Think back to a moment in your life when you have avoided starting an assignment, then think of the stress you accumulated attempting to complete it several days before its deadline, and finally think of how fast you ultimately completed that assignment in order to get it done right before the deadline. Sometimes, people tend to avoid tasks that appear large and difficult, because of the amount of time they anticipate it will take; this large amount of time required for the assignment may appear intimidating and create a negative sensation or feeling of stress within an individual causing them to avoid the work and procrastinate. Fortunately, procrastination is a habit that all people share and has existed for an extremely long time—procrastination can be seen as far back as 800 b.c, with the Greek poet named Hesiod who cautioned individuals to not “put your work off till tomorrow and the day after”—, which implies that you are not alone in your procrastination and that there are methods to improve work efficiency and decrease procrastination, though methods may differ slightly individually; the methods vary from change in perspective of work to different work practice strategies.
Of course, while everyone participates in some form of procrastination, not everyone is a procrastinator and not everyone procrastinates to an extreme where it may impact their livelihood—this insinuates that these ideas surrounding procrastination do not entirely apply to everyone. I believe that some individuals are inevitably afraid of large investment, in regards to their time which is limited; alas, the self-awareness of our own finite time impacts our out view on activity negatively and sometimes causes us to put certain activities off with the intention to complete them at a later date—there are several issues with this approach and outlook. Individuals who procrastinate will most likely use their time in an attempt to rid themselves of the negative feeling that arrives with the commitment related to an assignment by watching television or completing another task that may reject stress. The problem is that in temporarily alleviating stress, they create the opportunity for even greater stress as they approach their deadline.
People avoid work, alongside the negative sensation associated with overwhelming work, at an early time and then deal with it later under the pressure of a deadline and actual limited short time to complete the assignment. While they may complete the assignment and get a good or sub-par grade on it, alleviating that unnecessary high level stress they built, it would have been much more efficient and less emotionally draining to start earlier—they have to learn that commencing the assignment is the most difficult task when doing work, once you begin most negative emotions leave you, and if not then you’ve at least built some foundation for yourself to begin work. And in contrast to the negative emotions you may feel while procrastinating, you might feel extremely fulfilled and content while working and completing the assignment at an earlier time. In terms of assignments, this can correspond to school, work, or even someone’s own personal life; procrastination is quite interdisciplinary.
There are several misconceptions involved with the practice of procrastination; some people believe that as long as they get the job done, it doesn’t matter when, or that there are benefits to procrastinate or work under pressure. However effective procrastination may appear, the consequences outweigh any benefits. Those who procrastinate generally reduce the quality of their work and subject themselves to harmful amount of strain and stress. Beyond my own interpretation on the impact and effect of procrastination, as well as the historical aspect of it, there are several scientific studies that have responded to the crippling concept of procrastination.
In an article regarding chronic procrastination, Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University, states that while everybody may procrastinate, not everyone individual is a procrastinator. Ferrari is a researcher of the of the subject, whose work has led him to the conclusion that as many as 20 percent of people are chronic procrastinators. Those who find themselves to be chronic procrastinators, may struggle with the idea of stopping procrastinating because at some point procrastination for a chronic procrastinator is not simply a bad habit—In the words of Joseph Ferrari, “It really has nothing to do with time-management. As I tell people, to tell the chronic procrastinator to just do it would be like saying to a clinically depressed person, cheer up.”
While the area regarding chronic depression is beyond my expertise, Ferrari does states that time management is not appropriate approach, as we do not manage time, we simply manage ourselves. I do believe there are ways to initiate change in the average daily procrastinator. After shuffling through several articles, I have realized that there are several ways to—in contrast to the effect of procrastination—decrease stress levels and increase individual well-being, which involve shifting your outlook and perspective on the performance of a task. Since I originally discussed the commitment of time as an issue, then I believe that in order to combat the idea that an assignment will take all of your time up, an individual should complete a task in segments of time per day and give themselves appropriate breaks; it is important not to overwhelm yourself when working on an assignment, because that overwhelming sensation is what you will subconsciously remember when starting another assignment—you might even start off by committing the very minimal amount of time in your day; use five minutes of the time in your day to start an activity( Beth McCoy). You might find that simply starting, even with that minimal amount of time, will alleviate you of that negative feeling of commitment or time investing or daunting sensation—hell, you may even find yourself working beyond the five minutes you promised yourself, the most important thing is to give yourself a reasonable and small, the minimal amount of time to start, amount of time as to not overwhelm yourself and create the image of an extremely daunting task.
If you find that five minutes helped you, then you may come to realize that you’re an individual who works best in intervals; give yourself a certain amount of time to work, whether that be five minutes, 15 minutes, or half an hour, and then give yourself a break. Everyone is different, some work in intervals of five minutes and give themselves half an hour breaks, and others work in 1-hour intervals and give themselves 15-minute breaks. There are of course some articles that discuss the importance of taking breaks as to not overwhelm yourself. The general name for this technique is the Pomodoro Technique, developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s—though his method is traditionally done with 25-minute intervals and the increase of break intervals over time.
Procrastination is an extremely dangerous habit that can be negatively effective towards an individual, moreover it effects a lot of individuals—this especially includes students. The habit primarily arrives in an attempt to avoid stress, and unfortunately ends with advent high amounts of stress. Fortunately, there are several approaches and techniques that can enable an individual to improve work efficiency and decrease procrastination, ultimately decreasing stress and improving well-being.
Bibliography
Cirillo, Francesco. The Pomodoro Technique: Do More and Have Fun with Time Management. FC Garage, 2013.
Ferrari, Joseph R., et al. “Procrastination Research.” Procrastination and Task Avoidance, 1995, pp. 21–46., doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-0227-6_2.
Ferrari, Joseph. “Psychology of Procrastination: Why People Put Off Important Tasks Until the Last Minute.” American Psychological Association: Five Questions for Joseph Ferrari, PhD, American Psychological Association, 5 Apr. 2010, www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2010/04/procrastination.aspx.