Yes. This is something I'm very familiar with; it's something I did while getting this post out to you. What causes it, and why is it so hard to avoid? Are any people more procrastination-prone? All this and a limited edition tour of the mystical and imaginary land of 'tomorrow' in today's post.
What is procrastination?
Procrastination is the habitual act of putting something off (even though you said you'd do it) for no good reason even though we know it will negatively affect the aftermath of the situation.
Imagine this; it's 6 pm and you've suddenly remembered that you have a presentation due by tomorrow so you decide it's time to get to work, open up PowerPoint, and check your phone. Wait, check your phone? Yeah ok, like 5 minutes on TikTok wouldn't hurt. Suddenly, half an hour has passed, the idea to work on your presentation comes to mind again and you decide to just scroll through Pinterest to find some images for your PowerPoint, an hour later, you have some recipes for twenty-minute dinners, a detoxifying smoothie; and no images. Having been there multiple times, I can definitely confirm that in the long-run it does not feel good; the reason being, that it gives a few minutes of stress-relief while you put off a task, but what happens when the deadline creeps closer and closer? You get more stressed and in the end the lost time and stress level come together to make a foul concoction of an anxious teenager-and probably not their best PowerPoint. Then hours have passed and you think, "It's actually pretty late, I'll try again tomorrow." (We'll come back to the concept of tomorrow later in this post.)
Well this scenario is a prime example of the vicious cycle of procrastination.
Some of the main reasons that people procrastinate are because of fears. Normally, when you realize that your report on The Civil Rights Movement is due tomorrow and you've only written down one sentence about Rosa Parks, your body is trying to protect you; and so forth thwarting you from doing a task your brain perceives as threatening. When you realize the doom that will come from not doing the task, your body reacts like it would if threatened.
(PSYCHOLOGY TIME!!!) The amygdala is a part of your brain that manages and controls emotional processing and specializes in threat identification. So when your threatened feelings kick in, the amygdala surges hormones like adrenaline and your fear response is activated. This panic response can overpower your prefrontal cortex (a part of your brain that controls logical thinking, long-term thinking, and regulating emotions) and you probably will temporarily be more overwhelmed with those feelings of panic rather than your logical thoughts and your fight, flight, or freeze response kicks in. During this time of stress, your body will try and protect itself, so you try and avoid the task with doing something that'll calm you down; and hence, you will probably procrastinate.
Reasons for procrastination
People normally put off tasks that they find challenging or intimidating due to the fact that it can sanction negative feelings such as incompetence, imperfection, and low self-esteem. Studies done by universities have previously shown that students would usually avoid tasks they found daunting, and how much they were intimidated by the task INCREASED the more they put it off. Here are some other reasons for procrastination:
perfectionism
fear or criticism or failure
low self-esteem
a tendency to self-sabatoge
Why is procrastinating so hard to avoid?
Procrastination creates a sense of immediate pleasure. Think about the feeling you get when you let yourself relax after a long day of worrying and school. You acknowledge your deadline; it's on your mind, but the second you tell yourself “later, tomorrow, or next week,” you feel a rush of relief (one kind of chemical response).Some studies have said that making strict rules and personal deadlines can help terminate this habit, but more recent studies have shown that stressing out over those personal deadlines might help-or pile on more stress. In order to end the cycle you may find yourself creating bigger ways to feel more relief. These soothing things are called STIMS and I use them all. the. time. They're simply movements that you use to relax or calm yourself down. Like hand flapping or using a hot water bottle or having a steaming cup of tea.
Procrastination-prone people
Did you know that males are more likely to procrastinate? Well, neither did I, but I'm not really going to go into depth about this so here's a study as to why:
https://www.walshmedicalmedia.com/open-access/procrastination-and-selfesteema-gender-based-study.pdf
Others who normally procrastinate more are those who consider themselves perfectionists, those with low self-esteem, impulsive people, people who have ADHD, OCD, depression, anxiety, and those with imposter syndrome.
The mystical land of 'Tomorrow'
All fellow procrastinators are familiar with this land. Some uses of this word are:
"Oh I'll just do it tomorrow."
"I'll try again tomorrow."
"There's always tomorrow."
YOU. SAID. TOMORROW. YESTERDAY.
The land of Tomorrow consists of a very simple place. You have the "Plateau of St. Procrastinate" covered with fib trees in the north, then further down south you have the "Desert of Denial" next to the "Lamentable Lake" but beware of the Panic Response Pixies. Then in the very center of the country, you have the "Tower of Tomorrow" which seats the despised ruler "King Later XIII" and "Queen Quandary." But remember, the tower and its rulers vanish the moment you start to set achievable boundaries with yourself and start to let go of the fact that sometimes you will procrastinate; and that's 100% okay.
See you in the land of today, I hope that you can do your work more efficiently now. See you next time,
-thestudentsblogger
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