How much do you know about procrastination

I’m literally the best version of my own best friend, I talk to myself in all tones, warn or congratulate myself, share inside jokes with myself and laugh out loud, I mean, I literally act like I am two persons within me. It’s been raining the whole night here and I woke up to a very ‘ugly’ weather out there and talked to my friend within me told her she doesn’t have to face it I can still be productive at home (watching series, write something, clean up my space and stare at the world from my window).

Have you ever sat down to perform some task and suddenly found yourself checking if the dog is fed, what series in new on netflix, who is live on instagram or stand up to dust your kitchen surfaces and end up not finishing your task? I don’t know about you but I have always postponed a number of things including my dream. Are you comfortable realizing that this is failure of self regulation?

Well, the only thing I haven’t mentioned is that I had a plan for today which obviously has been postponed and this got me thinking how much do I really know about PROCRASTINATING. Most of us postpone or avoid tasks intentionally for hopefully good reasons like you are not sure, need more information or fear making mistakes which can be avoided by buying more time or you are ready to face the negative consequences rather than doing what you are uncomfortable with, but how about when these intentional delays become habitual? This is a common human experience which includes even putting off salient tasks that may cost us a lifetime.However, to some extent it is normal to procrastinate especially because you will prioritize less time consuming or easier tasks on truly valued tasks which involves a lot of research and decision making.

Anxiety is my major reason for procrastinating. Damn!! that thing literally makes me stop thinking and as the deadline for the task gets closer I get stressed and mostly procrastinate further to avoid this stress. Good thing I know I’m not alone and I still know that that doesn’t make me right. However, anxiety will cause people to delay only if they are not impulsive and therefore if we are on the team trying to stop procrastinating impulsiveness should be our focus.

Cognitive dissonance is another reason why people procrastinate where we are constantly seeking internal psychological consistency by reducing the contradiction triggered by our personal beliefs and the perceived new information about a task or plan. Other people procrastinate because they are perfectionists and keep on criticizing their work, have plenty of time or just for fun where the procrastinator would rather be doing anything fun except that one dreaded task.

I should be allowed (by who though?) to say as simple as the word might sound it is a mysterious force that keeps people from completing urgent and important tasks in their lives for no compelling reasons and may bring adverse effects to us in this generation where the world is so competitive and every missed opportunity is actually lost due to high demand. We need to be impulsive and better decision makers when it comes to things that really matter to us like academic assignments, appointments, important meetings, health related matters, opportunities etc. While your peers are progressing, prolonged procrastination can lead to procrastinators going through social stigma as a result of the belief that task-aversion is caused by laziness, lack of willpower or low ambition. In turn, this may lead to severe negative impacts such as depression, low self esteem and insomnia.

Good news is that you can reduce procrastination by being aware of your habits that make you to postpone tasks, better time management, self evaluation by understanding your strengths and weaknesses, discipline, setting realistic goals and tackling tasks in bits that are manageable to you keeping time in mind.

I would like you to check something quite interesting about procrastination by Tim Urban (master procrastinator), who runs the blog Wait But Why. He created a comic with Simpsons explaining inside the brain of a procrastinator here http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html and also gave a TED Talk https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator?language=en where he talks about how he did not begin writing a thesis until 72 hours before it was due.

“So the weather became beautiful huh!” my best friend is asking cause I’m headed out to start it.

Procrastination is the thief of time; year after year it steals until all are fled.

Edward Young, Night thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality I, 1, 393

Miss curiosity.