To Procrastinate or not to Procrastinate? Part 1…

To Procrastinate or not to Procrastinate? 

That … wait a minute. I can’t possibly work on this dusty laptop. I need to clean it first.

Oh no. My computer screen is so grotty; the carpet is filthy; and I’m not even going to describe the current state of the window tracks. Like, so gross! But if I do those things first, then I will be able to get my blog done.

Sound familiar? The ridiculous thing is that I have been procrastinating over writing this procrastination blog. Sigh! But enough is enough damn it so here goes!

The Cambridge dictionary defines procrastination as: 

“To keep delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring”.

The urban dictionary gives us a few interesting definitions for procrastination, including: 

“I’ll put up a definition later” 

OR

“What you’re probably doing right now” 

OR

“The act of going on urbandictionary to merely look up the word ‘procrastination’, and then go further and define it, whilst knowing that you’re wasting time and need to be getting shit done”.

In traditional Chinese characters it is 拖延 and in Pīn Yīn it is Tuō Yán which essentially translates as “to delay; to put off; to procrastinate”.

However, I like 拖延戰術 (Tuō Yán Zhàn Shù) which translates as “delaying tactics” or “deliberate procrastination”.

Whilst procrastinating from writing this blog I came across these humorous cartoon jokes:

I am the List Maker and Sidetracker.

I even checked to see if my bitmoji had suggestions. Alas it did not so I tried to create some using the word procrastination, but it wouldn’t let me because the word was too long. Then I did a synonym search on procrastination and my favourite was “Dilly Dally”. I then typed Dilly Dally into bitmoji and scrolled through the various options until I found these beauties.

I also found these cute puppies. 

If procrastination is something you struggle with then what can you do about it? Perhaps you don’t have a problem with procrastinating but family members, friends and even patients do. Therefore, I am going to run through a range of different treatment strategies to help aid you in your life and clinic.

When I think about the term procrastination, and the various definitions, it seems to me that it is more likely a Xū (Deficient/虛) or Zhì (Stagnation/滯) pattern, primarily because it involves avoiding tasks. A Deficient person might delay the task because their brain isn’t recalling learnt information, thought processes are unclear and they are too tired to complete the task anyway. A Stagnant person might have a brain that is struggling to sort through the hundreds of different ideas that are popping into their heads. But a Stagnant brain might also be similar to the Deficient one because the Stagnation is creating stuck thinking. A Stagnant person may also feel more energised when they are active, therefore they step away from the task at hand to move around/get the Stagnation unstuck.

I wouldn’t discount a Shí (Excess/实) pattern either, so with that in mind we would need to look more closely at these three possibilities.

When diagnosing the cause of the procrastination it is important to get the patient to explain what happens to them prior to the task being delayed indefinitely. Get them to outline the steps. What happens in their brain? What triggers the event? What occurs immediately after they cease the task? What happens an hour or two after the initial delay of the task? 

Assuming the patient is honest and can get the information across to you clearly enough, you should have enough to go on for a diagnosis. Assuming you did a full case history with the patient anyway, then you should be able to diagnose:

• The organ/s responsible
• The Element Archetype affected
• The Spirit involved
• Whether it is an Excess, Deficient, Stagnant, or a mixed condition.

From there, your acupuncture point combination (APC) treatment can be constructed. We will discuss a lot of this in part 2 of this blog, which will follow in the next week or two.

From experience, the most likely diagnosis is Spleen Qì Xū, with a weakness in their Earth Archetype and Yì/Thought/Intellect. One of the quickest ways to determine if this is the case is to ask them what they do as soon as they start to procrastinate. In order for this to be a little clearer I have given each patient type a label:

• Twice (Sometimes Thrice) Daily Naps Are My Thing Baby
• The Proactive Autopilot
• I Am Getting So Much Done – Just Not The Thing I Should Have Done
• The Shop Till You Drop.

Twice (Sometimes Thrice) Daily Naps Are My Thing Baby

Do they veg out on the couch or lay down for a quick nap daily? Is it hard to focus on tasks? Does their brain seem empty and/or wander away from the activity at hand? Do they lack motivation to make meals, clean, tidy? Do they lack motivation period?

