KOCHI: As those hoards of documents pile up on your desktop, waiting to be skimmed through, sifted and sorted out, you end up scrolling on social media instead. That is neither laziness nor the inability to get yourself out of the perils of the social media monster, it is simply putting off a boring but important task until later despite knowing that there would be negative consequences for it, something we call ‘procrastination’.
“It is derived from the Latin verb ‘procrastinare’ — to put off until tomorrow. It’s more than just voluntarily delaying a task. When people procrastinate, they are not only aware that they are avoiding the task in question but also that doing so is probably a bad idea and yet we do it anyway,” said Dr Shahjahan Akthar, Consultant Psychiatrist at Apollo Hospital, Secunderabad.
It obviously doesn’t make sense to put off something until later despite knowing that it will create problems. Isn’t it very easy to think of someone like that as lazy or careless? The truth is that procrastination is not a time-management problem but is associated with the emotions the task at hand invokes.
“Procrastination is not a sign of laziness,” says Dr Daljeet Kaur, Consultant Psychiatrist and founder of DAWN Healthyminds. “Procrastinating is basically choosing a positive activity in the present instead of thinking of the positive consequences of the future,” she adds.
Therefore, it cannot be termed as a character flaw or be associated with incompetency. It is just a coping mechanism for challenging emotions and negative moods induced by certain tasks, such as boredom, anxiety, insecurities, frustration, resentment, self-doubt and so on. It cannot be even labelled under the umbrella of lack of motivation.
Breaking down the psychology of procrastination further, Dr Akthar adds, “When we procrastinate, parts of our brains actually think that the tasks we’re putting off — and the accompanying negative feelings that await us on the other side — are somebody else’s problem. Our brains are always looking for relative rewards. If we have a habit loop around procrastination but we haven’t found a better reward, our brain is just going to keep doing it over and over until we give it something better to do.”
Certainly, it makes a person feel unproductive and ineffectual which further leads to more negative feelings, most importantly, that of guilt. Dr Akthar adds that among students, it is associated with academic performance, exam scores and longer study durations, which might lead to bad performance, course withdrawals and even dropping out. Among adults, she says, procrastination is linked with joblessness, family disputes, financial issues, etc.
It is also possible that procrastination itself acts as a symptom of other mental illnesses, or reflects some underlying issues such as anxiety, OCD, depression, ADHD, and PTSD, says Dr Kaur. People who procrastinate have high levels of anxiety and poor impulse control. Therefore, supporting them is important. It is even linked to physical illness.
How can one stop procrastinating is a significant question. “To stop procrastinating immediately, identify the smallest possible step you can take to make progress toward your goals and try to start with just that tiny step while giving yourself permission to make mistakes during the attempt,” says Dr Akthar. While these are some self-help tips everyone can follow, it is important to note that for chronic procrastination, it is better to go for a psychiatrist consultation. There are treatment options like cognitive behaviour therapy, and stress management therapy available to treat procrastination.
Here are some pointers on how to stop procrastinating: