Procrastination: An Inevitable Nightmare

It’s the middle of the school year, and your teacher assigns you a several-month-long project. You think that’s plenty of time, and you put it off without a worry. After months pass, you only have a couple of weeks left, and you regret not working on it sooner. You feel stressed out, not knowing what to do, so you keep procrastinating. Eventually, the due date is near, and you end up heavily rushing your project. Although you managed to complete your project, you endured so much stress through the process.

 

What is procrastination?

Procrastination is when you unnecessarily delay a task. You’re supposed to work on a homework assignment, but you put it off to watch a movie instead. Or you were supposed to clean your bedroom but you’d rather hang out with your friends. These are simple examples of procrastination, and although they don’t seem to create any lasting harm to your life, long-term procrastination can lead to serious problems in your life. 

How does procrastination affect you?

Procrastination affects many aspects of your life, starting with your mental health. Research suggests that up to 20% of adults are chronic procrastinators, which is linked to symptoms such as anxiety, stress, and depression, along with guilt, and low self-esteem. Not only does procrastination affect your mind, but studies have shown that procrastination also impacts work and personal goals. For students, procrastination leads to poor study habits and poor time-management skills, with 75% of students procrastinating regularly.

Why do people procrastinate?

Procrastination simply occurs because the act of postponing a task is much easier than racking up the self-discipline to actively work on the task. Reasons why we procrastinate include time management issues, the struggle to start a task, anxiety or fear, a distracting environment, or low motivation. Numerous students procrastinate academic tasks as a result of various cognitive distortions they hold, such as overestimating how much time they have left to complete their work, or underestimating how long their work is going to take. 

Many of us (myself included) also procrastinate due to the common belief that we have to feel motivated or be “in the mood” to be able to work on a task at a certain time. I just don’t feel good right now. I’ll be more motivated tomorrow. This is the kind of thinking you might have, but in reality, if you adopt this mindset, you’ll end up never finding the right time to work on the task, and the task never gets done.

How can you reduce procrastination?

Although procrastination may feel like a vicious cycle to many of us, where we feel trapped and can’t prevent the habit, various solutions can aid in eliminating procrastination:

Remove all distractions. Turn off all notifications from social media apps, and go to quiet places such as the library or a coffee shop, where there are no distractions.

Break down the task into small steps. If you feel overwhelmed by the task in front of you, split the task into smaller steps, so that you can complete them one by one without feeling as stressed.

Think positively. Suppress your negative thoughts about the task ahead, and focus on the benefits you will gain from completing the task.

Make a list. Make a to-do list for every task you need to do, and set a deadline for each task. This will help keep you organized and on track.

 

Conclusion

In the modern age, we all have numerous boring day-to-day tasks we need to accomplish, and we tend to procrastinate on them. Sure, procrastinating can temporarily make us happy, but in the long run, our mental health and our lifestyles worsen. So the next time you want to procrastinate on a paper or your work, consider these ways to reduce procrastination. Once you remove this habit from your life, you will save yourself from unwanted stress and anxiety, and gain freedom and happiness.

References:

1. Ferrari, D. J. (2022, June 2). Does technology increase procrastination?. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/still-procrastinating/202206/does-technology-increase-procrastination
2. Johansson, F., Rozental, A., Edlund, K., Côté, P., Sundberg, T., Onell, C., Rudman, A., & Skillgate, E. (2023, January 3). Associations between procrastination and subsequent health outcomes among university students in Sweden. JAMA network open. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9857662/
3. Kendra Cherry, Mse. (2024, July 7). What is procrastination?. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-psychology-of-procrastination-2795944
4. Shatz, I. (n.d.). Why people procrastinate: The psychology and causes of procrastination. Solving Procrastination. Retrieved August 24, 2024, from https://solvingprocrastination.com/why-people-procrastinate/
5. Stockbridge, I. (2023, March 14). What are the effects of procrastination on mental health?. Counselling Directory. https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/memberarticles/what-are-the-effects-of-procrastination-on-mental-health
6. Voge, D. (n.d.). Understanding and overcoming procrastination. Mcgraw Center for Teaching and Learning. Princeton University. Retrieved August 24, 2024, from https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/undergraduates/resources/resource-library/understanding-and-overcoming-procrastination 
7. Why procrastination is detrimental to your life and how to overcome it. Opal. (2023, July 13). https://www.opal.so/blog/why-procrastination-is-detrimental-to-your-life