Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.

 

I’ve always said that one of my biggest faults is that I tend to procrastinate. All the time. It may not be as bad in some situations compared to others, but I still always do it to a certain extent. My reasons are endless: I can’t do it right now because I need to be better prepared mentally, I can’t do it at this moment because I have other things (that aren’t even priorities) to do, I can’t start doing what I need to do because I don’t feel like it right now and will have a better chance at doing it later. ‘Later’ becomes tomorrow, then the day after that, then the day after that. You know how it is … Well, I hope at least some of you do.

 

Why do people procrastinate [to the point where it becomes a problem] ? Procrastination is one of these things that just keeps getting worse and worse, once you get into the habit of doing it a few times. I think a big reason for my procrastination is that I like pushing things to the limit. So, the assignment that I have to complete has a deadline that’s two weeks into the future but of course, I won’t even THINK about doing it until, let’s say, a week before it’s due. On the days in the week leading up to the deadline, I’ll think about the assignment incessantly, telling myself that I’ll ‘just do it tomorrow,’ and in essence, start a small battle with myself. One side of me (the logical, practical side that knows what the ‘best’ thing to do is) tells me that I should just start, and get it over with. The other side of me (the less serious side, who tries to live in the moment as much as possible) insists that it’s alright to put it off for just ‘one more day.’ The second side wins every time, of course. Then, before I know it, I’m up to my neck with work  to complete the night before my assignment is due, and I wonder why I didn’t even start it during those two long weeks. During this time, I scold myself for being such a procrastinator, and vow never to let it happen again. Sadly, it continues to happen.

 

I don’t think that procrastination is always due to being lazy, or having little or no ambition. I think that many of us procrastinate because we want to give something our all, and we want it to be perfect, so we [subconsciously] keep putting it off until we feel that we are ‘ready’ to start it, give it our absolute ALL, and complete it successfully. Hey, that doesn’t sound like a bad thing, right? I mean, taking something seriously and putting all of your energy into it seems like at least a part of the recipe for success. We want to complete tasks, and we want them to go smoothly and bring about as little stress on ourselves as possible, so we keep putting them off until the ‘perfect’ time. As cliché as it sounds, there really is no such thing as perfect timing. If we have the ability to start something sooner than later, then why don’t we? Time is precious and limited. Putting tasks off until the last minute is completely avoidable and does nothing but bring unnecessary stress, worry and guilt on us.

 

I think that the solution to procrastination is to ‘just do it.’ Just do, or start, whatever it is that you have to do, as soon as you can. Starting something is, as I’m learning, the hardest part. In most cases, once something is started, it just gets easier from there. Setting personal deadlines (that you’ll actually stick to), planning, and making to-do lists, is a way to curb procrastination, granted that you make the choice to respect the deadlines and work within these deadlines without waiting until the last few hours before them. Easier said than done, I know. But, it’s worth a try; and I’ve decided to make a conscious effort to try to change my habits and become a better me. Procrastination limits us as individuals and hinders success; and who wants that?

 

“We are so scared of being judged that we look for every excuse to procrastinate.”
― Erica Jong