Why do people have this marked tendency to leave things for tomorrow? To understand it we must try to understand what the phenomenon of procrastination is like that tendency that we sometimes manifest in our daily lives that can be summarized as “leaving everything for tomorrow.”
Procrastination: what is it? The definition in itself is simple, it consists of postponing what we must do: put on the washing machine, study for the language exam, the tax return… But the mere act of delaying something is not procrastination, the concept of procrastination entails By its own definition, an absurd delay is not postponing because it makes sense in a certain context, it is do it irrationally, sabotaging our interests.
The person who is obsessed with completing any task at the first opportunity can be as dysfunctional as the one who leaves everything until the last minute, neither one nor the other planning their time intelligently. Overcoming procrastination involves make intelligent use of one’s time, oriented towards achieving one’s own objectives. It is in the choice of what you will do now and what you will leave for later that procrastination lies, not in procrastination itself.
But if we know that procrastinating takes us away from our goals, why do we do it?
Its causes
It seems there are both genetic and environmental factors that explain procrastination.
On the one hand, this is a common phenomenon in all cultures and moments in history. Is about a trend that affects men slightly more (54%) than women (46%), it is observed more among young people and decreases with age.
According to the data offered by science, most of it is explained by genetics; nevertheless, The environment also contributes powerfully to our compulsive procrastination our chores. So much so that modern life has turned procrastination into an epidemic that has consequences at a personal and organizational level and is even noticeable in the economy of a country.
According to survey data, 95% of people admit that they procrastinate and one in four admit to doing so constantly. And procrastination is a habit and as such it tends to last. One might think that it is because of perfectionism, never finishing things because of the obsession with making them perfect, but the truth is that the data indicates the opposite.
For a long time It was believed that procrastination and perfectionism went hand in hand, this error is explained because perfectionists who procrastinate are the ones who tend to ask for help in therapy (and that is where the data was obtained), but there are many other people who are perfectionists and who do not go to therapy and who do not fall into the habit. of procrastination. Specifically, a much more fundamental role is that of impulsivity: living impatiently in the now and wanting everything right now.
The role of impulsivity
Self-control and reward delay They have a lot to do with impulsivity and this makes it very difficult for us to have a bad time for the sake of a future reward. Very impulsive people tend to be disorganized, they are easily distracted, they have difficulty controlling their impulses, they have a hard time being persistent, as well as working methodically. This difficulty in planning and this easy distractibility makes them perfect victims of procrastination.
impulsive people They try to get away from a task that causes them anxiety, they are distracted, they remove it from their consciousness. Excuses and self-deception are common. This seems very logical, of course, since generally people try to avoid suffering. However, this only makes sense if we look at things in the short term, since in the long term this leads to even greater suffering. Avoiding going through the unpleasant routine check-up at the doctor can lead us to detect prostate cancer when it is too late.
Sometimes the pressure of everything we have to do is so distressing that we indulge in tasks that distract us so we don’t think about what’s bothering us so much. It often happens that we are doing something that deep down we know we shouldn’t be doing because there is something more important and priority to attend to. This means that we are not doing what we should and that we are not enjoying that relaxing time either, because our conscience constantly reminds us of our obligations.
However, impulsivity does not explain everything, procrastination is due to multiple causes.
The procrastination triad
Expectations, value and time are the pillars that support this type of self-sabotage.
Expectation
Expectation refers to our confidence in achieving our goals and although procrastination is sometimes linked to overconfidence, the opposite is much more common. That is, if what we pursue It seems to us that we cannot accept it, we simply give up. Helplessness, seeing ourselves incapable, leads us to stop trying.
This leads us to a state of decay and frustration known as learned helplessness, in which we surrender to circumstances because we believe we are incapable of changing anything and we stop fighting. This phenomenon is closely linked to depression.
In the end this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: believing that we will not be able makes us give up. By stopping trying we actually become capable and that confirms our beliefs about ourselves. It is a vicious circle.
Worth
Value has to do with how attractive what we are putting off is to us. Normally our procrastination list is full of boring tasks like washing the dishes, learning those endless articles of the constitution or doing Christmas shopping. As expected, The value of each thing depends on each person’s desires and some people tend to procrastinate on some tasks more than others.
As It is easier to postpone something that we do not like, that does not motivate us, the less value a task has for oneself, the less likely it is that we will undertake to do it. The lack of pleasurable value causes other more pleasant activities to distract us and thus we easily become distracted and evade ourselves in more stimulating things, postponing as long as possible the tasks that seem soporific to us.
Time leads us to procrastination because we choose immediate gratification because a reward that materializes immediately, even if it is small, is more tempting than fighting for a long-term goal, even if it provides us with greater benefit.
Impulsivity, which we have talked about before, is what is behind all this, and some other traits linked to the impulsive temperament are poor conscientiousness, low self-control and the propensity for distraction.
Acting without thinking, not being able to keep feelings under control …leads us to procrastinate. The time factor makes us see tomorrow’s goals and rewards in an abstract way, so much so that it takes away from their reality. On the other hand, everything that has to do with today is more concrete and that makes it seem more real to us.
In conclusion
Procrastination is a deep-rooted habit that can cause great amounts of suffering, leads us to distraction and distances us from our goals. It is closely linked to impulsivity and time management, it is influenced by the value of the reward we pursue and by the beliefs we have regarding our own abilities.
Author’s Note: This article should have been published last month, but I’ve been procrastinating. In the next article I will talk about some useful tips to overcome this self-sabotage.
