Does anyone else do this or do I have issues?

[BoakBackMountain]

I have a very important work "thing" I need to do. The deadline is coming up. I could have done it weeks ago. But I absolutely hate doing it and every day I find an excuse not to do it. I put it off and put it off and put it off and then I know I'll end up scrambling around doing it right at the last minute.

In the meantime I'm plowing through loads of stuff that could wait for weeks. Why am I like this?! Surely I should recognise, at the age of 33, that it is better to do the things I don't want to do quickly, to get them out of the way?!

I feel like I have been like this since I was 12 years old. Anyone else?

I am like this with admin tasks, waiting until 'the thing hanging over my head' is more painful than actually starting. But with things I enjoy I can start too early, resulting in forgetting what I was thinking at the start, and losing track midway. So it is possible to start things too soon! (somewhere I heard that this is a characteristic of the prematurely born, which I was. Don't know if there is real evidence for this.)

Re preparing talks: a seasoned old lecturer once told me you can start too early, losing memory and running out of steam aka enthusiasm.

Yep, that's me too. I sometimes also spend ages planning how to do "the thing" but never actually getting on with it.

This is me. I've come to the conclusion that I enjoy the adrenaline rush of a tight deadline.

Oh definitely me!
I have no "get up and go".
Happy to make lists and plan, but actually doing the task- na!!
Drives me bananas.
Nice to find company!

Am 50 this year and I've accepted it's the way I am. It all gets done in the end.

I LOVE a list! I never actually do anything on the list. Useless. We had a lovely home schooling timetable. That didn't happen.

I think I have a massive problem with authority even when it actually is coming from me. So if I make a timetable I'm like fuck off, I'm not doing that just because you tell me to.

Bats but there it is.

OP are you me? I am here on MN in stead of doing my owrk.

I am not a "rebel" like you - I am a people pleaser - if I don't have to do it for someone else I don't do it.

Gretchen Rubin talks about this in her book The Four Tendencies

Oh yes absolutely.

Have recently taken a break but previously was a court solicitor. I often was appointed by the court to represent in high conflict family cases at last minute. I think it's because that's when I was good.

Hearing on Friday, no problem. Hearing next year, just cannot think about it.

Exactly the same at uni, school, and now adult life.

I am seen as exceptionally organised and I am NEVER late. Just need that deadline to get the best out of me.

It is a form of self-sabotage. I have been putting off doing something for a whole year that is basically doing a list of things I have done which I need I to submit to get an accreditation, having already put myself through four years of exams. I can't understand why I do this either.

also this
MUST DO WORK

I am also a rebel. I was all for wearing face masks on public transport until it was compulsory. And so on.

I am seen as exceptionally organised and I am NEVER late

Me neither - never, ever late.

My whole life too. I go through phases where I force myself to deal with every email and issue right away but then I will have some leave and a back log develops and then I slip.

This is why I am delighted that my well paid professional job is a series of very short tasks. How I dread audits and reflection etc

I was all for wearing face masks on public transport until it was compulsory. And so on.

Me too! I bloody hate being told what to do.

I have a massively full email inbox right now that I could be dealing with and I know if I woke up tomorrow and sat at my desk and I'd cleared my inbox I'd feel so much less stressed. Yet I'm not doing it. It beggars belief really.

I’ve been on loads of management courses over the years most of which are total bollocks but one of the first ones gave me the BEST bit of advice: Nasty Task First. It works

Oh me too. My boss says I am exceptional at situational leadership aka "the shit is hitting the fan". Because I thrive on pressure. Routine is an anathema.

[quote magicstar1]Yep...the first time I remember this was when I was seven years old. I had weeks to do a project on Louis Pasteur and did got up at six a.m. to do it the day it was due. My whole life has been the same, and I’ve wasted so many opportunities.

Have a read of this...it describes it perfectly.
waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html[/quote]
I'll read it later

The procrastination monkey...

I used to amuse msyelf when trying to write my dissertation by googling 'how to stop procrastinating'. that took up loads of time.

Now I always say that I procrasti-eat. I have procrasti-eaten at least 2 stone on in the past year or so.

I found for me, there would always be one specific part of the task that I didn't like hat was causing me to procrastinate like that, for example, I hate the feeling of having wet soft fingernails, so I kept putting off the washing up. Then I removed/reduced that feeling by wearing gloves, and that greatly reduced the procrastination. So maybe identifying what your thing is and doing your best to lesson it may help.

I am excellent in a crisis. If you have a practical problem that requires immediate and fast sorting out I am your woman.

I have just done the same. Did an all nighter the day before it was due. As it's light till 10 and again at4am I just had the TV on whilst it was dark.
Reminded me of being a uni student.

Carolbaskinstiger I've changed some, it's not perfect but it's better. I basically just realised I hated the weeks of dreading the thing more than I actually hated doing the thing if that makes sense It still takes willpower, my natural instinct is still 'put it off' so I have to remind myself how stressed I get and that if I just do it I won't have to go through that, it's usually enough to galvanise me into action. I do get really stressed though so I guess it depends how badly it affects you, some people do genuinely work better under pressure but I'm not one of them