# Procrastination



## tater03 (Jun 29, 2007)

Can anyone tell me how you help someone that loves to procrastinate? My husband is forever saying he will do something and months later I am still waiting. Yes, some of the stuff I end up doing on my own but some of it I am sorry I just feel that he should be doing. He agrees and says he will do it but he never gets around to it and then if I ask when he might do it he calls that nagging. So any suggestions on how to break him of this habit?


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## katharina (Jun 29, 2007)

tater03 said:


> Can anyone tell me how you help someone that loves to procrastinate? My husband is forever saying he will do something and months later I am still waiting. Yes, some of the stuff I end up doing on my own but some of it I am sorry I just feel that he should be doing. He agrees and says he will do it but he never gets around to it and then if I ask when he might do it he calls that nagging. So any suggestions on how to break him of this habit?


Well... I have a friend whose husband is a contractor but yet he won't finish some projects around his own home that are half finished. I think it may work to suggest budgeting the amount of money it would take to hire someone to come in to "finish the... fill in the blank project." 

"I'm going to budget $500 to have xyz construction finish the deck so I can start barbequing out there" might work for some people. If he calls it nagging... well so be it, then he'd call anything nagging.  And if you try to finish a big project yourself, he may constantly be critcizing the finished project.


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## mamab (Jun 29, 2007)

Just a thought, maybe you could ask him to help YOU do something, get him started, and then supervise from that point.  A little underhanded maybe, but it might just work. LOL


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## JustMe (Jul 30, 2007)

I can be a terrible procrastinator myself...Usually it's just because I'm feeling lazy and just plain don't want to do it. I tend to lead a hectic life and thrive on pressure, but I don't think I've ever let anything go months without it getting done if it was really important. Maybe he's not seeing the task as important and needs to be told why it is important to you. Doesn't seem fair, but sometimes that's just the way they are


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## tater03 (Jun 29, 2007)

That is exactly the feeling that I get also. That it isn't something he feels needs done or something that he really wants to do. I will try some of the above ideas and see if I get anywhere. Thanks.


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## kaelcarp (Aug 2, 2007)

I am a big-time procrastinator. The main thing that can jolt me into action is a feeling of absolute necessity. This can be difficult when it is something small that isn't hugely important, like taking out the trash or working on the budget or something, and those little things can get to the non-procrastinator, making her/him feel like a nag. Not a good formula.

Tell him exactly how you feel and give a sense of urgency to it. Overstate, if you must, to let him know that this is something that could become a bigger problem if it goes unaddressed. Make sure you do this calmly, though, or he will think you are nagging again.


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## Shelbi 7 (Aug 2, 2007)

Procrastination in our house by my husband started a few years ago and has gotten worse. Even though I ask nicely and do not demand, certain things that only he can do for instance,(put the ceiling fans in that he promised the children for 2 years or the replacement window that was purchased 1 1/2 years ago which still sits in the garage or the new dryer in the box that sat in the carport for a year and then on the front porch for a few months which thank goodness we live in woods so no one saw it unless the came to the door but still.... I do whatever I can physically do after I 've asked & asked. It seems as if there is no motivation. Oh I did suggest to have a contractor come to do it, but I think he feels I never would. But right now there are so many projects that are not getting done and I know it is not free time he has that, because he spends a great deal of time tinkering on his personal new acquired hobbies, (welding, forums, conversing with friends doing them favors, etc....) I even cleaned gutters( while he stood by his shop talking with his friend )last fall because I was concerned of them just falling off the house and then becoming a bigger problem and expense.....I do everything my children and my spouse wants done and I do it before my own stuff needs to get done.....I hope your husband doesn't get to this.... it does hurt after all these years of doing for my family especially when he and the children are put first by me since day 1. GOOD LUCK


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