Why do procrastinate so much

There are 2 main types of procrastination: Acute Procrastination and Chronic Procrastination. Prev Previous. Next Next. Share on pinterest. Share on facebook. Share on twitter. Share on reddit. Share on email. Related articles. You will just lie down or sit at a place, staring at your works.

You are unable to do those works because you are not willing to. That is why the moment you force yourself, you will immediately receive the energy to start those works immediately. Read also: 6 Habits that will improve your self-discipline. The world today is full of distractions. Distractions from parents, siblings, friends, the internet, television, etc. We get carried away by what we see, hear, and feel every day. An unconducive environment can cause you to delay your works or your assignment for the day.

Therefore, it is necessary to make your environment comfortable for working or learning. It will help you stop procrastinating. Take away anything that will make you lose focus. It can be your friends, your phone, television, or anything at all. Make sure you get rid of those things first before you start working or studying your books. When you fail to realize that it is your duty to solve a particular problem or do certain things, you will always procrastinate.

But your unwillingness to assume those responsibilities will make you delay or postpone washing those clothes. Likewise every other thing. Read also: Powerful Inspirational Quotes for success. One of the greatest enemies of man is fear. The moment it creeps into your mind, you have started failing already. Fear of not being able to complete a particular task or succeed at something is another factor that can cause procrastination.

No one wants to engage in a task and come out as a failure. Therefore, instead of trying, you prefer to wait first, before you begin. That is why you find yourself procrastinating more than required.

Perfectionism brings procrastination. When you become too conversant or acquainted with your works, you will easily procrastinate because you are already familiar with those chores. He already has the required knowledge or skills to solve those problems. Likewise, in any type of job you are doing. When you become too familiar with it, you will easily procrastinate because the task is not going to be difficult for you to do or achieve. Most times, some of the factors mentioned above may not be your reason for procrastinating.

Your procrastination may be a result of physical weakness which can be triggered by stress or depression. When this occurs, it is important you have enough rest before doing anything. This will help you gather the necessary energy needed to do those jobs. Your needs and your wants are never the same. While the former is your core values or your priorities, the latter can be substituted for another thing.

Knowing the most important tasks you have for the day will help you direct all your attention to doing those jobs first before any other thing. This will help you eliminate distractions and be more productive. Just know that no one is going to do it for you. This issue is operationalized through the concept of locus of control , which is the degree to which people believe that they have control over events in their life. The locus of control is described on a spectrum of internality and externality :.

Individuals who are internally oriented tend to get started and complete tasks on time , while individuals who are externally oriented tend to procrastinate more , perform worse on tasks, and experience more anxiety. For example, a person might procrastinate because their ADHD makes it hard for them to concentrate on a single task for long, especially once it gets boring, so they constantly jump from one task to another, without finishing any of them.

In general, research shows that there is a significant correlation between engaging in ADHD-related behaviors and procrastination. This is expected, given the fact that many ADHD behaviors can lead directly to procrastination , and given that various forms of procrastinatory behaviors are sometimes viewed as direct symptoms of ADHD. However, note that not all forms of ADHD are equally associated with procrastination, and research on the topic suggests that symptoms of ADHD which have to do with inattention are more strongly associated with procrastination than symptoms which have to do with hyperactivity or impulsivity.

Some people procrastinate because they suffer from underlying depression. This is because depression can lead to issues such as fatigue, difficulty in concentrating, and a reduced interest in activities, which in turn can cause people to procrastinate. People often procrastinate because they are not motivated enough to work on a given task.

Accordingly, when people are driven to complete a certain task by an external source of motivation, they generally display higher levels of procrastination than when they are driven by an internal and autonomous source of motivation.

Furthermore, there are various other reasons why people can be unmotivated to work on a task. Finally, note that different people have different levels of general achievement motivation , which means that some people are more driven and motivated than others to pursue their goals in life.

