7 reasons why we procrastinate

T-Mag Thursday 21/November/2019 11:40 AM
By: Times News Service
7 reasons why we procrastinate

We’ve all been guilty of doing it at some point. But if you can’t think of the last time you put off doing something until it was too late, you deserve an immediate pat on the back. You’re a rare kind. Though we all might have our reasons to stall doing something in particular, it becomes a serious problem when we let it hinder our achievements. As with all problems, the first step is to understand why we do something before we can address it. Which ones can you identify with?

1 Better alternatives
The habit of comparing the task to other tasks that are easier, quicker, or more enjoyable sometimes leads us to stall something that feels more tedious.

2 ‘Over-visualising’ the process
If something is unpleasant, thinking about it repeatedly will only make it worse, and you may dread the task even more. It’s like a trip to the dentist when you know you’ve got to go through a painful extraction, and everyone around keeps telling you how ugly it’s going to be.

3 Compounding stress
The longer you stall it, the more stressed you are going to be about it. For example, if you have to send a bunch of reports, and you’re already past the deadline, each passing day is going to only make you feel worse about sitting down with it.

4 Fear of failure
A task that seems to have a high risk of failure is something that is often associated with a lot of anxiety. Anxiety plays a major role in procrastination.

5 Perfectionism
The need to ensure that everything is flawless can be time-consuming. Often perfectionists are so overwhelmed with producing superior quality work that they end up never completing it in time.

6 Lack of direction
Sometimes, it’s not the task itself but the ways and means to go about it. It often happens that a superior orders an assignment to be completed but is ambiguous about how to do it. When the path is not well-defined, there is a high chance that the job will be scheduled last.

7 Not enough motivation
If a job is not pleasurable, there has to be a good reason to want to do it. Looking at it in the light of negative reinforcement, if not doing a task does not warrant a significant punishment, it can be avoided. Either way, to do the job, one must have a good reason.

Antara Bose is a model turned fashion and beauty consultant. A popular blogger, anchor, and voice over artist, she maintains a deep connection with the local fashion industry and is passionate about discovering and celebrating aspiring talent as well as promoting animal rights. For fashion updates with a side of humour and sarcasm follow Antara on instagram: @antarabose and on Facebook: Antara Bose.