We have all procrastinated doing something at some point in our lives, like, for example, doing your homework or generally, something that we don’t enjoy doing.
The thinking process behind procrastination basically works like this: “I don’t feel like doing it now (or other excuses)”; “I will do it later” and “I am stressed because now I don’t have the time to finish this”. It is a frustrating process because we often find ourselves in a time crisis, feeling bad about ourselves for procrastinating, and even ending up being called lazy because of our poor time management. However, procrastinating is not a synonym for laziness. No matter how organized you are as a person, at some point you will find yourself scrolling mindlessly on social media when you could have done a school-related project or cleaned your room.
Why do we procrastinate? Well, procrastination basically is putting the tasks we don’t like aside to do them last minute or even past the deadline that is given, even when we know the consequences. Some of the reasons behind this can be:
- Having a false sense of security. When postponing a task, we often think that it will take less than what it actually does, this being the main reason behind poor time management;
- Thinking that working under pressure is more effective. In reality, the occurring stress can decrease the quality of the assigned work;
- Blaming other factors such as sickness;
- Lack of motivation
- Overestimating the amount of motivation in the future. If there is no desire to do a task during procrastination, there is a big chance that in the near future, this feeling is going to remain.
Is procrastination a mental disorder? Psychologists state that it does not classify as one, but it can be associated with other mental disorders such as ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), depression, or OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder).
The predisposition to procrastinate can be heritable, but the surroundings can also be an important factor, such as the learning setup.
One of the biggest tasks that often gets procrastinated is studying/doing homework. There are many study techniques to reduce this bad habit, such as the Pomodoro timer. This method helps create the pressure to learn through the ticking clock that shows the amount spent studying, while also providing a “reward”, the well-deserved short or big breaks.
To sum up everything that has been stated, procrastination is a common problem among humans and it can occur for an unlimited number of reasons; however, there are various techniques that can help reduce this inconvenience.
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