What really is procrastination? As defined by Psychology Today, “procrastination is a negative form of delay related to anxiety, depression, or psychological distress”. Yet a simple definition doesn’t really encompass this very complex concept. As a consistent procrastinator, my favourite lines is “I’ll do it later”, and I’m sure many of you can relate.
In my view, phrases such as this are the backbone of procrastination. Without deadlines, we always tend to put things off to do tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, or the day after that, because there’s simply no firm obligation to get something done, so we don’t. Even with deadlines, like an important essay that’s due on Monday, it’s in human nature to forget about this task until the last minute, such as on Sunday night, which is when we go into overdrive mode, stress out, and consequently do a poor job. Let’s face it, we’ve all been there before. Procrastination plays a powerful role in all of our lives, whether we like it or not, and we can’t change anything by simply deciding to do it later.
So why can’t we simply ignore this temptation? Why is procrastination so powerful? Whether we like it or not, procrastination will always be there throughout our lives, taking control when we’re at our most vulnerable. If we don’t learn how to control ourselves, the impulsive part of our brain will seek immediate satisfaction and prevent us from working efficiently. It could slow or even prevent us from reaching our goals, which is obviously not good. So to be more productive and realize our potential, we must be more powerful than the temptation of our own minds. We have to overcome the power of procrastination.
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