We all procrastinate from time to time, especially to avoid difficult or uninteresting tasks. Procrastination can affect any aspect of our life: our work, our social life, relationship or academia. It is important to note that it is in fact normal and very common. However, procrastinating can be more problematic when considering the severity of the consequences, and the impact on our mental health.
What is procrastinating?
Sometimes people think this is due to “laziness”. However, the motivators behind laziness and procrastination are different.
The definition of procrastination is delaying the completion of a task or goal and deciding to do something unrelated and/or of lesser importance. Notably, we make this decision regardless of the negative consequences of avoiding.
Laziness is simply the lack of willingness to exert energy.
Procrastination, however, is used as a tool to avoid negative feelings like stress, and often relates to a fear of failure.
There are a few unhelpful, justifying thoughts and excuses that help us procrastinate. For example:
- Being tired: ‘I’ll do it when I have more energy‘
- The deadline is far off: ‘I have loads of time, I can do it later‘
- Missing out on fun: ‘I’ll start after I’ve seen my friends.’
- Low self-efficacy: ‘I can’t do it, I need to wait until I understand it better‘.
What are the negatives and positives of procrastinating?
There are a few positive outcomes of procrastination (although they arguably do not outweigh the negatives!) that help explain why we procrastinate:
- Working under pressure. You could argue that leaving things last minute provides practice for working under pressure.
- Emotional benefit. A temporary feeling of happiness is achieved, as well as a sense of relaxation. However, this really is temporary, and you can not fully relax in the knowledge that a task is being avoided.
- Delayed decision-making. It can mean processing information for longer, leading to a better understanding and outcome of a task.
Negative consequences include:
- Link to poor mental health. Procrastination can either be a risk factor or a symptom of poor mental health. It can be related to unresolved emotional issues, low-self-esteem, a fear of failure and perfectionism. It can lead to symptoms of depression, such as low mood and distress.
- Emotional consequence. When avoiding a task, we really can’t fully relax, so the emotional advantage is short-lived. Instead stress and a feeling of dread replaces it; leading to burnout unnecessarily.
- Poor work ethic and performance. It could contribute to a rushed attempt at completing a task and poor performance due to a self-restricted timeframe by leaving it last minute. We also may not meet the goals and objectives set by ourselves or others.
- Missing out on opportunities. It can mean missing out on progressing within your career, as well as social and relationship opportunities.
How do we stop?
So now we know what it is and the consequences, how do we actually stop procrastinating? Here are a few tips and tricks to help get you back on track:
- Prime work time. Everyone has a time of day they are most productive. Figure out when that is for you, and plan to complete work then.
- 5-minute rule. Sometimes when you are faced with hours worth of work to do, procrastination is the most tempting. Starting with just 5 minutes can help as this is less daunting. After 5 minutes, reassess how you feel, and see if you can do another 5 minutes, and so on. Hopefully you’ll ride the wave of motivation and continue on. If not, you still did 5 minutes more than nothing!
- Act on reminders. If you have forgotten to do a task, do it the moment you remember. This stops tasks piling up, and builds a positive habit.
- Lists and prioritising. Sometimes writing everything you need to do down, and then prioritising the list, helps make it less daunting. It means you can begin to take practical steps towards working down the list.
How to challenge those unhelpful, justifying thoughts:
- ‘I am too tired’. Instead of ‘I’ll wait until I’m more energised‘ challenge with ”I’ll do a little now just to make a start‘.
- ‘The deadline is ages away.’ Instead of ‘I have loads of time i’ll do it later‘ challenge with ‘ I should start now rather than be stressed when doing it last minute later‘.
- ‘Missing out on fun‘. Instead of ‘I should prioritise fun and do this later‘, challenge with ‘I’ll make a start now and reward myself with something fun afterwards’.
- ‘I can not do this, it is too hard‘. Instead of ‘I’ll just leave it, and worry about it later‘, challenge with ‘I’ll have a go, and ask for help if I’m really stuck‘.
How can Brighter Life Therapy help?
Sometimes, these techniques are not quite enough, and professional interventions are needed instead. This is also the case if procrastination developed following mental health problems. For example, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can be used to tackle procrastination and associated behaviours.
Brighter Life Therapy provides fast access to CBT and psychotherapy treatments, which you can read about here. If you are interested, contact us via the enquiry form below.
Get in touch to discuss your counselling needs
and find the right therapist for you
Please fill in the details below, then press ‘submit the form’. Our Clinic Manager, Rhianna, will review the form and be in touch via email within 1 working day to discuss her recommendations. If we can help, we will provide you with a link to book an assessment with the most appropriate therapist.
Thank you for your response. ✨
You can also follow us on our Instagram and Facebook for more information about interventions and mental health, or follow our blog by signing up below:
Join our mailing list
Get new blog content delivered directly to your inbox, including a free resource to boost your self-esteem that includes a quiz and a CBT technique.
You’ll also be the first to hear about new blog articles, resources, tips, advice, offers and updates on our service including our widely anticipated self-paced online courses which cost the fraction of 1:1 therapy.
Just pop your email in the box below, and don’t forget to check your junk inbox it it doesn’t arrive soon.