What is Procrastination?

        Procrastination is a common problem for many people. It can be a result of a variety of motivations, including:

• I'm so busy with work right now.

• I'm not in the mood.

• I don't have time to worry about it.

• It's not urgent enough to worry about.

• It's better to let it go and move on with my life.

        The problem here is that once you set out to pick one of these, you are stuck in that behavior all day long and don't see the point in changing it or at least doing something different when nothing is urgent at all (as we have seen above). To make things worse, procrastination can lead to poor academic performance which may be linked to poor self-compassion by many psychologists and neuroscientists (who believe our minds are wired differently from others). And procrastination can lead to more stress associated with procrastination which may be linked to more feelings of low self-compassion (which frequently leads to worse self-management).

        One thing that is definitely true though, is that procrastination does not come without consequence. Procrastination will inevitably lead people into greater stress and negative feelings than they would otherwise experience; as well as become less effective at managing their emotions overall (which should not inspire much optimism either). People who do not manage their emotions well will also tend toward higher levels of stress and negative feelings than they would otherwise experience; as well as become less effective at managing their emotions overall (which should not inspire much optimism either).

The Effects of Procrastination

        The negative effects of procrastination include poor academic performance, higher levels of stress associated with procrastination may be linked to poor self-compassion. Procrastination promotes negative feelings. Procrastination may have a genetic component. Procrastination is self-defeating behavior.

 The Causes of Procrastination

        Procrastination is simply the act of delaying or putting off a task. It is the act of choosing to do something instead of doing nothing.

Although procrastination can be seen in various forms (e.g., academic, financial, and interpersonal), it is typically associated with laziness and self-defeating behavior. In this sense, procrastination is more about habits than specific behaviors. Procrastination has been linked to a variety of factors, including poor academic performance, increased stress associated with high levels of procrastination, and negative feelings and behaviors (e.g., failure). Research has found that if you have a tendency to procrastinate, then you may also have excessive guilt or anxiety about not accomplishing things. This may cause you to avoid future work by postponing tasks until later in the day or taking a break before starting them. In addition, people who are naturally inclined to procrastinate are less likely than others to use strategies such as discipline or effortful mental work on tasks that require effort.

        As a result of these factors, procrastination can lead to poor academic performance. A study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences found that students who performed better academically than their peers did so because they were good at managing their time and prioritizing their activities (e.g., writing papers over studying for exams). The study also found that individuals who were less successful academically did so because they performed poorly on measures such as decision making and self-control (which are more difficult for students). When being interviewed by an interviewer following one's grades in school, students who had withdrawn from school because they were failing frequently mentioned that they had not had enough time for themselves because they did too much work; parents believed that this was due to their children's lack of interest in schoolwork; teachers believed it was due to lack of motivation; and students believed it was due to lack of effort on their part (Kepple et al., 2013).

        The other type of procrastination focuses on the avoidance of doing something instead of doing nothing—actual avoidance rather than postponement—and leads to behaviors such as checking email or social media sites continuously while trying hard not to think about important things like homework or assignments (“doing nothing”) instead of actually doing something productive with your time (“going out”). This type of avoidance is usually called “overcoming boredom” or “ch

 How to Deal with Procrastination

        Procrastination is really hard to deal with, especially when you are a person who has to work very hard in a very demanding job. It can be downright unhealthy, particularly when it goes unnoticed and results in burnout. Procrastination can lead to poor academic performance.

It leads people to not get their degree and they often lack the skills they need to succeed in their career.

It may even promote negative feelings, like anxiety or depression.

It may have a genetic component (the tendency to procrastinate appears in the early stages of some neurobiological disorders).

And so on and so forth.

The underlying causes are complex and difficult to study scientifically, but there are some things you can do to reduce risks:

• Just stop procrastinating: that is, stop doing something which has already been done or which you know others will have done (although it’s not as simple as that – see below for more). You should watch out for similar situations where your friends seem to procrastinate too much or do the same things you do – if you feel it is the case, stand up for yourself and tell them not only why you don’t want to start doing something because they did it first but also why they shouldn’t start doing it at all (and if they won’t listen, leave!). There are many different ways of doing this: #1 Daily reminder; #2 Email; #3 GPS; #4 Gchat; #5 Twitter; et al. If you don’t want to give them any indication of your feelings on the matter, simply tell them that you prefer not starting work on something because someone else did first instead of saying “I don’t want this project because someone else started first!” This will hopefully have the desired effect by making them realize that procrastination isn’t just a bad habit – it could actually be problematic for their future success! Of course, if there is no other option available then just say “Sorry I can’t start now but my colleagues always do x before I try x so I would prefer not starting now either!” But again this approach requires that there is no other choice available (otherwise it would be an excuse). Another advantage of telling people about your decision-making process rather than telling them about your behavior is that it makes procrastination less about guilt (it usually matters less what someone did

Conclusion

    Procrastination is a major problem in the workplace and a major cause of low performance in academic, professional, and managerial jobs. Its consequences for health can be devastating.

But, we’re not procrastinators. We are people who love to work hard and are almost always busy. We have no interest in procrastinating. If you’re like most people, you’ve probably had this experience: you set out to do something that is important to you but you get sidetracked, or distracted, or procrastinate on it — because the world keeps throwing up new things that need doing and so your attention gets scattered by all these distractions.

        In the pursuit of something important and timely, we end up wasting our time doing things that don’t matter as much as we thought they did — or else we may not be doing anything at all because there are too many other tasks competing for our attention — which leads to another problem: bad self-compassion. Procrastinating is a habit that may help people relax more easily (they can let go of their worries) and cope better with stress (they can let go of what they don’t want to do). They may also feel happier about themselves (with less anxiety). But procrastination does have its dark side. Here are some warning signs:

• It makes problems worse – when you procrastinate on something important, it becomes easier to do it later on when you need time to clear your head; this usually results in more mistakes being made then necessary (which further worsens the situation).

• It doesn’t help solve the problem – before long your mind is on other matters instead of the task at hand; this prevents the task from getting done right away.

• You feel miserable – if your mind starts wandering while you try to do something urgent or exciting, it can make you unhappy; this increases stress levels which leads to depression.

• You suffer from poor self-esteem – if you're feeling stressed out while trying to complete an important task, it brings down your self-esteem; this leads you to think less of yourself than usual and causes depression or even suicide attempts if done often enough (and possibly carried out successfully).

• You don't perform well – if doing something urgent or exciting gets thrown off schedule by a day's worth of procrastination then your performance suffers; this


By: Samra Badal 

The writer is a student at Ruzhn English Language Center Bugh Meeri 

Turbat Kech Balochistan