, they actually have what seems like “a happy life” for the moment. More about this type later.

The tense-afraid type of procrastinator is described by Fiore (1989) as feeling overwhelmed by pressures, unrealistic about time, uncertain about goals, dissatisfied with accomplishments, indecisive, blaming of others or circumstances for his/her failures, lacking in confidence and, sometimes, perfectionistic.

Thus, the underlying fears are of failing, lacking ability, being imperfect, and falling short of overly demanding goals. This type thinks his/her worth is determined by what he/she does, which reflects his/her level of ability. He/she is afraid of being judged and found wanting. Thus, this kind of procrastinator will get over-stressed and over-worked until he/she escapes the pressure temporarily by trying to relax but any enjoyment gives rise to guilt and more apprehension.

Procrastination is the fear of success… Because success is heavy, it carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the “someday I’ll” philosophy. -Denis Waitley

The tense-afraid type of procrastinator comes in five forms, as described by Burka and Yuen (1984) and Ellis and Knaus (1977): The fear of successful achievement in school leading to underachievement has already been described in great detail in the last section on motivation.

(1) Such a student may avoid trying in school for fear of doing well…and then being expected to continue to achieve, be responsible, leave home or friends, and be mature. That is so scary that they hide their ambition, act like they don’t care, and may really want to do poorly.

(2) Likewise, other students may avoid being successful for fear they will lose friends or become a threat to others. It is commonly thought that “men don’t like women who are too smart…or can beat them in tennis.” Some conservative people may also be uncomfortable if a woman were successful in a masculine role–executive, pilot, priest–or if a man were successful in a feminine role–nurse, hair stylist, homemaker.

(3) Others refuse to give up procrastinating and refuse to strive for success for fear of becoming a workaholic…or of becoming arrogant, competitive, demanding, or boring and isolated socially. They may feel that work is endless, that it will never be done.

(4) A few procrastinators may fear success because they’d feel guilty, as though they didn’t deserve it…or “I’d be an entirely different person, I’d have to admit I’m capable, I’d lose my identity.” A second version of the anxiety-based procrastinator is afraid of failing.

(1) Of course, if we are self-critical and feel inferior, we will avoid doing many things, especially competitive activities. Not trying is a form of failure but not as painful as actually trying and failing.

(2) If you have set very high or impossible goals–like a perfectionist, you are likely to feel overwhelmed. Perhaps that is why, strange as it seems, perfectionistic procrastinators often have low confidence in their ability. By procrastinating, such a person avoids, for the moment, the dreaded expected failure (and guarantees doing poorly in the long run).

(3) If you dread finding out just how able you are (and having others find out too!), it might seem wiser to put off putting yourself to the test than to run the risk of trying one’s best and only being average. This is especially crucial if you believe a person is more worthwhile and lovable if he/she is real smart or talented. Procrastination, in this special case, may enable us to believe we are superior in ability (while another part of us fears being inferior), regardless of our performance. So, as you can see, procrastination may strengthen a person’s feelings of inferiority or superiority.

Better to remain silent and appear a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. -Abraham Lincoln

The Rational-Emotive therapists (see method #3 in chapter 14; Ellis & Knaus, 1977) claim that the self-critical and perfectionistic type of procrastinator has these kinds of irrational beliefs: “I must always be on time and do well.” “Others must like and approve of me.” “I’m a no-good! How could a no-good do anything well?” Of course, one can’t always be perfect, so such a person will fail, leading to thinking things are awful, feeling pessimistic, and expecting that work will be hard, no fun, boring–something to avoid. Such a person needs to build his/her self-esteem (see chapter 14).

A third form of anxiety-based procrastinator needs to feel in control and/or to resist control by someone else (“You can’t make me do it.”). Ellis and Knaus refer to this type as the “angry defiant procrastinator.” Such a person holds the irrational beliefs that “everyone must treat me kindly and do what I want them to do, and, if not, I have a right to get mad and hate them (including refusing to do what parents, teachers, and bosses want me to do).” Naturally, everyone is asked to do things they don’t want to do; some accept that reality, others don’t.

