Procrastination
Introduction
Did you know that people usually don’t procrastinate because they care too little about something, but instead because they care too much? Procrastination is the action of unnecessarily delaying or postponing doing something(like work) even though you know you should be doing it. Almost everybody in the world suffers from procrastination, it’s simply human nature. In this blog, we will be going over what procrastination is, understanding it, and learning how to fight it.
How it happens
As said before, procrastination is when you delay tasks and put them aside to complete other tasks. It’s not just simply being lazy or being bad at time management, more like a complex behavior that roots from our psychology in the human brain. The general idea of procrastinating is that you put aside what you need to do, so you can focus on what you want to do.
When we’re procrastinating, our mind is going through a battle between 2 parts of the brain. These parts are the prefrontal cortex & the limbic system. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that deals with responsibilities, planning, decision-making, & self-control. It’s the part of your brain that tells you that you have a project due in 3 days and prompts you to start working on it. On the other hand, the limbic system is the part of your brain that deals with your pleasure desires. It’s the part of your brain that wants to do whatever makes you happy.
Even though your prefrontal cortex is telling you that you have a massive project due in 3 days (that you’ve barely made progress on), your limbic system is telling you that finishing up the game you were playing—-will feel much better. Since your brain does end up feeling more pleasure, the limbic system will be the more favorable winner a lot of times.
The consequences.
Procrastinating can come with big consequences. A big consequence of procrastinating overtime is chronic procrastination. Chronic procrastination is when the habit of procrastination becomes a regular basis, & it begins to get in the way of sufficiently getting work & affecting your overall life.
Chronic procrastination is linked to many negative behavioral psychological outcomes, such as:
–Low self esteem:
Constantly putting big tasks aside can leave you feeling like you are not good enough & make you doubt yourself. When you’re struggling to finish or submit tasks/goals on time, it can make you lose confidence in your ability to complete work.
–Bad performance:
Procrastination can lead to poor performance if you’re not finishing tasks up on time. Like in this case, If you procrastinate a lot in school (failing to meet deadlines, doing work last minute, etc..), your grades will likely reflect on how you handle your procrastination. When you’re rushing to do work at the last minute, you will probably have less quality/effort put into your task and therefore you will perform more poorly on it & get a bad grade.
–Depression:
The guilt/stress you feel from procrastinating can accumulate and catch up to your mental state. The more work you pile up while procrastinating, can cause you to have anxiety and put pressure on you the more you don’t start them sooner. If the pressure and anxiety keep building up, it can lead you to feel hopeless that you will not be able to finish & cause you to be upset at yourself.
Learn more about the consequences of procrastination in this video: What Happens When You Procrastinate Too Much
Why the cycle repeats
The reason why we keep procrastinating over and over again is because of the way our brain perceives procrastination. When we finish work at the last minute, our brain receives a spike of dopamine & a sense of euphoria from completing the task under the pressure of doing it at the last minute.
Because we feel that dopamine & euphoria spike, it leaves an impression in our brain that procrastination is a “good” thing & it will likely repeat doing it the next time you have to complete work & put it aside. Additionally, since the pleasurable act we are favoring over work also makes us feel good, it will boost your psychological likelihood of procrastinating again the next chance you get.
Procrastinating can make you think you are doing something good for yourself because you feel pleasure from procrastinating. When we’re putting what we need to do aside to do something we enjoy, our brain thinks it’s doing the right thing because you’re feeling better.
The sense of euphoria you feel when you complete the work that’s piled up last-minute also reinforces your brain to think that you just did something amazing, & will positively associate procrastination as a “positive” thing. So even though you know procrastination is not good for you, your brain perceives it differently from you.
How to fight procrastination
Even though procrastination is one of the toughest struggles that almost everyone goes through, there are definitely several ways to beat it.
–Give yourself a tangible outcome in which you can see yourself finishing that task that you’re trying to complete. A research study conducted in 2011 showed that a group of people who were shown what they would look like were more likely to say that they would save money towards retirement, than compared to those who were not shown the picture. If you can visualize yourself completing a task, visualizing yourself at the finish line, you are more likely to work yourself towards that goal.
–Breaking a large task down into smaller tasks and taking it one step at a time will put your mind at better ease to make the bigger picture seem more achievable when it comes to completing it than if you tried to complete the picture all at once.
For example, if you’re doing a 700 word essay, it’d be easier to break the 700 words down by telling yourself to break the one big 700-word essay into smaller 150-word paragraphs. Yes, it’s the same thing, but if you struggle at looking at the bigger picture, it could put your mind at ease & help you complete the task easier.
–Think about why you’re procrastinating. Ask yourself what the root of your procrastination is. If you’re able to identify the reason for your procrastination, you will better be able to tackle the procrastination itself. Sometimes it’s just easier for the brain to tackle procrastination when we’re aware of why we’re even setting the task aside.
For example, let’s say you’re on the game & you have an assignment due at 10:00 PM and you continue to procrastinate by playing the game. If you take a moment to be mindful as to why you’re procrastinating, you would understand that you’re likely procrastinating just because you want to have more fun by playing the game. With that awareness in mind, you can take steps to overcome the reason for your current procrastination.
Conclusion
Procrastination can have depreciating effects on your work ethic and overall life, but it’s normal. Everybody goes through procrastination in their life. In this blog, we went over what procrastination is, & understanding it. We also talked about why it continues, & came up with solutions on how to fight it. We discussed that continuous procrastination can overtime lead to chronic procrastination, which can lead to negative effects such as low self esteem, depression, & poor performance.
Now that you’ve read your way around procrastination and how it works, do you think you’re ready to fight your procrastination the next time you’re faced with it?
Sources
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/procrastination