2 Procrastination Types: Which One Are YOU!?

Wanna know about the 2 major procrastination types, and why one of them makes you feel like a smart adult trapped in a toddler’s body? This post is dedicated to helping you figure out which of the two procrastination types you are, so you stop self-trolling yourself into a shame spiral and start moving again with clear-headed rationality, no matter which type you are.

Let’s not sugarcoat it: nothing stings like knowing exactly what to do, and still watching yourself not do it. You “research”, you tidy one random drawer, you open a new tab, and then you hate yourself for wasting time. Meanwhile, your inner voice turns into a drill sergeant and starts calling you lazy, useless, broken, dramatic, all of it. But what it truly is about is this: you’re a normal, decent, feeling human being with a nervous system that’s trying to keep you safe.

What you’re going to learn is how procrastination types split into two patterns, and how each one needs a totally different strategy. You’ll spot the situational procrastinator who dodges unpleasant chores, and the chronic procrastinator who gets emotionally hijacked by dread, pressure, shame, or the self-doubt roundabout.

After you have learned to decode what your procrastination is protecting you from, you’ll be able to lower the threat, stop bulldozing yourself out of pride, and build a SLAY & PLAY loop that rewards effort without wrecking your adulting life.

This post is all about the 2 major procrastination types, so you can stop fighting your brain and instead, start outsmarting it.

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Procrastination Types

Let’s start with a strong stance, shall we? Procrastination types are NOT personality flaws. Instead, they’re safety strategies, coping mechanisms. When a task feels like pain, danger, rejection, failure, humiliation, or even just emotional discomfort, your nervous system reads it like a threat and reaches for relief. That relief often looks like distraction, because distraction gives a quick dopamine hit and makes you feel safer for a moment.

So the real problem is not you being “lazy”. The real problem is you treating your threat response like a moral failure, then attacking yourself with drill-sergeant energy, which raises the threat even more. That’s WHY punishment not only backfires, but keeps the loop of not getting shit done IN TACT.

The counterintuitive move is to CARE plus strategy. You use dopamine like a carrot, not a whip. You SLAY, then you PLAY. You earn a reward on purpose, with boundaries, so your brain learns that effort leads somewhere good.

But before we get to Dopamine Dosing, let’s break down the two major procrastination types and the two very different approaches to ‘hack them’.

Type #1: The Situational Procrastinator Who Keeps Dodging The Painful Annoying Stuff

This procrastination type is the classic “ugh, not that” delay. You don’t feel ‘deeply broken’. You just keep putting off the unpleasant things. Laundry. Admin. That confrontational phone call. That email that most likely will cause conflict. The task represents something that predicts PAIN, and your body treats it like mental sandpaper. So you drift toward anything that feels soothing, familiar, or fun.

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What I would like you to consider is that this is not a character defect. Instead, it’s basic biology. Your system wants to avoid PAIN, and it will grab the fastest exit it can find. That’s why you can procrastinate even on things you TRULY want. The goal can resonate and align with you, while the process still feels threatening.

The good news is: situational procrastination responds really well to simple Dopamine Dosing & ‘threat-lowering’. Shrink the task until it stops feeling like a life sentence. It HAS TO feel doable, because your nervous system isn’t easily fooled. Use the simple techniques, like setting a timer so it has a clear endpoint. Remove distractions so the escape hatch is less tempting.

Also, stop staring at outcomes like they’re a courtroom verdict. The moment you obsess over “what if it’s a waste of effort” you spike pressure, and your brain starts signalling red alert again! Focus on the next action, not the final performance.

If your procrastination mostly lives here, you don’t need a personality overhaul. You need a more strategic setup, plus a reward system that makes your nervous system willing to play along. And that’s where Dopamine Dosing comes in:

Hack It With Dopamine Dosing Discipline: Puppy-Train Your Brain Like A Rebel

This is where you neeeeed stop doing productivity like toxic masculinity bootcamp. No more white-knuckling your way through life and then acting shocked when you crash, binge, scroll, or rage-quit your goals. You’re not a machine. Living like one without pleasure is not a sustainable life.

So here’s what we advocate for: instead of punishing yourself, bullying & trash-talking yourself into action, you use planned escapism WITH healthy boundaries. Simpler said: You slay, then you play. You make an effort, and therefore, you earn something you actually want, because dopamine is a driver when you direct it responsibly.

