“I Will Think Of The Title Later”- A Tale Of Procrastination

MEANING

Procrastination is the avoidance of doing some task that needs to be done before certain deadline. In simple words it is an intentional and sometimes habitual delay of doing a task knowing that it might have consequences. Although it is always assumed to have negative consequences but it is sometimes a good decision too. The word procrastination is derived from Latin word procrastinare where pro means ‘forward’, crastinus means ‘till next day’ (cras meaning tomorrow). The fact that humans have been procrastinating from years comes form ancient Greek philosophers likes Socrates and Aristotle. They developed a word to describe this behavior Akrasia. It is a state where you tend to act against your better judgment. It is lack of self-control where you purposely do something when you know you should do something else.

People often get confused between procrastinating and being lazy. Procrastination is something that is done while you are active, you prefer to do some task rather than something other that you should do. Whereas being lazy is more like unwillingness to do any task.

REASONS FOR PROCRASTINATION

People generally procrastinate when they have vague goals. People who have more concrete goals do not procrastinate that much. Also when you get a wide range of choices the harder it gets to choose amongst them, this is also a reason for procrastinating. Other reasons why people tend to procrastinate are anxiety, task aversion, perfectionism, fear of negative feedback, fear of failure, self-handicapping, self-sabotage, low self-efficacy, lack of control, depression, lack of motivation, laziness, lack of perseverance, low self-control, impulsivity, distractibility, sensation seeking, etc. some people also procrastinate a task when they are not able to figure out how to do it or what needs to ne done.

HOW TO STOP PROCRASTINATING

• Awareness: one should be fully aware of his/her habits and thoughts that lead to procrastinating.

• Organizing: another way of avoiding procrastination is to make a proper routine or organize daily activities and follow them strictly.

• Reinforcement: some people can also use positive reinforcement to avoid procrastinating. Like giving rewards to yourself after completing a task.

• Dual task: if you have to do any task that you usually procrastinate you can combine it with something you like. For example completing a project while listening to music.

• Commitment: another way to stop procrastinating is by planning your future and committing to it. Like if you want to stop playing games on your phone and wasting time you can simply do that by deleting apps on your phone.

• Visual cues: when you actually see your progress you are motivated to do more and follow it. It is a good habit to make a visual board of your progress and evaluate your tasks.

• Breaking task into smaller parts: procrastinators can use this technique of breaking down their task into much smaller parts. As any person would see a small task easy.

IS PROCRASTINATION GOOD OR BAD?

For some people procrastination might be a hindrance in their everyday life. It can be so disruptive for those people that it might cause psychological disorder and harsh symptoms. It has also been linked with depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and other neurological disorders.It is also said that procrastinators are perfectionists. Studies have shown that perfectionists are less likely to procrastinate than non-perfectionists. Procrastination sometimes might give us time to make better decisions.

CONCLUSION

Learning more about procrastination might prove to be a great help because it will help people figure out how to deal with it and most importantly how can it benefit you.