We aren’t lazy—there is likely a reason why we procrastinate projects.

I’m a recently diagnosed autistic. I also share a few ADHD traits. One of those traits is that I procrastinate. It’s not a laziness thing, it’s a clarity thing. Or a lack of clarity thing…as in, I don’t know where to start. If I don’t know where to start, I physically can’t.

Making small tasks within a task helps.

Prioritizing by deadline also helps.

Learning to say no to crap I don’t actually want to do and don’t love doing definitely helps. This one is probably the most important.

I think as humans, anyone will procrastinate something they don’t want to do. This is human nature. This is simply more intense and noticeable and harder to overcome for a neurodivergent person. So, how do we only do things we like to do? This takes a lot of work, self reflection, and determining your intentions and values. But it is not guaranteed.

Of course, we have bills to pay, and sometimes we have to take things on that we don’t want to do. I think it’s about the right balance. Most people will never be in a position to only choose to work on things that make their heart explode with joy. We simply have to have ENOUGH of those things that it makes suffering through the crap we don’t want to do tolerable. They give us the light in a room of darkness.

I’ll have you know, that despite my autistic brain and procrastination habits, and despite the fact that I’ve done a number of design projects over the years that I did not like, I’ve never missed any deadline or never simply not gotten something done that I had to do if it was in my control.

Nothing that I can think of anyway.

There have, however, been a number of things I let go of unfinished after being on my to-do list for way too long because I kept procrastinating doing them. I eventually realized these were things I didn’t really want to do nor were they important anymore.

That was the key. That was why I kept procrastinating from getting that thing done.

Despite what jobs, coaches, and productivity geniuses will tell you, we don’t always have to do everything that comes to mind nor do we have to finish everything. We don’t. All of our billions of ideas are not always going to be winners and worth our time and sometimes it is better to quit before we get too invested.

If you are procrastinating doing something, especially if you repeatedly migrate it from one week to the next without even starting it, dig deeper and ask yourself why. Chances are, this thing is not for you.

Let it go.