Today we suggest you read an article about procrastination and get acquainted with a new term – procrastination. If you notice that you delay starting or finishing some work in your life, you focus too much on trivial tasks, instead of focusing on what is really important, you buy gifts the day before an important holiday, and before starting more complex work, you dive into your phone and drown in the news streamc (this is called cyber-idling), you should get to know this phenomenon more closely.
Procrastination is a subtly sophisticated way of saying that I’m afraid, doubting myself, it’s all too much, or I’m giving up. Procrastination is a self-regulatory error associated with dysfunctional beliefs or motivational variables: the value of an activity, expectations for achieving value, time, and fear of being late. It’s unbelievable, but sometimes we procrastinate our pleasures and stressful activities, because with our internal standards of perfection, we don’t have time for anything else.
There are cases when the procrastination of important work is associated with overcoming anxiety, guilt, when performing non-priority tasks, i.e. the task of coping with too little value. Procrastination is also a form of avoidance that arises from an internal fear of facing difficulties that may reveal and highlight subjectively perceived undesirable qualities of oneself.
Procrastination has deep, but not always obvious, connections with the image we create in relation to ourselves and others, where the balance between autonomy and confirmation that a need is satisfied is not always found. Research data shows that procrastination behavior is related to personality factors – impulsivity, low self-regulation, expressed in neuroticism.
For many of us, delayed, unfinished tasks do not give us peace, they revolve in our minds and do not allow us to engage in other activities in a quality way, even though we do not perform procrastinating tasks at that time. The resulting stress, anxiety and emotional psychological tension increase the risk of mental illnesses, and postponing healing procedures and visits to doctors increases the risk of physical health deterioration. Sound like a vicious cycle? Really so. Fortunately, there are ways to get rid of it.
Want to learn more about how to foster your physical and mental health? Reach out to our team and get a free consultation now.
Resources:
Photo by Nubelson Fernandes.
Davidson, J. P. (2004). The 60 Second Procrastinator : Sixty Solid Techniques to Jump-start Any Project and Get Your Life in Gear! Electronic & Database Publishing, Inc.
Burns D. D. (2019). Geros nuotaikos vadovas. Nauja emocijų terapija. Žmogaus studijų centras. ISBN: 9786094380051
Dobosz A. M. (2016). The Perfectionism Workbook for Teens : Activities to Help You Reduce Anxiety and Get Things Done. Instant Help.
Rozental A., Forsell E., Svensson A., Andersson G & Carlbring P. (2015). Internet-based cognitive behavior therapy for procrastination: a randomized controlled trial. American Psychological Association, 83(4), 808-824. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000023.