By Venuri Gangodawila
Do you always skip your tasks? When looking at this matter, I can say that I am a very practical example where I always write stuff you read at the last minute. Well, we all at some point, are well experienced procrastinators, I guess. The reason that I’m saying this is that currently, procrastination has become a part and parcel of people’s lives. This is due to various reasons I may say. But let’s identify this condition first.
What is procrastination?
Procrastination simply means delaying of something or an action that must be done often because it is boring or unpleasant. But this can be happened even though the “thing” is not boring at all too. However this characteristic has a scientific approach known as “time inconsistency” in the branch of behavioral psychology. This refers to a condition of our human mind focusing on immediate rewards over the futuristic rewards which we can gain by completing or not completing one task.
It is like this. Have you ever found that your mind arguing about doing a chore by churning over the immediate benefits of completing it? For example, if you have to study for an important and life judging exam next week, you might think, “do I have to study now, sacrificing my favorite musical program on the television?” and then you would take a decision either to study for the exam on next week or to watch your favorite program. I suppose that most people in this phenomena will select the second option over the first because we believe that we got enough time to study until the day of the exam. That is procrastination. That is how you tend to skip your important tasks over immediate rewards. If we turn back to the example again, the exam is undoubtedly the most important thing in your life at that moment but the urge to watch the musical program overcomes that specific goal, because we think there’s time. But that might not always be true as you might not get a chance like that to study again where another unexpected thing might happen to you because life is filled with uncertain moments.
This riff can be identified with our day to day businesses too and that I think is the most common type of procrastination. Skipping daily tasks like cleaning your room, doing grocery shopping, watering the plants, giving your car a good wash or sleeping without washing your makeup off after a party can sometimes lead to disturbing outcomes such as a very messy room, lack of groceries, wilted plants, a dirty car and a face with breakouts which I myself too has experienced some.
In my opinion, procrastination provides you with guilty pleasures. Like the joy of not doing anything productive but just spending your time on the things you love to do such as watching a movie over studying or staying home and eating junk food over a visit to the gym.
Some causes of procrastination
- Fear of failing at something:
This is common among people. Most of us tend to delay our important tasks due to the fear of failure where you believe that you will never be able to complete the specific task or to achieve the specific goal.
- Low energy levels:
Most often procrastnation happens due to lack of energy where you will find it hard to find the necessary backups to complete the tasks.
- The difficulty to focus:
The normal condition of the human mind inclines to sway where you will find it hard to stay focused on your task.
What should be done to avoid procrastination?
I know this will be hard. But this situation should be avoided for a healthy lifestyle. For this, you must first identify your two selves which means your future self and your present self. Your future self always ponders over the long term benefits of doing something and it sees the significance of achieving your goals. Your present self mostly favors the immediate benefits of doing or not doing a task as said above. But it is essential to understand that your present self is the driving force of your future self where it is the doer in the process of accomplishment of your future goals. So if we need to step out of procrastination, we need to make it a bit easy for the present self. You can start off with a simple thing like writing down your tasks for the next day in a paper or in an electronic device. This urges you to somehow complete your own assigned tasks for the day. And when you see your completed list the joy you feel is worth the pain. When looking at the future goals, you can have a discussion with your own mind on how you going to reach your target slowly and step by step while preparing your above mentioned “present self” to progressively complete the due actions. For example, preparing a timetable which you need to study for an exam next week, deciding on a proper meal plan for a healthy slim body, taking classes to learn a new language, visiting someone you miss for a long time or even finding a new job which secures your future. So remember dear reader, it is essential to prioritize and focus on what you need to do at the moment and what will you gain through it in the future, because you will never get this flash of life again and if do it that way, you won’t regret.
