A lot of us start the new year with good intentions, but sooner or later we run into that big roadblock to progress called procrastination. There are several terms in Japanese that mean more or less 'to procrastinate':
- 後回しにする (あとまわしにする atomawashi ni suru) - to put to the back (of the order), to put off. Noun: 後回し (atomawashi) - without the 'nisuru'
- 先送りにする (さきおくりにする sakiokuri ni suru) - to delay, to push forward (into the future) Noun: 先送り (sakiokuri) - without the 'nisuru'
- 先延ばしする (さきのばしする sakinobashi suru) - similar in meaning to 先送りにする, means more to delay or extend (into the future). Noun: 先延ばし (sakinobashi) - without the 'suru'.
But is there a noun like pronounciation that describes the habit of doing all of the above? None really come to mind. You could describe your habit of procrastinating like this:
何でも後回しにする癖があります。 (なんでもあとまわしにするくせがあります。 Nandemo atomawashi ni suru kuse ga arimasu.)
(I) have the habit (癖 くせ kuse) of putting everything (何でも なんでも nandemo) off.
A related term is 優柔不断 (ゆうじゅうふだん yuujuufudan) - to be indecisive.
(Note: I have been very busy lately, and am going to be way more busy for at least a couple of months. I'm struggling a bit to keep up with everything; I don't want to abandon this blog again but posting frequency may become slower. I will try to keep up with the short lessons on Twitter though.)
