Anger Solutions at Work - The Psychology of Procrastination

Nobody likes to be called a slacker, but the truth is that we very often will put off until tomorrow what could have been done today. Why do we procrastinate? What can we do differently to make ourselves more proactive?

The fact is that human beings tend to put off those things to which we attach a negative emotion. For example, students will putt off doing their math or science homework because it is perceived as “too hard”. The emotion of stress may be attached to doing things that are hard; therefore, because students want to avoid stress, they will put off the homework for another time. Perhaps homeowners will avoid cutting the lawn because it “takes too much time” – in other words, they will become tired. Maybe a task is too monotonous (boring), or too challenging (fear of failure)… whatever the case, by identifying the emotion that we associate with any task, it becomes easier to overcome it and move on to completing the task at hand.

There is a flip side to the avoidance coin though, and it is this: human beings will also do much more to avoid pain, than we will to gain pleasure. Hence the goal in overcoming procrastination is more about making procrastination more painful than the initial painful emotion we might feel while completing a boring, hard, or time consuming task. Take for example the concept of homework: it is true that in putting off the homework, a student will avoid stress; however, what pain is associated with NOT doing the homework? Possible answers might include, getting an “incomplete” score on the homework, having to stay in detention to get it finished, a bad mark on a report card, a phone call to parents, low scores that might affect eligibility for college or university… and the list goes on. When we focus on the negative consequences of NOT completing a necessary chore, the potential pain will actually motivate us to get the job done.

While it sounds a little crazy or complicated, the psychology of procrastination is quite simple. So although it seems that procrastination can’t hurt that much in the short run, over time, procrastination will put you always in the position of catch-up, forever feeling as though you could have done more, and never being able to celebrate the accomplishment of completion. Procrastination will eventually damage your self esteem, as you will take on the persona of one who starts but never finishes. Look around you at the things you procrastinate doing. With a few shifts in your perception, you will soon be motivated to not only begin, but follow through to the finish. Once you get one task completed, keep that as motivation to stay on track. Before you know it, you will have overcome the challenge of procrastination!

Julie Christiansen is an author, consultant, and speaker who specializes in Workplace Efficiency, with a focus on team development, communication, anger and stress management. This article is excerpted from her program “Time Management for Real People”. Contact Julie at info@angersolution.com or visit her website www.angersolution.com .

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Anger Solutions at Work - The Psychology of Procrastination - To learn more about this author, visit Julie Christiansen's Website.

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