Causes of Procrastination

You've probably resolved to make a change, but once again you find yourself in familiar territory of leaving things till the last minute.

Procrastination has the potential to rob you of your potential.

Is procrastination:

• causing you stress
• reducing the quality of your work
• souring your relationships with colleagues and family?

If so, then it is time to act.

Procrastination is not about a lack of willpower!

Psychologists have identified a number of causes of procrastination. These include:

• a lack of clear goals
• indecision
• fear of failure
• anger and resentment
• feeling overwhelmed
• fatigued or tired.

Causes of Procrastination

Psychologists have identified several other causes of procrastination:

1. Avoiding unpleasant tasks. Do you find that you put unpleasant tasks off? What could be easier than having that difficult chat with an employee, cleaning your house, or writing that tedious report?

   Avoiding unpleasant tasks is one of the biggest causes of procrastination. Here are a number of steps on how to overcome procrastination when putting off unpleasant tasks.

2. Fear of failure. Do you put a lot of pressure on yourself to do tasks to a high standard? Often perfectionism or very high standards can create unrealistic expectations.

   Common statements such as "I must not fail" or "I have to do this perfectly" may paralyze you.

   By not doing the tasks that have these unrealistic expectations placed upon them, you don't have to face disapproval or the fear of failure. The motivation to be judged negatively can be a cause of procrastination for you.

Procrastination Statistics Did you know that 20% of the adult population is chronic procrastinators? Over 75% of students report having procrastination problems. Find out more about procrastination with these procrastination statistics.

3. Anger or resentment. This could be anger or resentment towards the requester or the establishment.

   People may harbor hostility and since it is not acceptable to vent their frustration or anger, they may choose to withhold their effort.

4. Lack of focus. With email, internet, and the latest gadgets on the cell phone, it is easy to be distracted. Tasks can fall by the wayside as people are distracted from their priorities.

   These procrastination strategies enable you to focus, minimize distractions, and overcome procrastination.

5. Unclear goals. A lack of goals is the weeds that strangle and uproot motivation. Clear goals that are meaningful and desirable to you are the spark that ignites your motivation and passion.

   Setting clear goals blows procrastination out of the water.

Procrastination Quotes Changing a habit can be hard work. I find the procrastination habit if like a warm bed - "easy to get into and hard to get out of." Do you need encouragement and motivation to stick with changing your procrastination habit? These procrastination quotes can inspire and provide a motivating force to keep going.

6. Unclear priorities. Priorities enable you to make clear decisions regarding how you spend your time.

   Whether you set priorities through the ABC method outlined in this page on the to do list or the Pareto principle's 80/20 rule, priorities give you focus on your most important tasks.

   By developing and clarifying your priorities you take an important step towards avoiding procrastination.

7. Feeling overwhelmed. With too much to do it can be difficult to choose which task to do.

   Are you stressed and have many competing demands in your life? Do you feel exhausted and just unable to start, let alone finish a task?

   Feeling overwhelmed and fatigued can be a major cause of procrastination.

   I find that systematic planning that aligns your daily actions with short-term goals is an important tool for beating procrastination.

   For this you need a personal organizer. I like the Franklin Covey planners for systematically organizing my life.

   I can organize the planners to fit with my persona needs, rather than trying to fit myself into the design of the planner!

   If paper planning is not for you then Franklin Covey software may be more suited to your needs.

8. Leaving things till the last minute. Do you think you do your best work under a tight deadline? Do you find it hard to motivate yourself when you have plenty of time to do the activity?

   Are you addicted to the adrenaline of the last minute?

   Many people think they work best under pressure. While that may be the case some times, over the long term there have been numerous studies that chronic pressure and stress lead to exhaustion and poorer work output.

   Does your procrastination habit put you under the gun?

How to overcome procrastination

So why do people procrastinate and what can you do about it?

The causes of procrastination is a function of many of the unhelpful rules or assumptions we have, in addition to a number of procrastination excuses that attempt to rationalize our actions.

By becoming aware of some of these reasons and putting in place practical steps to overcome procrastination you boost effectiveness and reduce stress.

A definition of procrastination is "putting off tasks that you have planned to do in order to do tasks of a lower priority."

Many people procrastinate. In fact studies suggest that about 20% of the adult population and 80% of students procrastinate to some extent.

Procrastination is itself not a problem!

However, when it becomes chronic procrastination and you are not achieving what you want out of your life, or your procrastination is causing undue stress on you and/or others, then it is time to overcome procrastination.

Knowing the causes of procrastination is important but it is also important to understand what activities you procrastinate on.

What task do you put off by doing a task of lesser importance?

Do you procrastinate on your study, and watch a movie or chat on Facebook instead?

Do you avoid starting work projects only to do unnecessary paperwork?

Think about those activities on which you procrastinate, and the distractions that you turn to when you are procrastinating.

Remember that procrastination is an old habit.It's a bit like a warm bed, "easy to get into and difficult to get out of."

So choose one task or activity that you want to reduce procrastination on, and tackle that task first.

Related articles on causes of procrastination

New! Comments