This Month's Topic in Depth

Procrastination and Its Causes

In order to understand and solve your procrastination problems, you must carefully analyze those situations where your work is not being completed. First, determine whether the cause is poor time management; if so, you will need to learn and develop better time management skills (look below for some time management suggestions). If, however, you know how to manage your time but don't make use of those skills, you may have a more emotion-based problem.

Four Simple Reasons for Procrastination

1) Difficult - the task seems hard to do; we naturally tend to avoid difficult things in favor of those which seem easy to us.
2) Time-consuming - the task will take large blocks of time, and large blocks of time are unavailable until the weekend.
3) Lack of knowledge or skills - no one wants to make mistakes, so wait until you learn how before you start.
4) Fears - everyone will know how you screwed up.

The simple cure? Do everything opposite. Tell yourself: this isn't so hard, it won't take long, and I am sure that I know how to do it, or that I can learn while I'm doing it. And no one else really cares because they are all so busy with their own problems.

Four Complex Reasons for Procrastination

1) Perfectionism - unrealistically high expectations or standards. Everything must go completely right. It may either imposed or self-imposed. The perfectionist is long on criticism and short on praise.

* It creates a high degree of dissatisfaction and frustration because seldom is anything accomplished that is completely acceptable the very first time. The perfectionist nitpicks it to death.
* A perfectionist may delay in starting a project because he feels overwhelmed by the sheer amount of energy it will take to criticize and nitpick something, and all the frustration it will generate in the process.
* The words should, ought, must, have to, occur frequently in the person's conversation. (I should get straight A's; I must do everything right the first time, etc.) "If you can't do it right, don't do it at all."
* The desire to have everything absolutely perfect may mask problems of self-esteem and self-confidence.

How to resolve:

Try self-reassurance that this effort or version will be good enough
Make an effort to praise what you have done
Realize it's impossible to eradicate all mistakes
You have undoubtedly found all the fatal errors by now
Remind yourself that great writers, poets, artists at one time or another completed their work; therefore, it will be okay to say that yours is done also.

2) Anger/Hostility - if we are unhappy with someone, we'll often withhold our best efforts. For example, if you are upset with a boss or professor, you are likely to delay in starting a demanding project as a way of "getting even." But you are the one who loses; you are the one with the low grade or poor project.

How to resolve:

Determine that you are the one who is feeling upset and see how your actions will actually harm you in the long run. You are not going to let how you feel about a particular class or boss stand in the way of your personal future, are you?

3) Low Frustration Tolerance - circumstances overwhelm you easily; you find situations radically intolerable and terribly unfair. Frustration is characterized by whining and complaining, and such phrases as "it isn't fair," "this is too hard," and "no one else has to," etc. Feeling the way you do, it seems reasonable to "put it off" until you feel better about doing the work. The trouble is, you feel just as frustrated the next day.

How to resolve:

The more you want something and can't have it, the greater your level of frustration.
Get help from someone who can show you how to solve the problem
Learn how to temporarily postpone your desires. Most of the time, you will eventually get what you want.

4) Self-Downing - this happens when you continually minimize your own skills and abilities and express doubt about your ability to succeed. A person who habitually puts himself down tends to disbelieve himself even when he is successful: it was "just dumb luck." In addition, he may also find it hard to accept praise and compliments for work performed - false modesty. ("Wow, you did so well on the exam!" "Oh, I just lucked out; I really didn't know it all that well.")

The trouble with self-downing is that, given a long enough time, the person will actually come to believe that he is incapable or undeserving of certain levels of achievement.

Self-downing results in procrastination because the person who is uncomfortable with success will seek ways to become less successful and less visible. Turn in that important quarterly report late, and soon success will fade. ("Why did they fire you?" "I told them all along I couldn't sustain the pace, and see! I was right. I can't work at that level.")

How to resolve:

Practice accepting compliments about your work performance by simply saying "Thank you."
Figure out why you feel uncomfortable with success. Did significant others in your life often make you feel that way? Were you taught to minimize your success? Why is success so scary? Will it make you stand out in the crowd? Do you feel as though others will not accept you if you are successful?
Remember to compliment and praise yourself for work accomplished.

Some Tips for Effective Planning

The larger, more involved, the project, the more difficult it is to plan effectively to carry it out. The following steps may be helpful:

* Segment the task. The entire job may seem impossible, but smaller segments may seem more manageable. Divide the task into small steps.

* Distribute the small steps reasonably within the given time frame. "Reasonably" is the key word; you must allot sufficient time for each step. Do not fool yourself by believing you can do more than is humanly possible.

* Realize that humans periodically need variety and relaxation. Intersperse rewards, relaxation, and gratification for work completed. This will help you feel less resentful of the task and the work that still needs to be done.

* Monitor your progress on the small steps. Watch for the pitfalls discussed earlier. Assess problems when they arise and do something about them quickly. Keep track of the segments and how they fit together to form the whole picture. Reassess time commitments as necessary.

* Be reasonable in your expectations of yourself. Perfectionistic or extremely strict expectations may cause you to rebel or may sabotage your progress.