This only works when you set the grown-up guardrails first. It NEEDS to have healthy boundaries, or you risk acting recklessly like addicts. But it should reflect YOUR boundaries, not what society says you ‘should’. YOU decide what your dopamine dose is not allowed to wreck. You choose the opportune moment, so your reward doesn’t sabotage tomorrow. You set parameters, like a timer or a hard stop. Then you do ComeBackPrep, so you can switch back to adulting life without drama.

Do this, and you stop feeling like a rat pressing levers. Instead, you become the one programming the experiment. Effort becomes linked to payoff, not endless suffering. And that shift alone can turn a situational procrastinator into someone who starts, finishes, and actually trusts herself again.

Ready to give the Dopamine Dosing Discipline a try yourself? Sign up for rebellious self-control with this FREE Self-Reward Strategy. Simply fill out the form below:

Type #2: The Chronic Procrastinator Who Involuntarily, but Constantly, Gets Emotionally Hijacked

This procrastination type, unfortunately, isn’t just like “I don’t feel like it”. This is the one where there’s a serious error between intention and action. You can genuinely want something, yet still freeze, drift, or self-sabotage. And it gets nastier, because you tend to interpret it as proof that you’re lazy or broken.

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But what it truly is about is threat. Chronic procrastination is almost always a sheltering harbour away from real or perceived pain. That pain can be fear of judgment, fear of failure, fear of disappointing someone, fear of conflict, or the humiliation of not being perfect. Sometimes it’s big T trauma. Sometimes it’s tiny T trauma, the quieter stuff that wires your body to associate trying with danger.

So quick dopamine tricks can fail here, not because dopamine is “bad”, but because the deeper system is screaming “unsafe”. That’s when your right-brain survival mode takes over, and your left-brain decision-making gets benched. You get the dread trailer. You get pressure, which then turns into harsh self-talk. And it all results in you escaping into something that feels controllable.

This is also where overachievers suffer the most. Because. You refuse to half-ass life. You want to self-actualise & to build a life that feels exciting and aligned. So when you procrastinate, it doesn’t feel like a delay. It feels like self-betrayal. That’s why the self-hate gets so loud.

And that loudness is exactly what keeps you stuck.

Hack It Like A Detective: Investigate The Fear & PAIN, Then Build Self-Control As A Side Mission

Chronic procrastination needs CAREFUL investigation, not punishment. So instead of screaming at yourself to “try harder”, treat your procrastination like evidence. Like you’re a private detective following leads. Every time you avoid something, ask one question: What pain is this protecting me from?

Start with the fear themes. Are you afraid the result will expose you? Are you afraid someone will judge you? Are you afraid you’ll fail publicly? Are you afraid success will raise expectations and trap you in a new standard of performance? Are you afraid you’ll start and then realize you can’t do it perfectly?

Next, try to expose the PAIN, that your nervous system is keeping you safe from. Make the next step small enough that your nervous system stops calling it danger. Also, try to separate outcome from identity. Because a messy draft still means you showed up. It doesn’t mean you are a mess. And please, do not negotiate with your inner drill sergeant like it’s a wise mentor. It’s a panicking child in a uniform.

Then build self-control out on a positive reinforcement model, like it’s your new side quest. Not to become a joyless productivity monk, but to become free. Set a timer sprint. End on purpose, even when it’s unfinished. Then. Reward the progress, instead of perfection. Repeat until your brain learns: effort equals payoff, not humiliation.

That’s how you stop wasting so much of your time on mediocrity. Not by bulldozing yourself, but by making action feel survivable, then reinforcing it until it becomes who you are.

Procrastination Types (Summary)

Key takeaway? The 2 Procrastination types are safety patterns, not moral failures. When a task signals real or perceived pain, your nervous system hunts for relief, and distraction becomes the quick distraction exit. If you attack yourself with drill-sergeant self-talk, you raise the threat, and you procrastinate harder.

The tools depend on your type. If you’re the situational procrastinator, shrink the task, set an endpoint, and use Dopamine Dosing Discipline to reward effort with boundaries. If you’re the chronic procrastinator, investigate the fear like a detective, lower the threat, and treat self-control as a strategic side mission you build through repetition.

Most of all, do not forget to picture the levelled-up version of you: you start sooner, recover faster after a slip, and you stop turning one delayed task into a whole identity crisis.

I wish you rebellious self-control, grounded pride, and the kind of kick-ass confidence that comes from keeping promises to yourself.

This post was all about the 2 major procrastination types, so you can stop fighting your brain and instead, start outsmarting it.

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