When Procrastination Becomes A Serious Problem

There are so many things I want to do. I am able to do it. I have the ability to do it, some maybe difficult but not impossible. More often, I want to do them later. Most of the time, I ended up not being able to do them.

Putting off something that should be done now until a later time is what we have come to think of as procrastination. I haven’t thought of it much until lately. I think that maybe I have this behavior and it’s becoming serious. I wanted to know what procrastination is in simple explanation.

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Procrastination is a type of behavior which is characterized by deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite procrastination as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. For the person procrastinating this may result in stress, a sense of guilt, the loss of personal productivity, the creation of crisis and the disapproval of others for not fulfilling one's responsibilities or commitments. While it is normal for individuals to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological or physiological disorder. [From Wikipedia]

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Everyone procrastinates to some degree of another. For some, it can be a minor problem but with other, it is a source of stress and anxiety. We put things off because we don’t want to do them, or because we have too many other things to do.

I am often optimistic about my ability to complete a task on a tight deadline and this is usually accompanied by expressions of assurance than everything is under control. But most of the time when things were done, I always thought that I could have done it better had I started doing it earlier.

Resisting Common Excuses

While reading different articles on procrastination, I found some suggestions on how to fight it. One is to find or write rebuttal for each alibi below:

1. "I'm more productive when I work under pressure, so I'm postponing all my work until the pressure builds up and then I'll get it done easily."
2. "I don't know how to do this problem, so I'm waiting until I know how before I do it."
3. "This task isn't getting done because I really don't want to do it. And that's the honest truth"
4. "Relax. The world isn't going to come to an end if this doesn't get done."
5. "This job is easier to do when I'm in the mood, and I'm simply not in the mood right now."
6. "I waited until the last moment before and it worked out okay, so why not this time?"
7. "If I wait until the last minute, I won't spend so much time on it."
8. "If I do this work right now, I'll miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime social event."
9. "Circumstances beyond my control prevented me from doing so."
10. "I've worked on this for so long that I have no interest or energy for it."

Well, I will work on it. I may still procrastinate, but I hope and pray that I will be able to resolve this the soonest. When will I start?
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