You have just been assigned a presentation due in a couple of weeks. As you sit and take notes in class, you have multiple ideas swimming in your head, and you cannot wait to sit down and begin working. But after a long day of classes and extracurriculars, when you reach home, you tell yourself, “I’ll start working on it in a while.” That ‘in a while’ turns into hours and into days, when suddenly you are left with only a couple of days to finish a task you had weeks for.
Akshara Rahate
People have a great tendency of putting off the things they need to do for a later time. Missed a call? Will call back in a bit. Had to go to the library to return a book? Would go the next day. Have a term paper due in a couple of months? Will start in a couple of weeks. All of which never comes until one is faced with the deadline creeping closer much faster than they had anticipated.
Procrastination could be defined as ‘the intentional delay of an intended course of action, in spite of an awareness of negative outcomes’(Steel, 2007). In simpler terms, it could be seen as delaying a behavior even though one is aware it might lead to something detrimental or disadvantageous.
According to research by Ellis and Knaus (1977), over 70% of the student population partake in procrastination. This was seen to be due to the nature of the task as well as motives such as fear of failure and task aversiveness (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984). Parents assume children procrastinate because they are being lazy, or unproductive. However, that is not the truth. Rather, procrastination stems from a mixture of many things.
Firstly, it could be due to what exactly the nature of the task is. Oftentimes, people postpone the execution of a task based on their like or dislike of the said task. Regardless of whether the activity was to be undertaken once in a blue moon, or five times a week, if the task was seen in an unfavorable light, it would always lead to a delay. It might not necessarily be the task itself, but its associated features. For example, cleaning the room. Some people might enjoy the chore of fixing up their room and maybe in the process, even revamping it a bit. But what might put someone off could be the amount of time required to finish that activity, thereby leading to it being pushed down on the to-do list.
Fear of failure, the second aspect, is much more potent in nature. People are reluctant to begin on the work they have to do because they are afraid they would be unable to execute it the way it needs to be and may only end up with them being unsuccessful. That fear is so strong, it robs people of even being motivated to approach the work with an optimistic perspective.
Task aversiveness is the third aspect affecting procrastination. It refers to any feelings of emotional or physical discomfort related to a specific task. The feelings evoked could be worry, fear, uneasiness, uncertainty, or even dislike, which culminates into postponement.
All of this is not limited to studies or work-related tasks. Any action or behavior that can be procrastinated could be influenced by these factors.
According to another study, procrastination holds a great association with concepts of self-regulation, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. They seem to hold an inverse relationship with procrastination, but only Self-efficacy for self-regulation could be considered a stronger predictor of the disposition (Klassen, Krawchuk & Rajani, 2008). Self-regulation is seen as consciously managing one’s own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in order to achieve a set goal, while self-efficacy is defined as one’s conviction in their own capabilities to accomplish tasks and have control over motivation, behavior, and social environment. Self-esteem, though, is understood as one’s measure of their own value and worth. All of these have a negative correlation with procrastination which suggests that if self-regulation, self-efficacy, or self-esteem is low, procrastination would be high, but if any or all of those three aspects are high, then procrastination would be low.
In order to combat procrastination, it is important to build certain resources for oneself. Bolstering one’s self-esteem is key, wherein there is less doubt and greater conviction in self. This would boost self-efficacy and self-regulation right alongside it.
One also needs to accept mistakes and failures. Sometimes, it is alright if the work put out wasn’t up to the benchmark that had been set up. The fact that the task was accomplished is what should be acknowledged, rather than the insistence of perfection in the execution of the task. Only once the existence of failing is embraced that it becomes possible for one to see it as something natural. Facing these obstacles of errors and blunders would allow for better problem-solving, thinking, and improved skills of overcoming impediments and hindrances. Then, taking a look at task aversiveness and the task characteristics, the way forward is changing one’s perspective of that activity. It then becomes necessary to try and search for a silver lining.
In such times, it is also consequential to set the right kind of motives and incentives to complete tasks. With those in place, it becomes far easier to go about finishing things. It is not necessary for the rewards to be big. Smaller ones also work well. For example, in order to finish one hour of research work, the promise to self is a reward of a twenty-minute snack break; or telling oneself that if they clean up the room by afternoon, at night their favorite meal would be awaiting their hard work.
Little things can then help organize and encourage the completion of pending works. However, if these options do not work, one should not be too hard on themselves. Putting that burden on oneself can often lead to increased stress and anxiety. One needs to give themselves the right space and mindset to properly accept, plan, and move ahead. While it does not happen simultaneously, it all lies in taking that first step.
After all, one could never go wrong with slow and steady.
REFERENCES
Klassen, R. M., Krawchuk, L. L., & Rajani, S. (2008). Academic procrastination of undergraduates: Low self-efficacy to self-regulate predicts higher levels of procrastination. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33(4), 915–931. doi: 10.1016/j.cedpsych.2007.07.001
Schouwenburg H.C. (1995) Academic Procrastination. In: Procrastination and Task Avoidance. The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA
Akshara is a psychology student who loves anime, books, the Chelsea football club, music and glitter. And not necessarily in that order. Follow Akshara on her Instagram page.
Articles published on the blog are the statements, views, opinions of the author and don’t necessarily reflect the position of the organization. Read the entire disclaimer on Margika’s website.
