Procrastinators Anonymous would be the most useless support group, because everyone would use the meetings as an excuse to put off an important task.
I was a procrastinator for most of my life. Going to bed late, waking up when the day was half over, no routine, no structure, and an overwhelm of constant, generalized anxiety. During that time, I often said what every single procrastinator I’ve ever known has always said, “I’m not a morning person.” Why do all procrastinators tell ourselves that we’re “night people” when our nights are generally not too productive, either? Three words: Revenge bedtime procrastination. This is a phenomenon where a person will subconsciously choose activity (whether productive or leisure) over sleep in order to feel some sense of control over their day. When hyper-busy people engage in this, it’s because they want to squeeze in some leisure in a day packed with work and obligations. But when chronic procrastinators do this, it’s either to insert productivity into an otherwise unproductive day, or to delay the next day and push down the guilt of having been unproductive via more of the same leisure they’ve partaken in all day.
Scrolling social media in bed, taking on big projects at night, video gaming at night, or cramming all of the days chores into the evening can all be examples of revenge bedtime procrastination. For the chronic procrastinator, this cycle feeds the best of being inconsistent, unstructured, and feeding the beast of lethargic, depressed days and energetic, anxious nights. Imagine how much better you’d feel, and sleep, if you had nothing hanging over your head before bed? How much better would you sleep if you’d conquered this day, and were looking forward to the next?
