I'll just go ahead and say it: I've always been a procrastinator. I've never been sure why. It's also easy for me to see that I have high standards and overachiever tendencies, which seems to make the procrastination thing make no sense. Why would a person who wants to do something well put it off until the last moment?
An article in the Cal Poly study skills library points out a lot of contributing factors. Procrastinators are often optimistics, underestimating the time it will take to do a task (and then having to rush at the end to finish). Procrastinators are often very self-critical, and subconsciously fear that they'll screw up the project. We have a misguided impression that we work best under pressure (indeed, we do work under pressure, and it might work out fine, but we've never given ourselves a chance to see how good we could be without that pressure). And we're scurrying around doing smaller things because it seems like we never have enough time to do the big task (again, we've never given ourselves the chance to break the big task up into segments and do them bit by bit).
Can you hear the killer chatter in your mind that convinces you to put something off?
---- "I should...(do the best, get an A, be absolutely sure)..."
---- "I can't... (understand, fit it in, find the time)..."
---- "I don't... (have the time, want to do a bad job, want to do it at all)..."
Can you replace it with the opposite?
---- "I want... (to get started, to do a little, to feel good)..."
---- "I can.... (do this, break it into chunks, set limits)..."
---- "I do..... (understand, like my work, know i can do it)..."
http://sas.calpoly.edu/asc/ssl/procrastination.html
A fascinating 2003 Psychology Today article titled "Procrastination: Ten Things to Know" described the ways procrastination hinders our lives:
--we are late, we miss out on opportunities, we have to compromise
--it represents a problem in self-regulation
--it is a way of lying to ourselves
--it's often a form of rebellion
--we are made, not born
--we look for distractions
--the constant stress hurts our immune systems
--we can change!
here's the article:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20030823-000001.html
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Actually, the Psychology Today story talks about these very points. That procrastination is not actually a problem of planning or time management; rather, it is a problem of self-regulation. Two paragraphs I find very relevant to myself:
"3. Procrastination is not a problem of time management or of planning. Procrastinators are not different in their ability to estimate time, although they are more optimistic than others. "Telling someone who procrastinates to buy a weekly planner is like telling someone with chronic depression to just cheer up," insists Dr. Ferrari.
"4. Procrastinators are made, not born. Procrastination is learned in the family milieu, but not directly. It is one response to an authoritiarian parenting style. Having a harsh, controlling father keeps children from developing the ability to regulate themselves, from internalizing their own intentions and then learning to act on them. Procrastination can even be a form of rebellion, one of the few forms available under such circumstances. What's more, under those household conditions, procrastinators turn more to friends than to parents for support, and their friends may reinforce procrastination because they tend to be tolerant of their excuses."
In other words, that authoritarian parent is so dominant in the child's mind that the child's own voice of self-regulation -- I need to get this done, so I should do it now -- doesn't develop properly. All of the energy is spent following, resisting or coping with the authoritarian parent's demands.
Do you think this could be so? I can see many traces of it in myself. I had a super-strong dad who loved us to distraction but who totally fit this description. And I have tried time-management tricks over and over again; they work, but only for a while. Ironically, when I think about what this article says -- that I need to work on my self-regulation -- I am getting more done. I need to react to my own voice that tells me I need to do something, rather than react to the shadow of voices past against whom I was rebelling.
November 10, 2008 - 9:21amThis Comment
Hey Diane,
Sorry it took me a little time to comment on this share, I was procrastinating.....a little humor.
Procrastinating is actually a mechanism we use to reduce stress. When we feel as if we have too much to do, doing nothing may be less stressful but the need to finish something doesn't seem to dissipate. Time Management would be a good way to combat that procrastinating attitude. Your Total Health provides some helpful ways to end procrastination. You can find that information here http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/how-end-procrastination.html. The information provided is pretty seductive since one of the mechanisms is rewarding yourself for not procrastinating. Who doesn't love rewards?
Procrastination is really a lack of will power. If I personally procrastinate, I feel guilty from not accomplishing what I meant to do that day. It is so easy to avoid having to do something, it is harder to get things done. It is all a matter of how you approach the situation. I think in the end, it feels better to accomplish something than put it off for later.
This reminds me, I have to do my laundry......
November 9, 2008 - 11:09amThis Comment