If they say yes to these, then it is almost definitely a Deficiency and probably Spleen Qì Xū, with a weakness in the Earth Archetype and Yì/Thought/Intellect. To treat, I would recommend the following in table 1:

Table 1. Deficiency Acupuncture Point Combination
Location of Point	Point Name	Reasoning
Head/Face/Neck	GV 20	Draws Vital Substances up into the head, Shén, Yì
Trunk (Front)	KI 23 CV 12 LR 13	Earth point on the Kidney Spirit Gate Front Mù Collecting point of the Stomach Front Mù Collecting point of the Spleen
Trunk (Back)	BL 49	Yì Outer Urinary Bladder channel point
Legs/Feet	SP 2 SP 3 ST 36 ST 41	Mother (tonifying) point on the Spleen channel Horary point (Earth on Earth) Horary point (Earth on Earth) Mother (tonifying) point on the Stomach channel
Total points needled	16 points used bilaterally

The Proactive Autopilot

If, however, they get proactive (just not on the task they need to be working on) they will typically choose tasks that they can do without thinking. Essentially brainless activities where they are active but not using any brain power and minimal body energy too. Stuff like vacuuming the floor, tidying the kitchen, hanging out the washing – that sort of thing. The trick here though is to ask them if these activities are ones they do on a daily-weekly basis so they can go on autopilot. If they say yes, then it is almost definitely a Deficiency or a Stagnation. To determine which one, ask the patient if they are energised after the activity or if they are drained. If they are energised, it’s probably Stagnation and likely a Liver Qì Stagnation, with an imbalance in the Wood Archetype and Hún/Ethereal Soul/Heavenly Soul.

If they are drained, then it’s likely a Deficiency. The treatment for Deficiency is in table 1 above. The treatment for Stagnation is in table 2:

NOTE: It is important to identify if their autopilot actions are regular and consistent because if they are not, then it may be that they are in the Excess category discussed later (‘I Am Getting So Much Done – Just Not The Thing I Should Have Done’).

Table 2. Stagnation Acupuncture Point Combination
Location of Point	Point Name	Reasoning
Trunk (Front)	KI 26 LR 14	Wood point on the Kidney Spirit Gate Front Mù Collecting point of the Liver
Trunk (Back)	BL 18 BL 19 BL 47	Back Shù Transporting point of the Liver Back Shù Transporting point of the Gall Bladder Hún Outer Urinary Bladder channel point
Legs/Feet	LR 1 LR 3 GB 41	Horary point (Wood on Wood) Yuán Source point of the Liver Horary point (Wood on Wood)
Total points needled	16 points used bilaterally

I Am Getting So Much Done – Just Not The Thing I Should Have Done

The other possibility is that they suddenly become fascinated with cleaning cobwebs off ceilings or getting dust and old fly guts out of the window tracks. Then clean the windows while they are at it, and the overgrown garden they see outside the now clean window just won’t do, so they spend their one weekend of the year in the garden. These people are doing different/unusual tasks that use up brain power as well as body energy. 

If they say yes to these, then it is almost definitely an Excess or Stagnant disorder. To determine which one, ask them a series of questions pointing to either the Stomach (Excess) or Liver (Excess or Stagnant). The treatment for Stagnation is in table 2 above.

The Stomach Excess is likely to be Stomach Fire Blazing with an overactive Earth Archetype and Yì/Thought/Intellect. To treat, I would recommend the following in table 3:

Table 3. Excess Acupuncture Point Combination
Location of Point	Point Name	Reasoning
Head/Face/Neck	ST 8	Clears Excess from the head, Shén and Yì
Trunk (Back)	BL 20 BL 21 BL 49	Back Shù Transporting point of the Spleen Back Shù Transporting point of the Stomach Yì Outer Urinary Bladder channel point
Legs/Feet	SP 3 SP 5 ST 36 ST 45	Horary point (Earth on Earth) Child (sedating) point on the Spleen channel Horary point (Earth on Earth) Child (sedating) point on the Stomach channel
Total points needled	16 points used bilaterally

The Shop Till You Drop

This one could be an Excess, Stagnant or Deficient person. The treatment for Deficiency is in table 1. The treatment for Stagnation is in table 2 above. The treatment for Excess is in table 3 above. 

This is part 1 of my procrastination blog. When I stop procrastinating, I will complete part 2.

Part 2 will discuss the relationships that procrastination can have with other mental and emotional imbalances. I will also look at the Five Element Archetypes, Five Spirits and Organs in more detail, particularly how each can look in relation to procrastination:

• Wood Element Archetype/Hún/Liver and Gall Bladder
• Fire Element Archetype/Shén/Heart, Pericardium, Small Intestine and Triple Energiser
• Earth Element Archetype/Yì/Spleen and Stomach
• Metal Element Archetype/Pò/Lung and Large Intestine
• Water Element Archetype/Zhì/Kidney and Urinary Bladder.

More cute puppies:

I’m outta here – life awaits!

Love and light to you all

David Hartmann

References:

1. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/procrastinate
2. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=procrastination
3. https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=%E6%8B%96%E5%BB%B6
4. https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=+
%E6%8B%96%E5%BB%B6%E6%88%B0%E8%A1%93
5. Owlturd.com
6. https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/505318020662190302/
7. https://www.redbubble.com/i/ipad-case/Procrastinators-unite-tomorrow-by-datthomas/12735218.MNKGF
8 https://pixabay.com/photos/dog-puppy-baby-dog-golden-retriver-4372036/