By Hardy Mpanano

 

Procrastination

We have all had that experience when we feel that we should be doing something more important than whatever we are doing at the moment. Instead of working on writing an essay to hand in the next week, we’re sleeping, watching a movie or chatting on Internet with our friends, or we prefer to chill out with our friends when we should be working on fixing the broken door of the garage. In fact, we are conscious of our capacities and our duties but some kind of force makes us put off what we are supposed to do. Psychologists call that strange behavior “procrastination”.

In psychology, procrastination refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of lower priority, or doing something from which one derives enjoyment, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time.[1]

Another and more simple definition talks about “the avoidance of doing a task which needs to be done - postponing until tomorrow what can be done today.”[2]

According to the psychologist Sigmund Freud, the main reason for procrastination is our research for immediate pleasure that make us postpone any task that won’t produce any pleasure in doing them. In a certain way it is an automatic mechanism used to protect ourselves from the stress that can be created by a stressful activity. On the other hand, in a world of constant commitments, this can only be a disadvantage to anyone. For instance, students must prepare their exams and hand in assignments, office-workers have reports to prepare, and many others examples that corroborate that reality.

Usually, the procrastinator reassures himself by thinking that he has plenty of time to finish his work on time. Unfortunately, this false sentiment of protection falls down when he realizes that there is not enough to get  started. As a consequence, works that are done in such conditions lack the perfection that provide those that have been worked on during a longer time. Thus, the procrastinator is overwhelmed and his concentration is not at his maximum. Procrastination may lead to stress, a sense of guilt and crisis, severe loss of personal productivity, as well as social disapproval for not meeting responsibilities or commitments.[3]

 

Everyone procrastinates sometimes, but 20 percents of people chronically avoid difficult tasks and deliberately look for distractions—which, unfortunately, are increasingly available.[4] A scary number and especially when we think that it keeps increasing in both public and academic environments, says Dr Noran Fauziah Yaakub.[5]

Reasons to procrastinate are not well established by psychologists, but mainly, here are the guilty ones:

·         perfectionism, unrealistically high expectations or standards. Everything must go completely right. It may either be imposed or self-imposed[6]. In fact we have such a high opinion of ourselves that we are afraid of not being able to produce a perfect work. We should be able to “forgive ourselves” and be able to accept that we’re not perfect;

·         Underestimation of time required to complete tasks: in other words, poor time management, often associated with a distorted sense of the time available[7];

·         lack of knowledge or skills to accomplish a determined task. It creates a feeling of frustration and self low-esteem. This might be linked to the need for perfectionism;

·         Belief that working when not in mood to work is sub-optional, which can be a real problem when we are not in mood for a long time;

·         Too difficult and feeling overwhelmed by the task. In that case we simply get rid of the task that bothers us and move to an easier one.

Luckily there are many ways to overcome that strange disease, and mainly they consist in working on our own behavior and the way we consider things. Why thinking that a work that we have not yet started is difficult? Why not allow that we are humans and that in the learning process we might make some mistakes that will allow us to learn more?

A good time management and being more humble on his own capacities when we feel overwhelmed by the task are a good start, then the fear and the laziness to plunge in the work should be overcome progressively. Finally, we should keep in mind that the there is a great satisfaction for accomplishing a work that we initially thought impossible to start.

 

 

My only advice is: “Get to work NOW”!!!

 

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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination

[2] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/support-pages/information/procrastination

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrastination

[4] http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/procrastination

[5] http://mahdzan.com/papers/procrastinate/, Procrastination Among Students in Institutes of Higher Learning: Challenges for K-Economy

[6] http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl.html, Understanding procrastination

[7] http://www.ucl.ac.uk/support-pages/information/procrastination