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# Procrastination is a solution, not a problem
- URL: https://www.gilespcroft.com/procrastination-is-a-solution-not-a-problem/
- Published: 2024-06-24T07:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-02-26T11:18:04.000Z
- Description: The moment we recognise the true purpose of procrastination, the goal posts move 👾
- Author: Giles P Croft
- Tags: Procrastination, ADHD, Attention, Consciousness, Focus, Habit change, IMPLICATIONS, Moods, Neuroscience, Overwhelm & Burnout, Presence, Productivity, Psychology, Real stories, Stress, Thought realisation, Wisdom, Writing

It’s the start of the week, your To Do list is looming and the risk of procrastination is high.

So let’s have a look at what’s going on, shall we?

## Behind the scenes

Imagine you had a report to write. With a deadline. And you don’t want to.

And find yourself avoiding it in whatever way you’ve learned (I play a little game on my phone called *Plasma Sky*, what do you do?)

Here’s a behind-the-scenes for you:

1. The **mind is aware** of the report and the deadline (the situation)
2. The mind thinks that ***it* has to write the report** (even though it only ever has access to old, stale data on its hard drive, which *isn’t* the source of creativity)
3. The mind, **understandably, panics**. All of a sudden, the report is a ‘problem’
4. The mind defines this ‘problem’ as real, because it’s completely—innocently—**unaware of *anything* outside of itself** (i.e. life energy/wisdom/creativity/innate health/true nature/who-we-really-are) and it *genuinely* believes it’s in charge of *everything*… when really it’s just a tool, given menial tasks to do like remember old stuff and move our hands
5. The mind **goes into a spin**, now burdened not only with a) the ‘problem’ of the report, but also b) the ‘problem’ of all the other stuff it’s just created around not being able to *deal* with the initial problem, all of which it also thinks *it* has to solve  
(There's 5c to 5z here too, but you get the picture. Suffice to say, it’s easy for this stuff to spiral 😵‍💫)
6. **Wisdom kicks in** to offer a genuine solution to all of this ‘problem’ creation. It pulls the plug
7. (This is critical) The quality of this solution depends wholly on our level of understanding of 1 – 6, above, ***in that moment***. (It fluctuates all the time, see?):  
➤ At the **highest levels** of awareness, we see there *is* no problem and we’re not even talking about procrastination. We're present to the report and getting on with it  
➤ Arbitrarily, let’s say a **mid-level consciousness**/mood solution is taking a couple of minutes off and playing a video game, before getting back to it  
➤ And let’s say a seriously **low level consciousness**/mood solution is going downstairs and immediately consuming an entire bottle of wine, then going on a bender for three days
8. It’s all **innocent** and it’s all a **solution to points 2 & 4** (which themselves are just a misunderstanding)
9. Any time you beat your ‘self’ up about procrastinating, it’s just the mind **adding yet another ‘problem’** to the already long-enough list of problems it’s created for us today, thanks!
10. **Relax**. Re-read this list. Just write the goddamn report already, will you?!

I love you *and* your problem-creating mind

😘

Giles

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