How Can Athletes Ditch Procrastination in Sport and Life?

 

While it doesn’t always lead to bad outcomes, procrastination often comes with negative side effects, such as loss of sleep and damaged relationships, so it’s not a good habit to develop.

Here, TrueSport Expert Kevin Chapman, PhD, clinical psychologist and founder of The Kentucky Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, is explaining why we tend to procrastinate and how to stop procrastinating once and for all. 
 

Why Do People Procrastinate?

"Procrastination is avoidance, plain and simple," says Chapman. Often, we tell ourselves we work better under a tight deadline or that we enjoy that 'last minute' feeling, but the reality is that we're avoiding something.

"There are a lot of reasons why we procrastinate, but it all comes back to avoiding some feeling," Chapman says. "One reason we procrastinate is because we're experiencing anxiety, and it's our way of trying to manage anxiety, which actually backfires and ultimately makes the anxiety worse."

Another reason people procrastinate is due to lack of perceived reward. "If you perceive that an experience isn't rewarding, then you're likely to push it off to the last minute because it's not motivating," Chapman says.

"For athletes and students, fear of failure is another big reason for procrastinating," he adds. "You push things off because you don't want to make a mistake or look bad."

What Does Procrastination Look Like for Athletes?

Sometimes it's hard to spot procrastination in our own lives. "Consider training goals," says Chapman. “Say you know that you have to run a mile and a half at a certain time, and you have to be able to lift a certain amount by the time the football season starts. At the beginning of the summer, you know you need to get to work so you can hit those targets by September. But many of us will procrastinate on a goal like that for a variety of reasons.”

Maybe getting started in the gym is intimidating, or you lack motivation because you would rather relax over the summer. Regardless of why you procrastinate, the result is the same: you don’t put in the work and you’re unprepared to meet performance goals.

How Do You Stop Procrastinating? 

Start by identifying your procrastinating behavior. "Then, identify what emotion is attached to that behavior. Ask yourself, what emotion am I avoiding by procrastinating?"

From there, you can start planning. Chapman suggests using a sheet of paper with two columns. On the left side, list your procrastinating behavior. In the other column, come up with an alternative action—something you can do instead. It's not necessarily the opposite of the procrastination behavior, but it is an action that moves you in the right direction.

"For example, if I'm afraid of failure and that's stopping me from going to the gym, my first step to list in that column would be to read the email and the PDF that coach sent me for the summer. That's it," says Chapman. "Next, I'll ask a friend to train with me, or even just text me weekly to check in that training is going well." These tiny steps add up to big results. The key is to shift into a task-based mindset: Focus on what the next task should be, rather than focusing on what could go wrong or the emotion you're trying to avoid.