Procrastination is postponement of misery

Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Acharya Prashant: What is it that you shift to the future? Do you shift that to the future, which is really important, really enjoyable?

Listener: Sir, we shift to the future something which is not useful.

AP: So, procrastination is nothing but the postponement of misery. ‘If I do it right now, I will feel miserable.’ So I somehow try to escape by sending the thing into the future. Are you getting it?

L: Yes, Sir.

AP: If you find yourself procrastinating a lot of times, if you find that you have fixed a schedule for yourself and you can’t stick to it, then that is a clear indicator that you have filled your life up with miserable tasks. Then it is a clear indication that the climate in the mind is that of suffering and irritation.

One does not postpone joy. One does not postpone freedom and love. One only postpones suffering. And that is procrastination.

Kindly do not think that procrastination is about laziness. We often think that lazy people procrastinate. No, it’s not about laziness. It’s about the climate of the suffering mind.

You want to escape the misery, so you are sending it away. You are saying it need not…