It’s that time of the quarter again: You have loads of stuff to do. You know you should get things done beforehand. You know you should start working on that 10-page research paper. You know you should start studying for that final exam. But, when you actually sit down in front of your desk, it’s already 10PM, the night before the deadline.
Procrastination /prə(ʊ)ˌkrastɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n/ (n.)
The action of delaying or postponing something
Sound familiar?
If we could just avoid procrastinating, our lives would be so much easier!
I admire people who get everything done on their To Do lists. Every time I procrastinate (but finish through undergoing the process of the last-minute panic) I promise myself – next time, I’ll start earlier.
But then there’s the cool, new Netflix series I just have to watch. Then, I happen to start looking up random pictures of dogs winking at the camera. After that, scrolling down a photogenic Instagram account for no reason. And then, I start munching on snacks even though I just ate lunch. And finally, I start cleaning my desk, then my closet, then my entire room, only to notice—did I just spend the entire day doing nothing? My To Do list gets longer and longer every time I procrastinate.
Why do we even procrastinate? Are we just lazy? Or is it something that we all can get along with?
I came across an article that might help answer these questions.
It seems like we procrastinate for two reasons.
- A lack of a clear idea of what to do and/or
- A lack of a reason to do it.
We need to be asking ourselves, what do I need to do? And why do I need to do it? A specific purpose and a plan to keep the procrastination away.
So I got out a piece of paper and wrote down everything I had to do with the reasons for why I had to do it. I was able to visualize what I really had to do with more motivation on starting right away. It helped bring all my thoughts together, actually making me eager to start, and simply helped erase all the reasons why I did not want to do it.
Now, this may be a good way to begin the assignments with deadlines. But what about the ones without deadlines – like goals you want to achieve in the future?
In his TED talk, Tim Urban proposed the idea that the last-minute panic does not occur when there are no deadlines. We tend to postpone, postpone and postpone, unknowingly going through long-term procrastination, which may even lead to long-term unhappiness or regrets. The real enemy for unfinished tasks may not be short-term procrastination that goes away with panic but rather the long-term ones that hide deep within each and every one of us.
Overcoming procrastination may be more of a process of tackling the never ending To Do list for a better future. So, why not start today?