Accordingly, those who have lower levels of achievement motivation are more likely to procrastinate on various tasks.

People are generally more likely to procrastinate if they suffer from low energy levels , in terms of physical or mental energy. For example, someone who is tired after having worked hard all day might find it harder to exercise self-control when they get home late at night, which could cause them to procrastinate on things they need to take care of such as washing the dishes.

In addition, note that although laziness and lack of motivation appear similar, these are two separate issues. People often procrastinate because they prioritize their feelings in the present , and do things that will help them feel better right now , even if this comes at the expense of taking action that aligns with their long-term goals, a phenomenon which is known as short-term mood repair. For example, a student might delay getting started on an assignment by wasting hours on activities such as browsing social media, playing video games, and watching TV, because doing so is more pleasant in the short-term than working on the task at hand.

Essentially, this form of procrastination, which is sometimes referred to as hedonistic delay , occurs when people give in to their desire for instant gratification , and engage in behaviors that are satisfying in the short-term, instead of working on the tasks that will benefit them more in the long-term. This kind of behavior relates to the concept of the pleasure principle , which is the tendency to seek out pleasurable activities and avoid unpleasant ones.

While this tendency is natural and instinctive, it becomes a serious issue when a person is unable to control it, since it causes them to continuously pursue short-term satisfaction, at the expense of long-term achievement and development. A lack of self-control makes people much more likely to procrastinate , which is not surprising, given that self-control is crucial when it comes to allowing people to self-regulate their behavior.

Lack of self-control can cause people to procrastinate in itself, and can also make them more likely to procrastinate as a result of other issues, such as task aversion or fear of failure. Perseverance is the ability to maintain goal-driven behavior in the face of obstacles.

Impulsivity is the tendency to act on a whim, without planning ahead or considering the consequences of your actions. Impulsivity is strongly associated with the tendency to procrastinate, since the decision to procrastinate is often an impulsive one, such as when people ignore the long-term consequences of their actions, or when they fail to plan their work ahead of time. Distractibility is the inability to focus your attention on one thing at a time or to stay focused for long in general.

High levels of distractibility can make a person more likely to procrastinate, such as when they lead people to constantly switch from one locus of attention to another. For example, a person who is studying for a test might end up procrastinating because they are constantly distracted by the notifications on their phone.

Similarly, someone might delay finishing various projects that they started working on, because they keep getting distracted by ideas for exciting new projects.

People sometimes procrastinate because they like to wait until right before the deadline to start working on tasks, in order to add pressure, challenge, and excitement to those tasks. For example, a student might wait until the night before a class presentation is due to start working on it, because they feel that doing so will make the otherwise boring act of preparing the presentation more exciting.

In some cases, this type of delay can lead to positive outcomes, such as when it motivates a person to work hard on a task that they would otherwise find tedious. However, in most cases, this sort of delay leads to negative outcomes in terms of performance. Note that some researchers refer to procrastination that occurs for this reason as arousal procrastination , in contrast with avoidant procrastination.

People sometimes procrastinate as an act of rebellion , either in general or against some form of control e. For example, an office worker might procrastinate on an assignment that they got at work, because they dislike their boss, and because they resent the fact that their boss sets their deadlines for them.

This knowledge is valuable from a practical perspective, because understanding why people procrastinate can help you understand why you yourself procrastinate, and because once you understand that, you can successfully figure out how to solve your procrastination problem.

For example, if you notice that you procrastinate because you use abstract goals, you can make sure to define more concrete goals for yourself. Similarly, if you notice that you procrastinate because you feel overwhelmed by a large task that you have to deal with, you can break that task apart into a series of small tasks that you will feel more comfortable handling. Specifically, if you want to successfully overcome your procrastination, here are the main steps that you should follow:.

When it comes to anti-procrastination techniques , here are some examples of relevant ones that you can use:. If you want to learn more about this concept, take a look at the follow-up guide on how to stop procrastinating.