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Do you ever feel like you’ll never get caught up? I know that feeling because I’ve struggled with procrastination for most of my life. Here’s what I’ve discovered: it’s a two-fold process to break free. First, we need to renew our minds and change the way we think so we actually want to do our dreaded tasks. And second, we need to learn practical strategies and time management tools to help us get caught up. I talk about both in my new course, How to Stop Procrastinating, but today I want to share something that’s often overlooked—the subtle lies that make you procrastinate. Let’s uncover ten of the biggest ones together. (I share 40 in my new course.)
10 Lies That Make Us Procrastinate
I go into these in more depth in my podcast episode, so I’ll just record a simple truth here for each lie.
1. This needs to be perfect.
Truth: There is nothing perfect in life except God. So if I’m waiting for perfection, I’m working on an impossible goal. I subconsciously know it’s impossible and that makes me want to procrastinate! I will be far more likely to do hard things if I have more of a “Let’s just give this a try and see how it goes” attitude. Besides, God is in the habit of taking people who aren’t naturally good at what He called them to do (think Moses) and then equipping them for the calling. He can do that with me too!
2. It’s too hard. I can’t do it.
Truth: If God wants me to do this, He’ll help me do it. I can’t do it perfectly. I can’t do it without struggle, and I can’t do it without the possibility of failing, but I can do it! It will be easier if I break it into steps first and start with the smallest step I can take without dreading it. A step I can actually make myself do.
3. I don’t feel like doing this (so I shouldn’t).
Truth: Just because I don’t feel like doing something, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. What if I didn’t feel like feeding my newborn baby? I would still do it! In the Bible, God often called people to do things they didn’t feel like doing. Remember Jonah? On the other hand, sometimes we should stop doing things we don’t feel like doing if there isn’t a good reason to do them. It’s good to take time to think about those things and talk to God and others for wisdom.
4. This problem will go away if I ignore it long enough.
Truth: It will never be easier to tackle than it is right now. The longer I put off problems, the bigger they get. Just think of putting off an uncomfortable conversation in a relationship. The longer you put it off, the more the problem grows, and the harder it is to bring it up. I have a whole lesson on how to solve problems promptly in my How to Stop Procrastinating course.
5. I work better under pressure so I’ll wait.
Truth: Often, I only work under pressure so that’s why I think I work better under pressure! Sometimes this works but other times I run out of time and end up with a project I’m not happy with because I didn’t have enough time to do a good job on it.
6. If I don’t have a big block of time to work on this, it’s not worth doing.
Truth: Often in life, all I have is little blocks of time, so if I want to actually do this, I need to adjust my expectations and do this in little blocks of time. I wrote my first book, Freedom from Emotional Eating, in 15 minute blocks of time because I had a houseful of kids and that’s all I could make myself do.
7. If it’s God will, things will go smoothly, I’ll have the desire to do it, and it will just happen without trying.
Truth: Sadly, we can see from Scripture that this isn’t true. Think of Jonah, Moses, Jeremiah, and Elijah. God often calls us to do things that don’t go smoothly, that require a lot of effort on our part, and that we don’t want to do! Plus on a practical level, even if we like our work, there are days we’re not crazy about it.
8. Other things are more urgent so this can wait.
Truth: I need to be careful not to let the urgent take over the important. I do that by making priorities (which we’ll talk more about in my procrastination class).
9. This will only take a minute, so I’ll just scroll/check email/etc. first.
Truth: It usually takes far more than a minute, and even if it does only take a minute, that minute destroys my concentration. It can take ten or fifteen minutes to get it back again. I’m far better off making boundaries with my phone and not jumping on it whenever I feel like it. (Granted, this is easier said than done. I’m hoping to make a class on how to do this at some point – as soon as I learn how to do it myself!)
10. I’m just not the kind of person who follows through.
Truth: I may not be a person who follows through right now, but God can help me change. Also, I do follow through in some areas of my life, just not all areas. Thankfully, I am a work in progress!
If you’re interested in making progress in overcoming procrastination, check out my new online course below.
🎧 Listen to the full episode on the Christian Habits Podcast!
“How to Stop Procrastinating” Course
This will be an on-demand video course with 17 lessons, three live Q&As, assignments, and an opportunity to find accountability partners (at the Q&As). Register by September 22, 2025 to take advantage of early bird pricing. Click here to find more about the course:
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