Introduction:

Procrastination is defined as the action of delaying or postponing something that should be done. It tends to affect people’s wellbeing and productivity. Approximately 50% of college students procrastinate. This article explores the psychological explanations of procrastination and strategies that may help you overcome it.

Fear of failure with regards to procrastination:

Amy Edmondson, Professor of leadership at Harvard Business School, explores the fact that people find failure as something to avoid at any means possible due to the embarrassing consequences that they feel comes with it. She explains that we should experience more failures in life to grow, but only the right kind of failures, not the ones that can be prevented. For example, when carrying out experiments to better your understanding there is a chance of failure but that will only help the conclusion your experiment will convey. In addition, due to perfectionism and our compulsive desire to be completely flawless, failure is more prominent in our lives. An example of perfectionism is OCD.

The understanding of fear and how it plays a part in the actions we take in life is important so that we can improve ourselves and rid ourselves of the social anxiety affecting our actions and decisions. However, a key reason behind procrastination, relies on first recognising the human tendency to play in order not to lose. This can hold us back from opportunities and challenges that get us out of our comfort zone. Playing to win has a risk of failure but also has a chance of bringing accomplishments and prizes.

Fear, specifically of failure, can be a reason for someone procrastinating. The anticipation of fear can lead to procrastination which then reinforces the fear of failure. Avoiding failure prevents us from feeling the nasty feelings we get when we fail, which is a positive reinforcement, and we do this through procrastinating. It is also reinforced by stress and anxiety when leaving a task too long to the point it becomes bigger and more daunting. This further demonstrates procrastination as a coping mechanism.

Procrastination can also be due to trauma faced in a person’s life to the point where when they face an activity or task that reminds them of this trauma their fight or flight initiative in instigated in their brain therefore causing them to procrastinate.

Strategies to help stop procrastination:

• Having a positive mindset and discarding thoughts that lead to negative thoughts of the future, oneself, and the world (the negative triad). This negative triad is a cause for depression showing procrastination is closely linked to depression, anxiety, low self esteem, and more mental health issues.
• Seeking support – having someone by your side to ensure you complete your tasks and goals.
• Creating achievable goals – if goals are not achievable our brains think they are out of reach and therefore will lack motivation to complete it. Helps slowly complete tasks leading to a bigger goal achieved.
• Setting deadlines – creates motivation and determination to complete tasks on your own timed schedule.
• CBT – if suffering from severe procrastination Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help reduce and manage it.

By Zaynab Ul-Haq