Maybe you tell yourself you perform better under pressure. Or that
the work you do when you're not feeling in the mood to work isn't very
good. Or you think that you can't do anything well unless you're feeling
at the top of your form.
Uh-oh, you've got the earmarks of a procrastinator. Of course,
you've got lots of company. Twenty percent of people identify themselves
as chronic procrastinators. These are people who don't pay their bills on
time, who miss opportunities for buying tickets to concerts, who leave
Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve. Let's not even talk about income
taxes!
College seems to bring out the procrastination in people. In the
college setting, up to 70 percent of students identify themselves as
procrastinators.
Of course, it won't help you get things done any faster to know
that procrastination isn't good for your health. But putting things off
creates higher levels of stress and sends all those stress hormones
coursing through your body, wearing it out faster. And it puts you at
risk for poor health because you're just as likely to delay seeking
treatment for medical problems as you are to delay everything
else.
Procrastination actually weakens your immune system. It keeps you
awake at night. And it doesn't do a thing for your relationships either.
It makes loved ones resentful, because it shifts the burden of
responsibilities onto them.
Procrastinators are born and not made. That's both the good news
and the bad news. Good because it's a learned response, and what's
learned can be unlearned. The bad news is that while it's possible to
change, it takes a lot of psychic energy and you don't necessarily feel
transformed internally.
You should know that some people who think of themselves as
procrastinators really aren't. In a world of unending deadlines, they
just put too many things on their "To Do" list. They're not avoiding tasks,
the mark of a bona fide procrastinator; they're getting things done, just
not as many as they would like.
It's easy to tell whether you're a real procrastinator. According
to Joseph Ferrari, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at De Paul
University in Chicago, real procrastinators tell themselves five
lies:
• They overestimate the time they have left to perform
tasks.
• They underestimate the time it takes to complete
tasks.
• They overestimate how motivated they will feel the next
day, the next week, the next month -- whenever they are putting things off
to.
• They mistakenly think that succeeding at a task requires
that they feel like doing it.
• They mistakenly believe that working when not in the mood
is suboptimal.
Procrastinators also actively look for distractions, especially
ones that don't take heavy-duty commitment on their part. Checking e-mail
is just about tailor-made for this purpose. The dirty little secret is
that procrastinators distract themselves as a way of regulating their own
emotions, such as fear of failure.
So face it. Some tasks are never going to be thigh-slappers no
matter how long they marinate on your desk. You've got to do them
now.
How to tackle procrastination? Dr. Ferrari recommends these
strategies for reducing procrastination:
1. Make a list of everything you have to do.
2. Write a statement of intention.
3. Set realistic goals.
4. Break it down into specific tasks.
5. Make your task meaningful.
6. Promise yourself a reward.
7. Eliminate tasks you never plan to do. Be honest!
8. Estimate the amount of time you think it will take you to
complete a task. Then increase the amount by 100%.
Tags:
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concerts,
earmarks,
income taxes,
learned response,
levels of stress,
many things,
medical problems,
motivation,
poor health,
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procrastination,
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psychic energy,
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