Overcoming Procrastination
Procrastinators encounter difficulties such as psychological stress in their desire to finish their assignments on time because of possible criticism if deadlines are no met.
The importance of understanding why people procrastinate cannot be underestimated. Three theoretical approaches provide us a more scientific explanation regarding procrastination. They are conflict and indecision by Janis and Mann, irrational beliefs by Ellis and Knaus, and low self-esteem by Burka and Yuen. These theories were further examined by Beswick, Rothblum, and Mann in Psychological Antecedent of Student Procrastination. The study was conducted on 245 students enrolled in first-year Psychology course at The Flinders University of South Australia.
Procrastination is a means of dealing with conflict and indecision. For example, a student will tend to procrastinate if he feels deeply conflicted about whether or not to continue on a course of studies or conflicted about which topic to choose or undecided about what is required (Janis Mann, 1977). On the other hand, procrastination is an emotional disturbance stemming from irrational thoughts such as I must do well to prove that I am a worthwhile person (Ellis Knaus, 1977). Moreover, a fragile self-esteem leads to procrastination as it is a strategy to protect a vulnerable sense of self-esteem (Burka Yuen, 1983).
The result of the study shows indecision to have a small but significant correlation with procrastination, while irrational belief appears to have no correlation, and low self-esteem might lead to procrastination as reflected by the negative correlation between self-esteem and delay in submitting the paper. It was also noted that older students have higher self-esteem and less irrational that they may procrastinate less because they have greater psychological strengths than younger students.
It is clear from the result of the study that developing a students clear purpose and direction in life can lessen the occurrence of procrastination. Enhancing his self-concept and developing his self-esteem are also effective in minimizing cases of procrastination.
Procrastination represents a serious problem of self-regulation. Telling someone who procrastinates to buy a weekly planner is like telling someone with chronic depression to just cheer up.
Understanding some of the possible causes of procrastination is important if we want to avoid the calamitous effect this habit can give us. Some authorities explained that procrastination can be a form of rebellion as a response to authoritarian parenting style. Having a very strict, controlling father keeps children from developing the ability to regulate themselves, from internalizing their own intentions and then learning to act on them.
Procrastinators have a habit of deceiving themselves such as, Ill feel more like doing this tomorrow. Unfortunately, they do not get the urge the next day. This, pattern is repeated until the person finds himself not accomplishing any tasks at all. They even rationalize by saying this is not important. Another favorite excuse of procrastinators is that time pressure makes them more efficient and productive though but they cannot even start doing the first step once the deadline approaches.
Procrastination is very counterproductive as it destroys teamwork in the workplace and private relationships.
Dr. Timothy Pychyl in his article in Psychology Today (January 19, 2010) as based on the study of George Ainslie, provided some explanations about procrastination. He underscored that we oftentimes seek a valid excuse for not acting now. What excuse can I use to ensure that I dont have to act now is an extremely important question. Once a valid excuse is found then the person will tend to procrastinate. A credible excuse he explained is one that we wont later recognize as rationalization. It should allow us to deceive ourselves comfortably. He further explained the relationship among procrastination, impulses and willpower. He mentioned that the urge to procrastinate is the most basic of impulses, a temporary preference for a smaller, sooner reward over a larger, later reward. Thus, impulses are intensely rewarding choices, while procrastination usually offers very little reward per se at the moment but are preferred because it feels better to defer the prospect of effort now to later. The most effective control for procrastination according to him is willpower.
However, Dr. Pychyl does not agree with Ainslies statement that an excuse to be credible must be unique. He argued that judging whether our excuses are credible or not is a very subjective activity because ones reason maybe anothers excuse and vice versa. Taking into consideration the subjective reality of our choice in life, Pychyl emphasized that a person who finds a credible excuse (in Ainslies sense) is just the same as the person who uses whatever excuse is handy in terms of their psychological states. We have to recognize our human nature which seeks to justify our behavior with whatever statements, excuses, or explanations. This important aspect of our being humans aggravates our propensity for self-deception that eventually leads to procrastination.
Combating procrastination is of primordial concern of cognitive behavioral psychologists since the key to overcoming procrastination is willpower but doing so would consume a lot of psychic energy. It can be done through a highly structured cognitive behavioral therapy.
One strategy is to look at the cost and benefits of procrastinating. For instance, a student habitually procrastinates and submits his paper late. The costs of his procrastination are possible penalties for being late and self-criticism about procrastination. The benefits, however, are that he can avoid doing something he finds unpleasant and doing things more interesting to him. He then will have to weigh the pros and cons of his behavior and select which one will be more beneficial to him, in this case avoiding procrastination by doing the task at once.
Enhancing self-discipline is also one way of overcoming procrastination. One may ask himself the following questions Am I willing to do things I do not want to do Am I willing to make myself uncomfortable in order to make progress Am I willing to be consistent and monitor my progress regularly What am I willing to do Where will I do it When will I begin this task How much time will I spend on it
Another suggestion is to focus on progress not perfection. It is more important to get started than to do it perfectly while rewarding himself for each step for this will strengthen his behavior.
The prime solutions for curbing procrastination suggested by Dr. Knaus are 1. Keep your eye on the priority you want to accomplish. 2. Undercut the procrastination process by forcing yourself to act to do what is important or timely to do. 3. Refuse to capitulate to the various forms of procrastination thinking that support delay. This process of curbing procrastination impulses gets easier with practice, but it is also easy to slip back (Knaus, 2002).
The best way of overcoming procrastination, however, is to adopt and practice a do it now philosophy. Though it will be difficult at first since you will be working against an established habit, by painstakingly accomplishing small tasks and facing your procrastination habit, you can improve your personal effectiveness.
The four phases of the do it now philosophy are self acceptance, gathering information and mapping your procrastination patterns, using this information and taking action steps to curb procrastination, and exposing yourself to situations where you would normally procrastinate and work through the problem when exposed to it.
The abovementioned strategies are all effective in overcoming procrastination all we need to do is to start.
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