There are two common misconceptions about Procrastination.
“You procrastinate because you're lazy”, and “If you can effectively manage your time, procrastination will disappear.”
Laziness is wasting your time without accomplishing anything but procrastination is engaging in other activities because you want to avoid a specific task. For example, When you are on an assignment, you might find yourself reaching out to your phone and reading things interestingly that would normally never capture your attention. Does that make you feel happy or relaxed? No! Instead, the thought, “I have an assignment to do! I have an assignment to do!” will keep torturing you all night.
To escape from this torture, you might tell yourself, "Stop procrastinating and get things done." However, this is easier said than done, for those who have developed a habit of procrastination. Despite being aware of the troubles that could bring, you keep doing it anyway, and that is why people say Procrastination is a form of self-harm.
The truth is; simply put, procrastination is more closely related to ‘Mood-management’ rather than ‘Time-management’
So….how exactly does your emotion relate to procrastination? What is your brain doing to you to procrastinate? And how can you overcome this challenge?
This week, our Study Diary will help you to find out these questions in the rest of the article.
“Parts of the brain which control procrastination”
There’s a process in your brain called “Fight or flight mood” which stimulates your anxiety. Part of your brain that triggers this mood is what we call a small Amygdala part from the Limbic System.
If you have read about the Amygdala, which produces stress in the "Emotional Regulation" Part from our "Essential Life Skills" Album, you will probably remember that it produces stress hormones by activating the Hypothalamus when you face a stressful situation, which can create a “Fight or flight mood”, to decide whether to run away or fight back to a terrible situation.
When faced with this kind of response because of the stress, the reward system in your brain tends to choose temporary relaxation over a long-term promising outcome.
Going back to the assignment example, your brain may try to convince you that “Doing an assignment will lead you to stress. Now go watch Facebook instead."
The prefrontal cortex, also known as 'executive functioning", helps you in adjusting such responses, decision-making process, and long-term concentration on each task. When this part is weak, it could be challenging to start a task, and lead to procrastination.
Consequently, most of the work we tend to procrastinate causes us negative emotions, such as stress. That is why it is important to adjust such kinds of negative emotions related to our work and kill procrastination.
Why is it so hard to stop it although we don’t like it?
Everybody who procrastinates, won’t like having this habit. Everybody wants to be a systematic efficient worker who completes the tasks ahead of the deadline.
However, procrastination is almost unstoppable like drug addiction. Why?
Because of the procrastination circle!
We often associate procrastination with stressful tasks, and that procrastinated task will stress you in the long term. But this is, again and solely, to be able to take your stress away for a while, as a short-term result.
Instead of focusing on assignments, picking up your phone will reduce stress level and activate immediate relief. This is called ‘Instant gratification’. We opt for momentary relief, leading to last-minute panic as the deadline approaches. We then work intensively to complete the task, experiencing a sense of relief. However, the cycle repeats itself.
Moreover, the more you shy away from your work, the more negative emotions you will get, and the more you procrastinate.
In order to break out of this cycle:
1. We need to be aware that this is happening to us.
2. We have to understand the underlying cause of why it occurred.
3. It is important to discover methods to overcome this cause.
If we remain trapped in this procrastination cycle, the stress level will rise, potentially leading to depression and anxiety. Additionally, our physical health will be damaged due to decreased work and learning efficiency, low self-esteem, negative impacts on relationships, and lack of sleep.
“How to overcome procrastination (1)”
If you're starting to recognize the presence of procrastination in you, allow me to share some tips on how to overcome this habit.
Keep away the things that would distract your focus.
Victor Hugo, the author of “Les Miserable” and “The Hunchback of Notre-Dame”, was a pro-procrastinator back then. Just as we procrastinate to study today, during the year 1830, Hugo procrastinated to write the book even though he promised to his publisher to finish within a year. He found himself indulging in poetry reading parties and dinners, essentially procrastinating. His novel had barely finished when the publisher knocked on his door.
So, what he did was get rid of all the clothes except for a single blanket to cover himself.
Only when he didn’t have anything to wear and had no option for leaving the house, he started writing and was able to publish his novel two weeks before the deadline. This novel, as we all know, turned out to be "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame."
While I am pointing out Hugo's example, I don't recommend throwing away all your clothes.
The key is to identify the specific distractions in your life and distance yourself from them as much as possible. For instance; deleting social media apps for a while.
“How to overcome procrastination? (2)”
Try to change your perspective.
As I mentioned earlier, procrastination basically comes from your negative emotions on a specific task. Viewing your work as an impossible task, lacking confidence, comparing yourself to others' achievements getting depressed, and fear of making a mistake will stress you.
Due to this reason, most procrastinators are those who have low self-esteem, who can poorly manage their emotions, and perfectionists. To change that, it is very important to shift your perspective and adjust your negative emotions related to the task. You may have experienced that some tasks you initially thought were challenging turned out to be easier once you gave them a try. Utilize positive thoughts such as "Perfection doesn't exist. I can do this. It's okay to make mistakes; I will learn and improve. It's not as difficult as it seems." By consciously changing your perspective, you can create a more positive mindset towards your work and combat procrastination.
Journaling
In the case of the battle against Procrastination, Journaling could be a useful weapon. Write down your related habits of procrastination, and possible causes, and then try to analyze them. This process will increase your self-awareness, allowing you to better understand the triggers and underlying reasons behind your procrastination. Armed with this knowledge weapon, you can initiate a revolution against procrastination, right?
Break down the task
"Two-minute rule" is trending these days. It states that every case which doesn't need to take more than two minutes has to be done immediately. Like this method, without getting overwhelmed by all the tasks at once, separating your work according to the time cost, which will motivate you to do it quicker. For example, instead of thinking something big like “I will clean my room”, start with a small task, "I will clear this clothes bag."
Time the task
When you do something, keeping track of the time can drive you to work faster. So, when you do some housework, try to note the time spent on each task. One thing to be careful of is; it would be better not to do this on challenging tasks because it can get you more stressed with a better chance to worsen the procrastination cycle.
Today, Study Diary has shared with you about “Procrastination”. Study Diary not only shares such interesting contents every week, but also runs educational camps and programs. So if you want to improve yourself, don't forget to hit the "Like" button. And Stay Tuned!!!!!!!!