Procrastination

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Procrastination is the deferment or avoidance of an action or task which requires completion by focusing on some other action or task. For the person procrastinating, this can result in a loss of productivity, stress and a sense of guilt. While it is normal for individuals to procrastinate to some degree, it becomes a problem when it impedes normal functioning. Chronic procrastination may be a sign of an underlying psychological or physiological disorder.

The word itself comes from the Latin word procrastinatus: pro- (forward) and crastinus (of tomorrow). The term's first known appearance was in the 17th century, during a sermon by a Reverend Anthoney Walker on procrastination. The sermon reflected procrastination's connection at the time to task avoidance or delay, volition or will, and sin.

Contents

Causes of Procrastination

Psychological: The psychological causes of procrastination vary greatly, but generally surround issues of: low sense of self-worth, anxiety, a self-defeating mentality, or laziness. Procrastinators are also thought to have a different level of conscientiousness, more based on "dreams and wishes" than actions and obligations.

Physiological: Research on the physiological roots of procrastination mostly surround the role of the prefrontal cortex. This area of the brain is responsible for executive brain functions such as planning, impulse control, attention, and acts as a filter by decreasing distracting stimuli from other brain regions. Damage or low activation in this area can reduce an individual's ability to filter out distracting stimuli, ultimately resulting in poorer organization, a loss of attention and increased procrastination. This is similar to the prefrontal lobe's role in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, where underactivation is common. Template:Ref

Overcoming Procrastination

Methods of overcoming procrastination vary, but generally surround identifying the negative behavior, setting specific realistic goals and then making consistent progress towards those goals.

  • A helpful trick is the "five-minute method" proposed in Ellis and Knaus (Albert Ellis and William J. Knaus, "Overcoming Procrastination", first edition 1971?). Start the task to which you have an aversion with the proviso that you are free to stop after five minutes. Much of the time just starting the task relieves sufficient anxiety to allow the task's completion. There are parallels to stage fright here, where the performer's anxiety is greatest just before going onstage but relents in seconds when the performance begins. Later authors champion different time limits for the method, typically 10 or 15 minutes.

Procrastination and Mental Health

Procrastination can be a persistent and debilitating disorder in some people, causing significant psychological disability and dysfunction. These individuals may actually be suffering from an underlying mental health problem such as depression or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).

While procrastination is a behavioral condition, these underlying mental health disorders can be treated with medication and/or therapy. Medication can improve an individual's attention span (in the case of ADHD) or improve overall mood (in the case of depression). Therapy can be a useful tool in helping an individual learn new behaviors, overcome fears and anxieties, and achieve an improved quality of life. Thus it is important for people who chronically struggle with debilitating procrastination to see a trained therapist or psychiatrist to see if an underlying mental health issue may be present.

Severe procrastination and/or ADD can cross over into internet addiction or computer addiction. In this instance the individual has a compulsion to avoid reality by surfing the web or playing video games (see Game addiction) or looking at online pornography (see Pornography addiction). Although these are relatively new phenomena, they are being considered as a psychiatric diagnoses by mental health professionals.

Perfectionism

Traditionally, procrastination has been associated with perfectionism, a tendency to negatively evaluate outcomes and one's own performance, intense fear and avoidance of evaluation of one's abilities by others, heightened social self-consciousness and anxiety, recurrent low mood, and workaholism. Slaney (1996) found that adaptive perfectionists were less likely to procrastinate than non-perfectionists, while maladaptive perfectionists (people who saw their perfectionism as a problem) had high levels of procrastination (and also of anxiety). Template:Ref

Academic Procrastination

Procrastination is commonly noticed in the academic setting, where students are required to meet deadlines for assignments and tests in an environment which is full of events and activities which compete for the students' time and attention.

Some students struggle with procrastination due to a lack of time management or study skills, stress, or feeling overwhelmed with their work. Students can also struggle with procrastination for medical reasons such as ADD/ADHD or a learning disorder such as dyslexia.

Teachers, guidance counselors, and others in school administration should be trained to address these issues when they arise, and many colleges and universities offer classes, coaching, and tutoring in study skills for students who are struggling with procrastination or a learning disorder. Students with ADD or learning disorders often qualify for special considerations such as increased time for test-taking.

See also

References

External links

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Notes

  1. Template:Note Strub, R. L. (1989). Frontal lobe syndrome in a patient with bilateral globus pallidus lesions. Archives of Neurology 46, 1024-1027.
  2. Template:Note Slaney, Robert (1996) The Almost Perfect Definitionde:Aufschieben

es:Procrastinación fr:Procrastination ja:先延ばし pl:Zwlekanie fi:Viivyttely




This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "/Copyrights".

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