No matter what you’re supposed to be doing, there’s always something more enticing you could be doing.
Maybe it’s entertainment—flipping on the TV or scrolling through your phone—or it could be less critical yet more fun tasks, like baking bread when you should be folding laundry. Other times, it’s the temptation to do less cognitively demanding work, such as checking email, instead of writing the report you’re supposed to be working on.
No matter how you distract yourself, we all procrastinate sometimes. But have you ever noticed that you can kind of slip into a season of chronic procrastination?
The Vicious Cycle of Procrastination
I’ve noticed that I am most prone to procrastination when I’m extremely busy and stressed. It always seems to follow the same pattern.
- I feel busy, so I seek out distraction
- I indulge in said distraction until I feel guilty about wasting time
- After realizing how much time I’ve wasted, I start stressing about that!
At the end of the first run around the procrastination, I find I’m still just as busy, but now I’ve let distraction consume the time I was supposed to be used for the stuff I was busy with! And those renewed feelings of stress and busyness drive me to more procrastination…
And around, and around it goes.
Thankfully, there is a way off this merry-go-round for believers in Jesus Christ. But it begins by understanding exactly what we’re dealing with.
Is Procrastination a Sin?
I define procrastination as the act of delaying or postponing a priority for the sake of something less important.
Procrastination differs from proactively choosing a different priority (e.g., answering an important email that just came in instead of continuing on the project you had blocked out time for because the email actually is more important). Procrastination also has the unique feature of being accompanied by a sense of guilt.
A few months ago, I asked my community if they thought procrastination was a sin.
Some said it can be in some cases, sharing passages about how the Scriptures say that if we procrastinate in obeying God, we are in sin (see Deuteronomy 23:21-23, Ecclesiastes 5:4-6, Psalm 119:32, 60). They also noted passages like James 4:17, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
But everyone agreed that, at the very least, procrastination is unwise (Proverbs 13:4; 18:9; Ecclesiastes 9:10). Because even if we aren’t directly disobeying God or failing to love our neighbor every time we procrastinate, we are almost always hurting ourselves.
So, procrastination is not inconsequential. If we are seeking to lead faithful and fruitful lives for our Lord and Savior, we should desire to break the procrastination cycle when we find ourselves in it. But to do that, we need to approach procrastination strategically.
Three Strategies to Break the Procrastination Cycle
Here are three strategies you can use to break out of the procrastination spiral, so you can get back to what’s most important.
1. Define Realistic Priorities
I sometimes get emails from people who are like, “Hi, I’m a full-time student, mother of three under three, full-time lawyer, and a volunteer at my local fire department. Oh, and I teach Sunday School every weekend. I’m writing a book, and we’re in the middle of remodeling our house. I’m having trouble staying focused. Can you help?”
That’s someone who isn’t clear on their priorities. I don’t care how productive you are; everyone has a limit except for God. And you’re not Him. If you bite off more than you can chew, don’t be surprised if you choke on it.
Procrastination can be a defense mechanism. If you’re stuck in a rut of binging media, doing meaningless tasks, or feeling like you are avoiding responsibilities, treat that like a flashing warning light on the dashboard of your soul. It’s screaming, “You’ve got too many things going on!”
You can’t focus on your priorities if you don’t know what they are. Define them clearly—for the month, week, and day. What’s actually the most important thing that I get done? But also be realistic. Not everything can be a priority. Choose just one or two things to focus on at a time. And follow a schedule.
2. Acknowledge Distractions as a Threat
The battle for focus is a fight for faithfulness. We want to be people of our word who follow through on the priorities we’ve committed to. Distractions are the biggest threat to that mission, so we’ve got to treat them seriously.
If we’re going to work with focus, we’ve got to acknowledge that distractions aren’t just minor deviations from the path; they’re quicksand. Solomon warns, “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you” (Proverbs 4:25).
Stay locked in. Don’t deviate. Because once you fall into the procrastination spiral, it’s hard to pull yourself free.
Most of the time, procrastination comes in the form of a small rectangular temptation that rides in your pocket. “Let me check something real quick,” quickly turns into 30 minutes scrolling your phone.
So, to keep procrastination at bay, keep distractions far from you. Often, that means ditching the phone, closing the door to the chatty co-worker, or deciding you’ll do that more fun job later.
3. Schedule Your Breaks
Being anti-procrastination does not mean being anti-rest. Rest and recreation are good and godly pursuits. We need them. The trouble comes when we let recreation steal the seat we reserved for work.
We need to both rest and work, but these things need to happen at their proper times. That means rejecting overwork and deliberately planning for downtime. Isn’t it much better to enjoy that guilt-free downtime you planned for rather than feel like a thief hiding in the closet munching on morsels stolen time?
Taking it easy during a planned break isn’t procrastination. Because when you kick back when you planned to, you’re actually following your priorities. And that honors God and keeps you on the path of wisdom.
