This summer my form of procrastination has been with keeping Heath 411 updated. I like to have at least 1 post per month, but a whirlwind of summer weddings, road trips, cooking and cleaning have given me reason to stay away from my laptop! This got me thinking about, why do we procrastinate?
Procrastinating involves postponing, delaying, or putting off an intended course of action. It is wide-spread and has been reported for thousands of years.
Studies on college students show that they spend over one third of their time procrastinating by sleeping, playing or watching TV. Some suggest that there is an involvement of irrationality and self regulatory failure because the task is often delayed despite expecting to be worse off with the delay. Depression has been linked to procrastination due to low energy levels, and lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities. Additionally, it has been suggested that perfectionism, fear of failure, lack of self confidence, lack of certainty of success, or low self-efficacy could be probable causes of procrastination. Decreasing the value of the task also can increase procrastination, especially if we consider it to be boring or attempt the task when energy levels are low.
Ways to decrease procrastination may involve:
- Taking time to understanding reasons, habits, and thoughts that lead to your procrastination. If you're wanting to change these thoughts, practicing positive self-talk may be helpful
- Consider acquiring or improving skills related to the task may help increase self-confidence
- Increasing task difficulty to make the task challenging but achievable may reduce boredom
- Sometimes simply starting the task can create motivation to complete it, instead of expecting to feel motivated in order to begin the task
- Setting short-term, realistic, goals or breaking big tasks down to little ones can increase personal satisfaction each time we achieve a goal
- Take time to identify and write down personal reasons for wanting to reach your goals or complete tasks. These reasons need to be related to what you want for yourself, not what others want for you
For more information on procrastination take a look at Cal Poly's Procrastination Resource for Students and the links below. Now lets go and get some things done!
