Professor of Psychology, Dr. Fuschia Sirois, defines procrastination as being “essentially irrational” and that “People engage in this irrational cycle of chronic procrastination because of an inability to manage negative moods around a task.” A perfectionist may procrastinate because by avoiding starting the task there is no way to fail it. Others may procrastinate because of other negative moods including boredom, anxiety, self doubt or distractions and situations.
It’s an easy cycle and it can become habit forming: you procrastinate due to feeling self doubt, therefore you put off doing the task at hand, you then rush to complete the task at the last minute which means it is not your optimal work. Your rushed work will then make you feel even more self doubt and so the cycle continues.
The key is to learn the importance of prioritising what needs to be done to get to the next level or stage of achieving and getting into the habit of task completion. Yet being driven does not always come naturally so what should you do if you struggle to complete tasks?
- * You can try and manage this by practising self-regulation – an easy way is to set short achievable goals and complete them and this can be applied to any task whether it is a short A4 essay/report or presentation or a lengthy 1000-5000 word assignment or dissertation.
- * You can also get someone in your family or friendship circle to work with or get someone you know to check and help you monitor your task completion.
- * Alternatively you can get a mentor or a tutor to help with this which really helps you to set and accomplish your academic goals and assignments.
How can you avoid procrastination?
Declutter your work area and your mind, set manageable ‘little but often’ task for you to complete that are doable and help you feel motivated, engaged, like you are achieving and building on completing tasks incrementally. Break the larger task, assignments, revision into smaller chunks of time and content to make the task more appealing. Furthermore, set yourself attainable goals daily to keep building a robust but manageable work ethic to develop. You can then apply this work ethic to many areas of your life or academic study.