Procrastination Statistics

A definition of procrastination is "putting off activities that were planned or scheduled, for activities that are of a lesser importance."

Many of us have procrastinated to some degree or another but, according to procrastination statistics, procrastination is on the rise.

According to some researchers, procrastination has more than quadrupled in the last 30 years.

In 1978, 5% of the population admitted to being chronic procrastinators compared to to roughly 26% of the population today (Steele, 2007).

Surveys of student populations suggest that procrastination is pervasive with some surveys suggesting that 85-95% of students have problems associated with procrastination.

These procrastination statistics suggest that it is a common phenomenon - and this worrying trend is only going to increase.

If procrastination causing you stress and robbing you of your potential then there are four things you can do:

1. Try to beat procrastination by yourself. This option is chosen by most people and is a hard route to follow with much trial and error.
2. Attend seminars. This option makes you feel good but sooner or later you will fall into old habits as procrastination is like a comfortable bed "easy to get into, but hard to get out of".
3. Do nothing. If you do nothing then it is likely that nothing will change.
4. Do a procrastination course online. I know there are plenty and I have tried a few of them. However, what I really like about this 21 day procrastination course is that it gets to the heart of why you procrastinate and then gives you step-by-step strategies to beat procrastination.

When I did the Procrastination Challenge Course I learnt that procrastination is not about a lack of willpower...

I have plenty of willpower.

What I learnt were the causes of my procrastination and how to stop procrastination completely.

After the course I now procrastinate less and get more things done.

Why are procrastination statistics are so high?

Kids opt to watch TV instead of study.

Internet, Facebook, the latest Blackberry, rather than harnessing effectiveness, technology is providing people with constant distractions and excuses to put things off.

But avoiding procrastination is not just about removing distractions through the management of your environment! It is also about instilling habits of getting things done.

There are a number of external causes of procrastination.

They may be shifting priorities of your managers who ask you to drop everything, yet you know they will return asking for what you have dropped.

It may be having unclear goals or being over-committed you don't know where to start the mountain of work that you are facing.

There are also a number of internal, unwritten, and sometimes unhelpful assumptions. These may include a fear of failure (or even success!), the idea that I must get it right and cannot fail, lack of self confidence, or stress and fatigue.

I talk about some of the common internal reasons for procrastination at Why do people procrastinate?

Consequences of procrastination

Most people procrastinate, and procrastination statistics suggest that procrastination only becomes a problem when it increases stress or robs you of your potential.

Indeed, procrastination statistics suggest that 40% of people have experienced financial loss due to procrastination (Gura, 2008)

Others report that procrastination has resulted in putting off getting check-ups or looking after their health.

While there are a number of negative consequences of procrastination, there are some cited benefits.

Some procrastinators report that they put things off because they work better under pressure. They "need the adrenaline rush" to get things done.

Are You Addicted to the Last Minute? Do you think you do your best work at the last minute? Do you need the adrenaline rush of a looming deadline to get started? If so, then you may be addicted to the adrenaline of the procrastination habit. Research shows that procrastination is not a good long-term strategy. Procrastination results in more mistakes and less time to review work. Not only poorer quality work, but more stress as well!

How to overcome procrastination

There are a number of procrastination strategies that stop you putting things off and allow you to get things done!

Studies show that when people who set SMART goals, goals that have a specified time limit, and are measurable and action-based, were more than 8 times more likely to follow through on the task (Owens, et al., 2008). I talk more about setting goals to beat procrastination.

Setting short-term goals is helpful when you are facing a mountain of work and don't know where to start.

This can also be a good time to ensure that you are doing your "first things first." This means that you have a priority system that allows you to decide which work to do.

By having a priority system, such as the Pareto principle, to assign your tasks you overcome procrastination.

Many of us procrastinate when faced with a difficult task.

There are few people who enjoy personal confrontation and in the example above, Mary is procrastinating over this unpleasant task.

The same goes with uninteresting tasks which have a habit of being put off.

Can you think of any unpleasant or uninteresting tasks that you have put off today or in the past?

Have you spent time on unimportant tasks to avoid those more important unpleasant or uninteresting tasks?

Find out how to overcome procrastination when faced with tasks you don't want to do!

Related procrastination articles

Overcome Procrastination: Strategies to Overcome Procrastination

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