The Psychology of Procrastination: Why we put things off and how to stop?
Ever thought the work you are doing today was to be done yesterday? None of us is immune to the habit of procrastination; sometimes, we deliberately avoid the work, whereas sometimes don’t seem to realise we are procrastinating.
Procrastination is an act of delaying and putting off tasks until the last minute of the deadline or past deadlines. Many researchers have studied procrastination and what leads us to procrastinate. But first, let’s understand how procrastination is a psychological phenomenon.
Remember when you thought of cleaning the room in the afternoon when you return from work, and then later, feeling tired and thinking ‘I will clean the room tomorrow’? So yeah, these psychological factors such as Lack of motivation, expectancy, value and time determine people’s procrastination behaviour.
Until the deadline comes near, we often believe there is still time for that task; we don’t feel a sense of motivation and value for that particular task.
There are many reasons for procrastination and in this article, we will learn about them:
Stress and Fear of Failure
Researchers have also suggested that procrastination occurs as a method to avoid stress and use it as a coping method. The stress and fear of making mistakes often cause people to delay their work until it comes compulsory. Therefore, it has nothing to do with your ability to work, your willpower or your focus; it is the fear of failure, the anxiety you feel when doing something important.
Lack of Confidence and Self-Belief
No one wants to make a fool of themselves in front of their colleagues, friends and family. So, when we don’t believe in ourselves and lack the faith to do a task correctly, we avoid them. Why would we put ourselves through the misery of doing something wrong? It’s better to do nothing at all. Such a mindset can also lead to procrastination.
ADHD and Distraction
People who suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a neurodevelopment disorder that causes people difficulty paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviour, or becoming overactive, are more likely to become a procrastinator. They have difficulty of focus on one task and get distracted easily, like; while completing a report, they will be lured into social media or start cooking when they feel the urge to eat.
However, there is nothing wrong with procrastination because it can be controlled, and you are not alone who procrastinates; research done by a PhD at the University of Calgary found that 80-95% of college students are procrastinators.
So now Let’s learn some practical steps to avoid procrastination or to overcome them:
A. Break Down the Task
Say we have a project to complete; break it down into several short tasks before doing anything. Smaller tasks seem much easier, and by doing so, we will have the upper hand on completing the task, and the chance will be high to overcome procrastination.
B. Using Pomodoro Technique
Many of us may have heard about this technique; it is a tomato shape clock which helps us set a timer to complete tasks in time. You work for 25 minutes and then take 5 minutes break, and during each time block of 25 minutes, you focus on just one small task. When we sit to complete a project by setting a time of 5 hours, we are most likely to bail out, but for 25 minutes, it seems a short period of time which helps us be more focused, and the break of 5 minutes acts as a reward that helps us maintain our motivation.
C. Set the Bar Low
Setting low goals than we are capable of doing can also be an effective way to overcome procrastination. For example: If we set an expectation of running for about 8km per day, it is most likely we won’t have the time or will to do so, but when reducing the bar to 1km, we can not only make it happen but make it a regular habit because now the work seems less and the goal is also easy to achieve. Higher expectations can lead to stress and anxiety, which can cause us to bail out or delay the task.
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D. Increase the Value of the tasks
When the task we are set to do has less value in our life, we delay them and don’t have the will to do them. People are more likely to do things they enjoy rather than what they loathe. So, we can simply put more value to the task to avoid procrastination. For example: by adding a reward to your task, after completing the project, you can have a tasty meal or spend the rest afternoon with friends. These types of rewards will help increase our motivation and wiliness to complete the task.
There are many different ways to overcome procrastination and it mostly depends on the person and their personality. As said before, procrastination can be caused by different phenomena and the above-mentioned solutions can work for some or not.
At last, it is for yourself to find the cause and the solution. Don’t forget, without your first step nothing can be achieved and if you are reading this article, you have taken the first step.
