Getting Help With Procrastination: Don’t Put It Off
A lot of people are likely familiar with the term "procrastination," and how it can hold us back from reaching our goals. Writer's block also falls into this category, and so do a number of other common experiences: not starting on a new project, never making that call to your boss, never writing that report that could get you promoted. But what if procrastination is exactly what you need? What if it's giving you just enough push to keep going until life's projects are complete?
The topic has been around for centuries - in this blog post, we will explore the benefits of putting off tasks until we're ready for them to move forward. Since the 15th century, when the term was first introduced by P. Delay, there have been numerous theories and studies exploring how this behavior can be useful at times. Let's take a look at what we have learned so far:
First of all, note that procrastination is far from a problem - it's an incredibly normal part of human behavior. Right now, you're likely reading this article because you decided to "get around to it later." We've all experienced procrastination over the course of our lives - to some degree or another - and this has likely helped us get through tasks that we needed to complete at one time or another.
It's not really a choice, either - we procrastinate for the same reason we sleep or eat when we're hungry. Our brains are wired to give us rewards for tasks that have been completed, and temporarily giving up on our goals gives us some relief from doing yet another chore. In this way, our brains work quite a bit like computers - their most basic commands are to get food, survive and reproduce. If you look at it from this perspective, procrastination is a natural response that helps us avoid doing something stressful or difficult that could lead to failure.
In the short term, the behavior can be useful in a variety of situations. While an important project is due soon, it could be easier to put it off until later in the day (or week or month), so you're not all in a rush to complete it and move on to other things.
In the long term, the behavior can be useful as well - just like sleeping or eating, procrastination can help us avoid putting things off until they become too difficult to handle. And that's exactly what happens with long-term projects and goals: we might have set a goal of getting that promotion at work by next month, but because we put it off for so long, we're probably already behind schedule. By choosing to put something off, we prevent ourselves from getting overwhelmed or exhausted by our goals.
That's not to say that "putting it off" is always the right approach, though - while you're putting off some goals, you might be letting go of others. And since you don't know if your boss will give you a higher raise if you ask him today (versus waiting until tomorrow), procrastination can also be useful in some situations: if you've already asked for a raise multiple times, waiting just one more day might get that raise bumped up a notch.
What's more, our behavior is influenced by many other elements outside of our control - from advertising to our own past decisions. If the possibility of getting a raise has made you put off asking for one, then waiting one more day might be exactly what you need to get that raise (or promotion, or new job).
So far, we've talked about the benefits of putting things off - but there are also drawbacks. If everything is on a "short leash," then it's also quite likely that people become too stressed or overworked. This is not necessarily a bad thing - stress helps us when we're pressuring ourselves to get something done right now (which is essentially what we're doing when we're trying to avoid doing something difficult), but it can cause unnecessary suffering beyond that point. We'll talk more about the risks and benefits in the next section.
But for now, let's take a look at the other side of this coin - the risks that come with procrastination.
The biggest of these risks is when we avoid something for too long or are unable to finish it at all. It can be quite stressful not having accomplished our goals before their deadline - from having to work harder or longer in order to complete our projects to being more likely to give up altogether on a project. And if we're suffering as a result of not accomplishing our goals, then it's likely that we'll suffer even more later if we don't take immediate action to relieve stress.
If we're procrastinating too long on a certain project, then we might be missing out on other important opportunities. As previously mentioned, procrastination can be a great way to put off big tasks - if you want to learn something new this weekend, then putting it off until later in the week might lead you to postpone learning altogether and lose out on much-needed progress. Procrastination can also cause people to miss deadlines that they really need to get done by - if you're stressing due to your ongoing research project and you put it off until tomorrow, then when Monday comes around you'll likely have missed deadline after deadline.
But there are more specific risks as well. Procrastination can cause health problems, since it can trigger stress and emotional pain. People who are stressed out due to pressure from their bosses or partners are more likely to skip their meals or exercise - both of which can lead to some serious issues down the road.
Stress and anxiety caused by procrastination are not without risk as well - they can lower our immune systems and leave us more susceptible to illness. What's more, living in high-stress situations for prolonged periods of time might lead to even greater stress with time.
Some people choose to cope with this stress by getting high or drunk; people who take drugs or drink alcohol while they're under pressure are more likely to make risky decisions and forget how much they've drunk - which can lead to a variety of health problems in the long run.
There is also the risk of failure here - if we're putting off various projects, we'll be more likely to miss deadlines and disappoint others (and ourselves). If you're late on your taxes because you didn't want to put in the effort, then you might find yourself paying a hefty fine for your tardiness. If you're late with a big project for work, then you might get fired.
And even if we don't see our future goals as failures, we might be putting them off because we're afraid of what failure will bring - from embarrassment to shame to the loss of our jobs or our friends, there are many ways in which failure can hurt us.
All in all, procrastination comes with several risks - and yet it's still incredibly common in today's society.
Conclusion
Procrastination is a tricky behavior that can lead to negative consequences for ourselves and others in many ways - whether we're avoiding a difficult project or relationship, taking too long to complete our goals, or causing stress and anxiety because of pressure from our partners or bosses.
But while it's not always the right approach to take, there are times when it can be beneficial to put off certain goals or avoid certain behaviors that could cause us harm. We'll look at these benefits and risks in more detail in the next section.