Overcoming (and Leverage) Procrastination

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes, 30 seconds

Procrastination


That thing you were going to look up later after you finished organizing your closet and then got distracted when you realized you needed to turn in that assignment.


Greetings, procrastination aficionados and last-minute taskmasters. If you’re reading this instead of tackling that assignment, you’ve already taken the first step towards distraction enlightenment. 
Here, we’ll define procrastination for what it is, explore the art of delayed gratification, and give you tools to turn those panic-inducing moments into strokes of genius. 

What is Procrastination?

Merriam-Webster defines procrastination as “to put off intentionally or habitually the doing of a task that should be done.” This task could be just about anything including, but not limited to, studying, writing a paper, reading, house chores, exercise, homework, cooking, cleaning, calling your cousin for their birthday last week, doing your taxes… you get the point. But there are different types of procrastination as defined by VeryWellHealth:

Perfectionism

Having high standards and fear of not meeting expectations. This leads to putting off work because of the fear of not doing it correctly

What this may look like

"It must be my best work ever, but it's too overwhelming to imagine" This is the Perfectionism Loop. You may think that if you can't get a 100% on an assignment or do something perfect then you shouldn't do it

Dreamer

Big goals without any plan in place for succeeding

What this may look like

Thinking that things may fall into your lap, and that hard work will just "happen" - the thought of working bores you or frustrates you

Worrier

Fearing change, resist risk-taking, and having worst-case scenario thining

What this may look like

"It's better to not start than to fail" Fearing you won't succeed, you may think - but you're guaranteed to fail if you don't start

Defier

Promise-maker with poor follow-through and many excuses or reasonings for not doing the task

What this may look like

"this is stupid - I shouldn't have to do this" You're given a task that you think is not worthwhile, so you think it's boring, pointless, or mundane and it fills you with anger.

Crisis-Maker

Intentionally or Unintentionally create chaos at the last minute to delay work

What this may look like

"I work best under pressure" You believe that to be motivated to do a task that you need the stress of the clock ticking down. The pressure alleviates the boredom, but the quality of your work suffers

Over-Doer

Unrealistic expectations of what can be achieved matched with a lack of priority-setting abilities

What this may look like

"if I don't accomplish all this, then I'm not good enough" You may have a hard time saying "no" to things and commit to too many things while failing to prioritize. Leads to impossibly high standards and belief

So why do we procrastinate?

To put it shortly, we procrastinate because it’s in our nature. More than that, every individual has a different reason for procrastinating, including reasons like when a task seems to daunting, there’s too much work to be done, an assignment is tedious to us, we don’t feel pressure to do the chore because the deadline isn’t immediate, we have too many distractions… the array stretches out endlessly. 

If any of this sounds like you, know that you are not alone – the National Library of Medicine estimates that 80% to 90% of university students show procrastination behaviors at some point. Procrastination can lead to many things, including increased stress, heightened anxiety, physical sickness, lack of sleep, and burdens on social relationships. So what can we do about it?

What are the benefits of procrastination?

Procrastination has its glass-half-full moments as well, as it actually has several benefits:

  • It gives you more time to think, which allows you to process and gather information before a decision must be made
  • Helps you focus on your work since you’re under heavy pressure to get something done
  • Increases your motivation and makes an otherwise dull task seem a bit more exciting. That boring paper looks a little less boring now with some adrenaline pumping through your veins
  • It breeds efficiency that is associated with Parkinson’s Law, which is summed up by saying, “Work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion.“

While all these may be enough to bring to the dinner table to tell your family to “get off your back,” it’s important to note there are many caveats with these procrastination benefits and that putting tasks off overall leads to more negative outcomes than positive ones. While a student may say they “perform better under pressure,” the vast majority of the time doing this actually worsens their performance, regardless of their justification. While you may be hyper-focused on getting an assignment done at the last hour, you typically won’t get the same quality of work from this practice while also not accounting for problems with technology, health, and other factors nobody wants in a time crunch.

Strategies to Overcome Procrastination


If you’re a chronic procrastinator, this will be one habit that’s very hard to break, but it’s possible!
Follow the steps below to help deal with and prevent procrastination.
Via GIPHY

Planning with OBTs & NMWs

Planning is vital in getting a jump start on the day efficiently and with direction. Map out your day in advance with a list of the things you’ll accomplish, and make sure to include your:

  • “OBT” (One Big Thing) that needs to get done that day, whether that’s a task, goal, or project, and
  • “NMWs” (No Matter What’s) – These are your non-negotiables like exercise, eating, reading, and rest

Adjust Your Environment

Your environment is either helping you or hurting you. If you are on a diet, would it make sense to have cookies baking in the oven and candy in a bowl on the table? Now think about sitting down to study – does it make sense to work in a messy room with your iPhone, Xbox, and TV in it? While you can learn in that setting, it may be easier to remove those distractions. Think about your environment around you – smells, sights, sounds, distractions – and think about how they can work for you, not against you.

Time Management

This is a big topic that deserves an article of its own, but there are a few things to take into consideration:

  • Use the Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes of work/focus, 5-minute break) instead of sitting down to get something down for hours on end. It’s less daunting, more efficient, and leads to much less burnout because of built-in rest
  • Plan on tasks taking 50% longer than you anticipate. Do you think that assignment will take an hour? Plan for an hour and a half – you may need that extra time, but if not, then you have just rewarded yourself with spare time (kudos to you).
  • Avoid multitasking – Your brain isn’t programmed to handle numerous things simultaneously. Do one task and do it well.
  • Breaking larger projects into smaller tasks to build momentum and track your progress along the way

The Nothing Alternative

“The Nothing Alternative” is a term coined by novelist Raymond Chandler that he used to overcome his procrastination with writing. For him, it was “Write, or do nothing at all.” He’d block off a set time and have two options: Either do the task at hand (in this case, his writing) or do nothing. No opportunity to clean, do other work, read, just… nothing. With these being the only two options, at some point, you’ll start working to avoid the bordem at some point. Try it yourself – set aside an hour with one goal in mind. No email, no phone, no distractions. One goal or do nothing.

Procrastination is an active process – you choose to do something else instead of the task you know should be done. It’s not laziness; It’s a battle for your attention. Whenever you find yourself procrastinating, start by setting a 20-minute “timer” where you begin a task all-out, with as much focus as you can give it for at least 20 minutes. If, after those 20 minutes, you still find yourself struggling to get started, come back to it later. What you may find, though, is that it’s a great way to begin your focus and find the momentum needed to keep going.