Procrastinating Like A Pro!

Do you often procrastinate? How does it impact your life? Are you still procrastinating while reading this? Well then you are not alone.

To this present day, while writing this article I have procrastinated ENOUGH that made me delay my work by almost 12hours. I know you must be thinking when did she calculate the time? I did because that's what procrastinators are a pro at!!!

Procrastination has often infected our brains with thoughts that simply enhanced our episodes of imaginary world, cleverly shifting us from the work that ACTUALLY needs to done!!

PROCRASTINATION has typically been defined as a trait or behavioural disposition to postpone or delay performing a task or making decisions (Milgram, Mey-Tal and Levison, 1998).

Several studies have shown found procrastination is prevelant in the general population, chronically affecting a substantial portion of adults as well as graduate and post-graduate students. This phenomenon may have serious consequences on these students, whose lives are characterized by frequent deadlines. It has been reported that the students who rated high on procrastination not only received low grades but also reported high level of stress along with poor self-rated health.

Many individuals, like you and me, get stuck with procrastinating rather than progressing while some other individuals, like your fellow mates or colleagues procrastinated and yet aced their work.

Procrastinators may be categorised into-

• Chronic or Passive Procrastinators who cannot complete anything on time and tend to struggle a lot when it comes to reaching deadlines, making decisions, always being in dilemma, strssing and being anxious of the results of their actions.

• Active Procrastinators who work under pressure and tend to make deliberate decisions to procrastinate; similar to non-procrastinators regarding control of time, self-efficacy beliefs and coping styles.

NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF PROCRASTINATION-

• LOSS OF VALUABLE TIME- We sometimes feel guilty of procrastinating over our work that needed to be completed on time; the results being, either we have completed it after our deadlines or we weren't even able to proceed with the work because we had wasted enough time on thinking and planning out the rough drafts rather than actually working on the final draft.

• WASTING OPPURTUNITIES- Most of the time we are unaware of the oppurtunities that come our way that could have been life-changing. We tend to let go of such oppurtunities thinking some better ones are on our way. We fail to realise that we might not be endowed with such oppurtunities twice and end up being stessed about not succeeding in life.

• RUINING CAREER EVENTUALLY- Whether we need to meet deadlines or achieve monthly targets, procrastination affects our work directly. It might lead to losing of interships, promotions or even worse.

• LOWERING SELF-ESTEEM- Procrastination can worsen our self-esteem to the extent that we might start doubting our own abilities. We tend to compare ourselves more to our peer group or colleagues, ending in anxiety hitting our minds.

• UNABLE TO REACH THE SET GOALS- Procrastination tends to entertain us in full-force regarding the unrealistic goals we have set for ourselves, the consequences of reaching those goals, the 'need to work according to the schedule', the time limits we set for ourselves that promise us to meet our deadlines sooner than we think. However, reality soon comes into this picture and leave us being anxious of taking faulty steps to reach the 'goals'.

BUT, DID YOU KNOW PROCRASTINATION CAN ALSO HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON LIFE?

Researches have reported that all delays caused by procrastination are not harmful. In some ways, these delays are beneficial. Delays resulting from time spent in gatherimg and planning vital information, without dwelling in our own imaginary world, helps us work more efficiently. Although we start work the last minute, we are able to work better, emhasising on important points, generate more meaningful content and creative ideas and surprisingly draw a conclusion to our work right on time (Knaus,2001).

POSITIVE IMPACTS OF PROCRASTINATION-

• MAKING BETTER DECISIONS- Procrastinating before making a decision prevent us from taking hasty decisions. We therefore, get more time to make a better analysis of the pros and cons of the decisions we are yet to make. Towards the end of the deadline, we have a better knowledge of the situations and thereby are able to take a well-balanced decision.

• MORE CREATIVITY- Studies have shown that we tend to procrastinate more when the task is boring, lengthy and monotonous. While thinking about the ways to get all the work done as soon as possible, our mind subconsciously tends to collect more ideas and combine them, helping us to produce creative work.

• MORE EFFICIENT- While procrastinatimg, our brain tends to be energised, working in full capacity, allowing us to be more efficient in reaching our goals.

• BETTER AT REACHING THE SET GOALS- The perfect concucssion of well-rounded decisions, better efficiency,creative ideas and better productivity is what helps us to reach the goals right at time!

SO HOW DOES PROCRASTINATION AFFECT YOUR LIFE TODAY ? GIVE IT A THOUGHT !!