How You Procrastinate In Your Life: The 5 Types Of Procrastinators And Why They Procrastinate5 min read

Have you been in a situation where you decide to hold up doing or completing something until a later time because you don’t feel like it?

Maybe you feel tired, unprepared, or wish for a perfect time to do it (maybe when you have the house all to yourself, the weather is cozy, and the humidity is just right).

*chuckles*

That condition or situation is called procrastination – you are procrastinating.

I know it too well because I’ve spent a good portion of my life so far “procrastinating wrongly” (we’ll discuss this later).

And just so you know, I’ve never met anyone who has never procrastinated in their life.

Someone may say:

“No, I don’t procrastinate. I set goals and achieve them (every single one of them!). So, procrastination has nothing on me.”

You may be this person.

I understand, and your thoughts are valid.

Nevertheless your conviction may change after you learn about the types of procrastinators.

The 5 Types Of Procrastinators

I’ve categorized procrastinators into five(5) types and they are

The Crisis-Maker Procrastinator:

Victims of this type of procrastinator tend to believe that their best works are done under pressure, therefore they intentionally wait till the deadline is close before they start working.

Rarely will they work on anything unless the deadline is uncomfortably close.

This usually results in rushing, panicking, and also low-quality output since there is usually no time left to critically review the work.

The Lazy Procrastinator:

This type of procrastinator is often a dreamer and an avoider.

A lazy procrastinator amasses unrealistic ideas and enjoys dreaming/talking about the result they’d get but never starts or participates in the real work.

They always avoid getting their hands dirty with work. they’d prefer someone else other than themselves to put effort into creating what they’ve imagined.

They may even start coming up with reasons not to get something done….while they do some other fun and easy thing.

They waste time waiting for someone else to do what they can. In the end, they run out of time and miss the deadline.

The Anxious/Overachiever Procrastinator:

This procrastinator takes up more work than they can handle or complete.

Mostly, these are the kind of people who often do “volunteer work”.

They do not know when to say “No”. They keep accepting and doing other people’s work, thereby reducing the time they have for theirs.

The overachiever tends to have an overly long to-do list so it becomes hard to achieve anything at all.

The Self-Critic Procrastinator:

This procrastinator has difficulty prioritising work in accordance with its importance. 

And, by not properly managing what they pay attention to they usually have too much irrelevant (or less important) work to do. 

Consequently, they get exhausted before reaching the main (important) task. At this point, what usually happens is abandonment.

Although they are the opposite of lazy, they are most likely to tag themselves “lazy”. 

They call themselves “lazy” or slow if they are unable to complete a task or miss a deadline. 

They need to practice self-compassion, and Attention Management, rather than being hard on themselves.

The Perfectionist Procrastinator:

Perfectionist procrastinators are scared of not creating perfect work

They do not want to be judged or considered imperfect.

Hence, they often come up with grandiose/overwhelming ideas and are the biggest critics of their works.

They start to procrastinate when their expectations are not met (which is usually the case, since their expectations are usually very high). 

They procrastinate by never finishing the work. And in situations when a finished work is compulsory, they will only start hurrying when the deadline is close, and hate themselves afterwards for not delivering the perfect work they envisioned.

Final Thoughts:

Now that you know about the types of procrastinators, you can see why I find it hard to imagine anyone who hasn’t at one point in their lives procrastinated.

Having said that, procrastination is normal.

Yeah, it truly is.

But in my experience, it’s not the kind of normal you should be comfortable with as it has the potential of impeding your progress and success in life.

Except, of course, you’ve mastered the art of “procrastinating right” – that is, procrastinating in a good way.

*laughs*

Yes, there are good ways to procrastinate. Don’t worry, I’ll make a different post on how to procrastinate positively.

For now I need your feedback:

Have you ever procrastinated?

What type of procrastinator are you? And

Do you think a person can stop procrastinating completely?

Please share your response in the comment section.

With love,

Ekenna Marvee💛