The incessant ticking of the clock hovers over me like a vicious demon reminding me of the big coincidence - I have engaged in the very activity that I attempt to understand and grasp through this writing. With embarrassment cascading down every cell of my body, I pen down the word PROCRASTINATION as the topic.
Pro-cras- ti-na- tion, the five syllable word ; practiced so commonly yet rarely understood, is defined by Merriam Webster as the act of putting off intentionally the doing of something that should be done. If you need more clarity about the meaning, then allow me to set a scene and ask yourselves if it strikes a chord of familiarity. The gloomy professor announces with a booming voice, waking up the entire slumbered classroom, “Internal next week, same time.”
You enter into a holy covenant with yourself promising that the next 6 days would be dedicated to acing this internal. Cut to day 6, there you are abashed and defeated because, like many others, you procrastinated.
The explanation of this word could be carried forward on the wings of science and technology. ASAP Science (YouTube Channel) suggests that the psychological aspects of this type of behaviour are still not clear but as deeply flawed humans we do have the tendency to weigh a reward depending on the duration after which we’ll receive it or its temporal proximity.
This phenomenon is known as “Temporal Discounting.” The farther away the reward, the more we tend to discount its value.
Therefore, surfing the internet, or playing FIFA is seen to offer a greater
return than good marks in your internal next week. This cycle continues till the temporal proximity of your reward from the test reduces, increasing the weight of the reward, as a result you stay up all night, eyes heavy with sleep and a strong cup of coffee, cramming.
The next explanation of procrastination lies in the chemistry of our brain and the chemical C8H11NO2 or Dopamine being the culprit. Whenever dopamine is released in the brain due to an activity, it modifies the neurones in such a way that the same activity would have a greater chance of being repeated. The complication arises due to the fact that playing video games or even watching your favourite TV show releases a huge amount of dopamine and the pleasure area of your brain lights up like a Christmas tree.
Procrastination and laziness are often used as synonyms of each other in our daily vocabulary. But there is a minute difference between the two. According to Dr. Neel Burton M.D., laziness merely suggests that the motivation of not doing the task at hand outweighs the motivation to do the right thing of doing the task assigned. Procrastination on the other hand suggests postponement of the task. Procrastinators often end up doing the task although at a great cost borne by them whereas
lazy people tend to simply not do it. Maybe, that’s why “sloth” ,an appropriate synonym for laziness, is one of the seven deadly sins defined by the Holy Bible.
So, the next time someone calls you out for being lazy, do correct them. Make sure they insult you properly, at least.
Anxiety about one’s incompetence to complete and/or perform the task perfectly could also contribute to an individual exhibiting procrastination.
A study conducted among 200 college students in Tehran, Iran concluded that the correlation between perfectionism and procrastination is highly positive.
The students were administered Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale and
Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students. It was observed that students with higher scores in the MPS also had a high score in the PAS-S questionnaire. You are, therefore, not delaying the task till the eleventh hour, you’re merely a perfection seeking soul. I, personally, buy this theory like a shopaholic buys clothes during half-off sales, because I have procrastinated doing numerous assignments, simply because I was conscious that my motivation was distributed among other dopamine inducing tasks and I wouldn’t be able to devote myself to completing the assignment perfectly at that particular moment. This cycle of delaying my work till I found the moment where my desire to complete it was at its peak continued till I had no further hour to delay it to.
For all the procrastinators reading this, I have some (trigger warning for those suffering from the phobia of big words) supercalifragilisticexpialidocious news for you all. Turns out, if you procrastinate a lot, you might be of above average intelligence. Psychologists believe that people possessing a higher level of intelligence tend to procrastinate on mundane tasks, irrespective of whether they hold meaning to the person in question, because they either are working on something more important or are simply lost in their heads trying to come up with new ideas and theories.
“Procrastination boosts innovation”,says a Wharton psychologist Adam Grant. He illustrated his theory further by citing the example of Steve Jobs who used to put off things and spend time allowing new ideas to prevail rather than beginning and completing the most conventional tasks.
I can feel the gratitude you all must be feeling towards me for providing you all with an argument the next time your parents give you hard time about this habit.
Although, a phenomenon like procrastination seems unavoidable to many, psychology provides us with various ways to control it.
The central role, when it comes to controlling procrastination, is played by the principle of self-reinforcement.
Rewarding yourself in small intervals can improve efficiency and eradicate the dullness of the task.The Pomodoro Technique suggests the use of a timer. Working for 25 minutes and then rewarding yourself with a five minute long break and thus continuing the cycle can boost productive behaviour . Imposing deadlines with respect to the work either internally or externally have proved to be effective. Listing down reasons to get the work done such as “Getting the weekend off” or “More time to chill with friends” or “Netflix without stress and guilt” can all work as incentive to overcome procrastination.
Actor Christopher Parker captured the essence of this activity with a simple parallel,
“Procrastination is like a credit card : it’s a lot of fun until you get the bill.”
Written By
Prachi Sharma
Image Credits: Google Images
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