Sophisticated forms of procrastination

It’s not obvious. Obvious procrastination is things that we know we shouldn’t be doing; watching Netflix and we shouldn’t be working on that essay that there’s a close deadline for; Or playing video games when we should be emailing the client that we need to follow up with. This type of procrastination doesn’t feel good. We usually feel guilty when we’re engaging in it. But sophisticated procrastination is different. It’s activity that makes us feel smart. It makes us feel like we’re making progress, but we’re not. Some examples of sophisticated procrastination include things like overly complex planning beyond what’s necessary instead of actually just starting what you need to do; Endlessly researching reading books beyond what’s necessary; or talking to people about your ideas about your plans without ever really taking action. These are all things that make us feel like we’re making progress, but we’re not.