More than 80% of people put off doing certain jobs until later. Most often it concerns household chores, but it can also include a professional area or education. This behavioral mechanism is not always the result, as some might assume, due to lack of time or laziness.
The student who reschedules homework late into the evening, the student who opens the materials the day before the exam, the businessman preparing for an important meeting the night before, or the housewife who cannot mobilize for weeks to clean the windows - they all have something in common. They become victims of procrastination.
More than 80% of people admit that sometimes they postpone important things, and 15% say that it takes a pathological form and has serious consequences.
The essence of procrastination is that, despite the realization that the task still needs to be completed, and being late can have unpleasant consequences, we completely consciously decide not to do it. There were no serious obstacles on our way, but we do not fulfill our obligations.
Why are we putting things off until later?
When we make a decision to do something, two centers fight in our brain - the limbic system, which is stimulated by receiving rewards and tunes us to seek pleasure, and the frontal lobes, which are responsible for rational thinking.
Classical procrastination is based on the fact that instead of anticipating, planning, or fulfilling previous promises, we decide to choose the activity we like best. This does not necessarily mean choosing something objectively beautiful or interesting. Situations when someone does not fulfill a promised project and instead goes on vacation are not so common. Much more often you have to take on other work, an example of which is the well-known rush to clean the apartment during the exam.
Procrastination - laziness, lifestyle, or maybe a mental disorder?
It was found that procrastination behavior is more pronounced in young people. However, this is not a generational mechanism, but age. First, children and adolescents have the weakest self-control because their brains are still developing. Secondly, with age, the human approach to timing and planning for change - the more we realize the fragility of life, the less things we want to put off.
What we once called laziness or irresponsibility has now taken on a wise and professional name. However, thanks to the fact that scientists have taken up this topic, they have discovered many interesting facts about procrastination, for example:
It is associated with certain innate personality traits, including neuroticism and low levels of consciousness.
Over the past 20 years, the level of procrastination in society has grown rapidly, due to the large number of external stimuli and the constant availability of electronic devices.
It can be triggered by fear of failure and then takes the form of self-restraint - leaving too little time for ourselves to complete a task can justify ourselves if something goes wrong.
Sometimes it is the result, but also the cause of certain psychiatric disorders, such as anxiety or depression.
Together with feelings of guilt, this creates a vicious circle in which negative emotions caused by non-fulfillment of obligations are tried to calm down, striving for enjoyable activities and postponing obligations again.
How to deal with procrastination?
Coping with procrastination isn't always easy, but admitting it is the first step to change. It can sometimes be very helpful to see a psychologist or start therapy. This is especially recommended for those people whose procrastination behavior is associated with intense anxiety, self-obstruction, or other self-esteem defense mechanisms. In such cases, it is often worth digging deeper to find the cause of the condition, which may be a violation of self-esteem.
However, anyone familiar with the problem of procrastination should:
- make yourself action plans (weekly or monthly),
- set a priority list,
- use the reminder function on your phone,
- use small rewards after completing a difficult task,
- use the "sandwich method" - alternately perform difficult and pleasant tasks,
- ask a loved one for support or accounting,
- take a minute every morning to think about the day and what you want to do on it,
- don't feel guilty if you are unable to do certain things due to lack of time,
- to visualize the future that could happen if we complete a given task - it has been proven that people who imagined their slim figure were more motivated to exercise.
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