To determine if control and anger are factors in your procrastination, ask yourself:

• “Is anyone bothered or inconvenienced by my taking my time or my being late?”
• “Do I often question and/or rebel against rules?”
• “Do I frequently feel like telling someone to get off my back”?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be in a battle for control! Passive-aggressiveness is a very powerful expression of resentment (see chapter 8). Being your own person, doing your own thing, etc., may seem to prove you are powerful and independent, but what if you spend a life-time slavishly proving you are “free” (rather than doing what would be best for you)?

Such people often say, “Gosh, if I changed, I’d have to start being on time, following rules, getting into a routine…that would mean they won. Besides, it would be boring and too easy.” If anger is part of your problem, look over chapter 7.

The fourth and fifth forms of anxiety-based procrastination are designed to keep someone you need close to you or to keep a frightening relationship at a distance. Overcoming procrastination and becoming more independent, successful, decisive, and confident might remove one from a dependent relationship (see chapter 8) as well as propel one into an intimate relationship.

Ask yourself,

“Am I lonely and uncomfortable if I’m not with someone?”

• “Do I seek lots of advice and still hesitate to make a decision on my own?” Or:
• “Am I hesitating to get more deeply involved with someone by being indecisive or by not doing well?”

If interpersonal concerns underlie your procrastinating, see chapters 8, 9 and 10. More recently, Sapadin and Maguire (1997) have also classified procrastinators into types: the “perfectionist” who dreads doing anything that is less than perfect, the “dreamer” who has great ideas but hates doing the details, the “worrier” who doesn’t think things are right but fears that changes will make them worse, the “defier” who resists doing anything suggested or expected by someone else, the “crisis-maker” who manages to find or make a big problem in any project (often by starting too late), and the “over-doer” who takes on way too many tasks. These authors focus more on family characteristics and personality traits. If you see a description here that fits you, read about it. Another book that helps you assess your personal style of procrastination is Roberts (1995).

Now back to the relaxed, pleasure seeking procrastinator. This personality seems, at first, to be less complicated, but careful observation of their thoughts and emotions suggests differently. Solomon and Rothblum (1984) found this type to be much more common among college students than the tense-afraid type. Ellis and Knaus (1977) call this the easily-frustrated, self-indulgent procrastinator. As suggested by Maslow, these procrastinators may be addicted to people or preoccupied with meeting their more basic emotional needs, e.g. for attention and approval by peers, love, or self-esteem. For some students, these other needs make studying almost impossible.

In addition to emotional needs, the relaxed procrastinator’s thoughts may push him/her away from his work or studies. For instance, their basic belief system may center around thinking that “my long-range goals require too much hard unpleasant work.” To such a person the gain is not worth the pain, especially since the necessary work is seen by them as so distasteful or boring or stupid that they just can’t do it.

A quick-starter, on the other hand, knows he/she can handle the drudgery. This relaxed procrastinator gets to the point of saying very irrational things to him/herself, such as:

• “I have to have something going on–I can’t stand being bored”
• “I must feel like studying before I can get started”
• “I hate taking tests so much, I can’t enjoy anything about studying”
• “I hate math and I can’t stand the teacher”
• “If I don’t like to do something, I shouldn’t have to do it”
• “Since teachers make me do things I hate to do, I hate them” o
• “Since I hate teachers and school, I won’t do any more than I have to do–and I’ll look for shortcuts, including cheating, whenever I can”
• “Studying is so terrible and useless, it makes sense not to do it.”

So, they procrastinate by finding something fun to do and, then, rationalize their behavior.

So, what causes procrastination? Basically, it is fears, but each procrastinator develops and responds to his/her own specific fears. In varying degrees we are all afraid of facing reality–life’s challenges, the hard work and frustrations ahead of us. You can either deny reality or face it, i.e. say there is “no problem” or admit (maybe even exaggerate) the problems.

Thus, there are relaxed, fun-loving procrastinators and tense-worried procrastinators. From a behavioral viewpoint, negative reinforcement plays a major role in the development of procrastination, i.e. behaviors (watching TV) and thoughts (rationalizations or excuses) enable students to avoid unpleasant work. Escape from something unpleasant is reinforcing. Procrastination is an escape.