The "I'll do it all on vacation" approach is more common than you might think, and I often hear it from family, close friends and friends. I think there are at least two reasons people do this. First: some are very tired during work or don't have the money right now, and the money will come during vacation (when holiday pay is added to their usual salary). The second reason is more dangerous — it's nothing other than a form of procrastination and self-deception.
I clearly don't welcome this approach, and it won't lead to anything good. For one thing, right now you're not doing anything useful for yourself; for another, just imagine how much you'd have to get done in that very vacation and how much you've promised yourself to do over the past six months or even a year. So this situation is deeply unhealthy overall, and I really wouldn't wish anyone to be in it.
Back to our two reasons — busyness/lack of money and procrastination/self-deception: if it's the second, then most likely there's no helping the person; they've chosen that path again. On vacation they'll still do nothing or almost nothing and find excuses for why they didn't. For people stuck with the first reason, there's a chance they do want to do something but genuinely can't. In that case it's worth asking yourself quite different questions, such as: "Where does my personal time and money go?", "Is there another job where I'd have more time?" and the like.
