Are you someone who tends to put off making decisions? Do you struggle to get through a to-do list? Philosophy expert Joe Humphreys joins Ray D'Arcy on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss procrastination - and how to manage it.
Although Joe promises that procrastination is a normal part of the human condition, he says that it becomes problematic when it stops us from achieving our goals or keeping our day-to-day lives on track.
Before he gets to his tips and tricks for staying focused, though, he assures listeners that it really is very common.
"It's just something to cope with," he says. "We live with procrastination, we live with indecision, we live with unsatisfied desires."
Referencing British psychoanalyst and author of On Giving Up, Adam Phillips, Joe explains that many of us avoid getting things done because we focus on our "myth of potential". The life where we will get up at for a sunrise run before going to work at our dream job and coming home to our perfect home.
"We spend a lot of our time thinking about this other life, the unlived life that is just non-existent," he explains. "So let's dwell in the real life".
Rather than dreaming of the unrealistic dream job and the unattainable sparkling home, Joe says it's healthy to embrace imperfection and find purpose in reality.
Simply put: it's time to enjoy the life you're actually living, whether that means taking the leap to run away with the circus or investing more in the life you have now.
If making any change seems monumentally tough, Joe suggests "lowering the stakes of change" or "raising the stakes of change".
To lower the stakes of change, we must take the pressure off. Rather than quitting a job, consider a sabbatical and see whether you could support yourself while you try a new venture for a number of months.
The main thing, though, is to not worry about what other people think.
"One of the big things that stops us from changing is people's opinion," says Joe. "We're afraid of what people will think if we quit our jobs and do something ludicrous."
When we investigate our fear of change, we may discover that it is layered with guilt or shame. Quoting Bréne Brown he says: "We must have the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others."
"To lower the stakes, be a disappointment," he insists. "Disappoint your parents, disappoint your colleagues. You can't satisfy everyone."
On the other hand, you can raise the stakes of change by channelling the power of regret. One way to do this is by focusing on the Latin phrase "memento mori", which translates to "remember you must die".
"There's a healthy way here of concentrating on death," promises Joe, explaining that when you break down how much time you have to enjoy life, it can stop you from sweating the small stuff.
To learn more about this, Joe recommends reading Simon May's Jump! A New Psychology for Conquering Procrastination, a book that says procrastination can actually be used as a tool to highlight our top priorities and achieve what we want most.
Click on the link at the top of the page to listen back to the full interview with Joe Humphreys.
