There is a common phenomenon that, despite being easily recognizable, is difficult to explain. It’s about the procrastination a curious word that however only refers to the habit of postponing without valid justification activities or obligations that have to be attended to
One of the characteristics of this type of postponement, furthermore, is the fact that we intend to complete the task sooner or later, since we somehow know that its completion is something we have to go through.
However, it is not simply the typical behavior that we associate with a mischievous or hedonistic person. In a survey of 1,347 adults of various nationalities, a quarter of them showed a strong tendency to procrastinate, regardless of their gender or culture.
Another study indicates that Each employee spends about an hour and twenty minutes a day procrastinating on their main task, with the consequent opportunity cost for the organization. Additionally, about 32% of college students may have serious problems with procrastination, according to the Patterns of Academic Procrastination study. On the other hand, psychologist Piers Steel argues in his publication The Procrastination Equation that, where it is present, this tendency goes against one’s well-being in a broad sense: it contributes to poorer health and lower wages.
Furthermore, it can lead to compulsive or very intense attitudes that serve to evade the main responsibility: eating a lot, playing video games, etc.
A problem without a simple solution
However, since procrastination can be so problematic… Why do we continue to allow it to happen? In reality, it is difficult to justify postponing a necessary task, as long as we recognize it as such. We experience the strange notion of having entered the constant cycle of the “better tomorrow”, justifying this decision once it has been made by an authority higher than our conscience
In this way, a deeply irrational and automatic mechanism is rationalized by covering it with a coating of à la carte words and justifications. What is the key that triggers this automatic mechanism of eternal delays? Own Piers Steel I could have found her.
According to their research, there is a clear relationship between the tendency to delay tasks and impulsivity. In these studies, the presence or absence of the ability to self-regulation that is, the ability to control oneself in favor of future rewards, explained 70% of the cases of procrastination.
A direct relationship was evident between levels of impulsivity and tendency to postpone tasks. In more recent research, Steel has found grounds that favor the hypothesis that the same genetic basis exists between impulsivity and this annoying tendency. If impulsivity involves difficulties in avoiding behaviors that are not appropriate, procrastination involves difficulties in engaging in behaviors that are appropriate: they are, practically, part of the same phenomenon; a failure to follow the system of behaviors that leads to long-term goals.
Based on this explanation of the mechanics of task procrastination, we can apply the same types of corrective procedures that we use with cases of impulsivity. In this case, The solution is to create work strategies that transform diffuse, general and distant goals in time into small, very specific objectives that have to be fulfilled immediately.
In summary, we must divide the poorly defined goals and with little capacity to attract us in the face of other distracting stimuli, into very well determined activities that urgently demand our attention and that take us, one by one, from the here and now to the achievement of the goal. final goal.
1. Small commitments
For example, if you have to write a 20-page paper, a good way to do this is to commit to writing a page before seven in the afternoon. If we see that it is difficult for us to fulfill these small commitments, we will make them even smaller and more concrete, so that we see their resolution as something perfectly possible, for example, we can write 15 lines before two hours have passed. The point is to move closer in time, and at the same time make less uncomfortable, the pressure that we would suffer more and more as the days go by if we had not gotten to work.
2. Avoid elements that can distract you
Another good tactic that can be combined with the first in self-impose difficulties when accessing distractions: turn off the TV playing in the background, save the smartphone, etc. We can first of all weigh what elements are those that can take us away from the objective and do something to avoid being tempted too much. In a reasonable and moderate way, this also applies to the people around us.
In short, we have to try let reason take the reins over our short-term preferences outlining a very clear roadmap. Create a kind of cognitive rails that will help us achieve what we set out to do.
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This article has been reviewed by our editorial team at PsychologyFor to ensure accuracy, clarity, and adherence to evidence-based research. The content is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice.
