Breath! The First step to end procrastination
“Procrastination is like a credit card:
It’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.” - Christopher Parker
Procrastination is something that a lot of people tend to do but are always trying to find ways to stop. Kendra Cherry defines procrastination, "the act of delaying or putting off tasks until the last minute or past their deadline. It's not just a time management problem.
Researchers suggest that it's a failure in self-regulation that leads us to act irrationally. We put things off, even though we know this delay will lead to negative consequences." When it comes to procrastination, I also struggle with it just like most people, but I am always trying to find new techniques to help fight the urge.
First, we need to talk about what causes procrastination and in situations it could be a mix of things that make us feel a need to procrastinate. It could be as simple as believing that you have enough time to finish a task or even just the fact that you like the challenge and chaos of waiting to the last minute to complete a task. A big cause is that many people and students have Present Bias. “The present bias is a phenomenon observed in human behavior that may result in procrastination. The present bias means that we tend to be motivated more by immediate gratification or rewards than we are by long-term rewards. This is why it feels good in the moment to procrastinate.” (Cherry) Present bias is something I can understand because I have fallen victim to this bias many times without worrying about the effects. At first it feels good that you are doing what you want but when it comes to time for the task you could become stressed about the task you have to complete. Many studies also show that depression, OCD, and ADHD can also cause the act of procrastinating due to factors that include the feeling of hopelessness, fears of making new mistakes, and even just getting distracted by internal thoughts or external factors. This is something people don’t really want others to know about, but it could be affecting tasks that they have to do and have a responsibility to do.
Now that we have covered what causes procrastination, what are some good tips to help stop or slow down procrastination? I have talked with many professors, other students, family, and friends and they all seem to tell me different things they do to help them. Along with much research, I have found that breaking tasks into parts and breathing techniques are among some of the most common techniques. I have personally used many breathing techniques to help deal with stress and even to help recenter myself and focus when I need to start working on a task. “By bringing your attention to your breathing, you’re grounding yourself in the present moment, which helps reduce feelings of anxiety or overwhelm. Once your mind feels calmer, tackling the task at hand becomes more manageable.” (McCarthy) I have also tried the method of trying to break a task down into smaller parts so that they seem to be more manageable, and I use a planner and a whiteboard to help organize my calendar regarding assignments and daily tasks as well.
There are many different methods and techniques that I learned about while researching that I can use to hopefully combat procrastination. Some of the methods include recognizing the warning signs if you feel you are starting to procrastinate, which could include you being distracted by very simple and small things to divert your attention away from the task at hand. One last method that I have learned was reflecting and adjusting on your day. This method can be used at any time of the day and even at night to reflect either a specific part of your day or just a specific task and the amount of work you accomplished. I think this is a great method and I am going to start doing this at the end of each day to reflect on what I had done that was good and/or bad and then adjusting my plan for what I will try to get done the next day.
After researching more about procrastination and learning about new and different techniques from different sources it has honestly helped me one step closer to working of fighting the urge to procrastinate and just get the work done. While fighting the urge to procrastinate may be an uphill battle for most people you can always count on someone being by your side even if they do not openly say they are a procrastinator.
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