Have you ever delayed something that you really needed to finish? Perhaps you’ve even said something along the lines of “It’s fine, I’ll just do it later” or “I still have enough time anyway”. That is, until you realise that you almost have absolutely no time left for what needed to be finished. This constant delaying is known as procrastination, something that could have a very firm grasp on people to the point of affecting productivity. Kendra Cherry in her ‘verywell mind’ website article “What Is Procrastination?” perfectly describes procrastination as “the act of delaying or putting off tasks until the last minute, or past their deadline”. It is the bane of anybody with a deadline and the killer or inhibitor of productivity as we are distracted from doing the things that we know we have to do. Why do we procrastinate?
As a Psychology Today online article puts it, tasks are avoided or put aside due to a belief that we will not enjoy doing them, the want to avoid making ourselves unhappy, or the fear of not being able to do the tasks well. It’s also mentioned in the article that procrastination may occur because of how complicated a task is or when there are feelings of being overly distracted or fatigued. These feelings could especially arise when the workload continues to get heavier, possibly being the reason as to why one might choose to suddenly start doing chores instead of focusing on a term paper, or browsing the web for something completely unrelated to the work – or a school-related task that was initially being worked on.
Another Psychology Today article written by Daniel Marston titled “Why We Procrastinate” says that anxiety related to finishing tasks remains low until anxiety about not meeting a deadline overtakes it. This leads us to procrastinate due to not being concerned enough about not getting the task done on time. The same article also suggests that the “delay reduction theory” may also help explain procrastination, which “suggests that human and nonhuman animals find behaviors reinforcing when they complete them closer to the deadlines.”
Not procrastinating or avoiding the act is certainly easier said than done, especially as it can prove to be extremely difficult to fight off. A great piece of advice from the YouTube Channel Better Ideas suggests in a video that one can remove all distractions that may be surrounding someone, effectively using boredom (which is both the problem and solution) as the task would be the only thing left to do. Specifically: “Eliminate your ability to do anything other than the thing that you need to do, and you will do it”. Moreover, one of the best pieces of advice that I have ever received from a teacher regarding procrastination is to just do it and feel the relief of a task crossed off the list. Keeping a task at bay and doing something to forget about it can temporarily keep a person at ease. However, doing what needs to be done, even if it means doing something a bit at a time, can bring a task much closer to completion rather than doing nothing at all.
Procrastination can present a difficult battle for anyone who needs to complete a task, regardless of what it is. Although it is always much easier to avoid doing something or putting it off and deciding on play over work, doing something as soon as possible can help in getting rid of a lingering anxiety, the nagging reminder at the back of one’s mind. When we finish or continuously work towards finishing a task, we can forgo the sense of worry and move on as relief comes knowing that one has nothing more or has one less thing to worry about.
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