Around 800 B.C. a Greek poet namely Hesiod wrote ‘Don’t put your work off till tomorrow or the day after’. He was rightfully giving caution to the human civilisation to avoid procrastination at all costs. It involves unnecessary delay be it implemental, decisional, or timeliness. Almost everyone around the world has been the victim of procrastination but some of us have got better at it and paved the way for procrastination as our lifestyle. The task or activity has been put off by people, they know deep down in their hearts the fact that they have to face the consequences.
Defining Procrastination
The dictionary definition of the word is ‘to delay, defer, prolong’. Procrastination is derived from joining two Latin words: ‘pro’ meaning forward and ‘crasnistus’ meaning belonging to tomorrow. Forward it to tomorrow which translates into ‘I’ll do it later’ in today’s modern world.
Scholars like Morelli, Schmitt, and Letham have defined various types of procrastination such as realistic, unrealistic, and spiritual procrastination. No matter how many different kinds of procrastination are there in the world, we deduce it makes people lazy and irresponsible in life. Most people have regarded procrastination as a harmful act of self-destruction or a complete waste of time.
Going back in history
The prevalence of procrastination is apparent throughout history with dozens of historical figures including the French author of Les Miserables, Victor Hugo. He is one of the finest examples of procrastination as he suffered through its consequences. In the year 1829, he promised a publisher to finish his book ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ and the publisher never provided Hugo with any deadline because of unconditional trust. A year went by but Hugo didn’t even start writing the book which made the publisher extremely furious. He asked Hugo to finish the book within six months.
Victor Hugo | Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
To prevent procrastination, Hugo planned a bold strategy. He used to take off all his clothes and force his servant to hide them and only bring them up when he was done writing daily. In this way, he lost the motivation to leave his room without his clothes, which proved quite effective. The book was finished two weeks before the given deadline. The time between writing the book was spent under pressure due to Hugo’s procrastination for a year. If only he’d have started the work before he’d have a fun time writing The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Hence, procrastination can be the thief of joy and can certainly make any enjoyable task exhausting if not started on time.
Reasons for Procrastination
Procrastination is often related to a lot of psychological issues mostly with stress and fear of success which play a huge role in paving their way into one’s life. According to a professor at DePaul University, ‘everybody procrastinates but not everyone is a procrastinator’. The most common answer on why people procrastinate is that they don’t like the task or they don’t feel like doing it. Everything boils down to emotions.
Most people with procrastination fear the judgement of other people and they fear their efforts won’t be appreciated, so they perpetually avoid looking at themselves from a realistic point of view because if they do so they might face another fear. In a situation like this, they take the help of procrastination as a coping strategy for the fear of failure. People prefer to blame themselves for being lazy or disorganized rather than to view themselves as being unworthy and not good enough which is the deep-rooted fear of failure that they feel so deeply which is eased by procrastination.
Academic Procrastination
Academic Procrastination is one of the most common types of procrastination worldwide, which is considered a widespread universal problem. This negatively impacts the academic performance of students, learning quality, and preparation for examinations. Around 50-90 % of students are adversely affected by the negative consequences of procrastination.
80-95% of students find themselves engaging in the art of procrastination and delaying all their academic work. | Photo Credit: Freepik
However, according to research, few students said procrastination helps them improve their work as they work better under pressure while others disagree with the fact of working under pressure as there would looming stress and constant panic about the completion of the task.
Steps to overcome procrastination
1. Sticking to a plan
2. Self-regulation
3. Maintaining a daily goal
4. Understanding Time Management
5. Taking time out for Hobby
6. Exercising your brain
Procrastination is an attitude trait usually associated with a lack of communication skills, inappropriate learning strategies, low achievement, deceptive excuses, anxiety, emotional stress, low self-confidence, and lower self-control. Students tend to procrastinate because they are unable to meet the deadline and set up the pace of learning to meet high-performance expectations in a short period.
A silver lining
Without question, procrastinating lowers productivity and has a negative reputation because most people think it indicates a lack of motivation or laziness. Procrastination, on the other hand, can provide better ideas in the creative process.
You’re probably accustomed to finishing your task on time to meet a deadline. However, if you have postponed the work to the last minute it can induce a state of hyperfocus or flow, where many people perform their best work.
In addition to improving concentration, creativity, and cognitive function, planned procrastination allows your brain to wander and have some downtime. It involves viewing procrastination as an integral part of the creative process instead of something to avoid.
In a productivity-obsessed society, doing nothing might not seem like an option. There is so much guilt around doing nothing, but doing nothing at times is exactly what we need. Researchers found that those who were instructed to daydream before finishing an activity applied more imaginative problem-solving techniques than those who were not, according to a 2012 study published in Psychological Science. Thus, consider framing your procrastination as daydreaming the next time your inner critic starts finding shame around it.
Procrastination, when managed well, may be a useful ally that encourages you to work on something you enjoy and to do so with greater enthusiasm, creativity, and vigour.
