How to Stop Procrastinating: Part 1
By Angela Gwak, PhD
“To do, or not to do? That is the question.” A play on words of a famous quote but so familiar to the mental anguish that many of us struggle with at some point, especially around important or needed tasks that have been postponed until the very last minute. To get started on these dreaded tasks is indeed a real challenge. Sometimes, we even manage to do everything else (yes, including many hours of deep cleaning!) but to address the task itself.
Chances are that we have all procrastinated before. In fact, research notes that we are not alone, as the prevalence rate of procrastination is about 20-25% in the general population (Ferrari et al., 2007) and 80-95% for university students (Steel, 2007), with about 50% of chronic procrastinators suffering significant consequences (He, 2017). Despite how common, even normalized it can be, procrastination becomes problematic when it gets in the way of us fully thriving in multiple areas of our lives. When that happens, it should not be taken lightly. There are detrimental psychological and physical effects of unaddressed procrastination. Thankfully, we can change with the right support and skills building.
But first, what is procrastination anyway? Why do we engage in this behavior? What are its effects on our physical and mental health? And what can we do about it?
What is procrastination?
Procrastination is “[a] voluntary delay of an intended and necessary and/or (personally) important activity, despite expecting potential negative consequences that outweigh the positive consequences of the delay” (Klingsieck, 2013). Contrary to popular belief, studies have found that procrastination is not necessarily a behavior that derives from an individual’s lack of will to begin or complete a task, but more so a function of an individual’s lack of emotion regulation skills in successfully navigating undesired emotions around the task (Schuenemann et al., 2022). In other words, it is about the difficulty we have managing our feelings and a lack of effective strategies around approaching tasks that trigger unhelpful thoughts and actions. Procrastination is not the result of being “weak willed,” “lazy,” or some other character flaw.
Why do we procrastinate?
It is natural to avoid unpleasant emotions and instead look for a swift resolution. When a task generates unwanted emotions, such as boredom, anxiety, or feeling overwhelmed to name a few, we may be pulled to engage in strategies to regulate the undesired emotions with a quick solution to provide relief. Thus, we find ourselves avoiding, delaying, and pushing off the task, and instead occupying ourselves with other things that make us feel better. If we struggle with lack of confidence, perfectionism, or feelings of incompetence, we may experience internal discomfort, such as fear of criticism or pressure to perform in order to gain praise. We then may be reluctant to engage in the task and unintentionally look for things that provide a sense of brief accomplishment and productivity in other minor activities. For example, if we are good at playing video games or playing word puzzles, we might spend a considerable amount of time doing those rather than attending to the task at hand because these games allow us to experience a sense of temporary achievement and avoid feeling incompetent. Furthermore, these games successfully have you avoid the task itself. Given that procrastination enables us to replace unpleasant emotions with quick relief, it is no surprise that we easily fall prey to procrastination.
What are the effects of procrastination?
Despite its temporary band-aid effect on difficult emotions, research found that chronic procrastination can lead to a host of negative psychological and physical health consequences. These include but are not limited to prolonged stress, increased anxiety and depression, lowered self-esteem, decreased work and academic performance, and even poor physical health (Schuenemann et al., 2022). As previously discussed, if procrastination is rooted in the difficulties of strategy planning and emotion regulation in the context of dreaded tasks, then what can we do?
Tip #1: Demystify procrastination.
In Part 2, I will be outlining more useful strategies in detail, such as tips on strengthening your emotion regulation skills and strategy planning to effectively challenge procrastinating behaviors. But for the purposes of this first part, I want to underscore the importance of increasing your knowledge about procrastination. Understanding the underlying mechanics and the effects of procrastination is indeed a great first start, which will give you an edge in tackling this behavior. So when you experience the urge to procrastinate, remind yourself with the following facts:
Procrastination only acts as a quick relief to distressing emotions around the activity that you’ve been putting off.
Procrastination does not provide lasting solutions and only creates prolonged distress over time.
Procrastination can lead to negative consequences, including anxiety, depressed mood, negative health outcomes, and poor overall performance.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series, where I will be providing tips and strategies to help your fight against procrastination. Here’s to being more productive so you can fully enjoy your life.
About the Author: Dr. Angela Gwak is a psychologist and post-doctoral fellow at MTC. She utilizes CBT techniques herself and equips clients with effective skills to combat procrastination.
References:
Ferrari, J. R., Díaz-Morales, J. F., O’Callaghan, J., Díaz, K., and Argumedo, D. (2007). Frequent behavioral delay tendencies by adults: international prevalence rates of chronic procrastination. J. Cross Cult. Psychol. 38, 458–464.
He, S. (2017). A multivariate investigation into academic procrastination of university students. Open J. Soc. Sci. 5:12.
Klingsieck, K. B. (2013). Procrastination: when good things don’t come to those who wait. European psychologist, 18(1), 24.
Schuenemann, L., Scherenberg, V., von Salisch, M., & Eckert, M. (2022). “I’ll Worry About It Tomorrow”–Fostering Emotion Regulation Skills to Overcome Procrastination. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 780675.
Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: a meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychol. Bull. 133, 65–94.