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Procrastination is putting things off until it's too late or you need to rush to finish it, causing yourself and others a lot of unnecessary pain and stress. Nearly 88% of the world's working population is said to be guilty of this type of behavior at some point in their life. It's mostly inevitable and only harmful if you let it manifest in your life and become chronic.
Chronic procrastination can lead to poor health, career growth, personal growth, and relationships. However, there are simple ways to overcome it as long as you commit to change.
In this guide, you will discover what type of procrastinator you are, common reasons you developed this habit, and ways to fix it to improve your relationships and live a happier, more fulfilling, and successful life.
Procrastination and Your Brain
Research performed and uncovered at the Procrastination Research Group has found a connection in our brain that allows us to understand procrastination a little better. Their research shows that the way the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala in our brain react together is likely the actual culprit to procrastination. This means science shows that procrastination is more often a result of your emotions than a lack of self-discipline.
Your Prefrontal Cortex and the Amygdala
The amygdala is a set of neurons that resemble the shape of almonds and is found within the brain's medial temporal lobe. It forms part of the limbic system, which plays an integral part in how we process our emotions and respond to fear.
In other words, when you approach a particular situation or challenge in life, your limbic system is what helps you feel pleasure or pain, and your amygdala is what helps you feel stressed or become fearful. It is directly responsible for your “fight or flight” response.
Your prefrontal cortex, on the other hand, is there to help balance these reactions or emotions and is responsible for the functions that allow you to process, plan and focus on everyday life tasks that are needed to get through the day. When you start to procrastinate, your prefrontal cortex starts fighting with the amygdala and, in many cases, loses the battle – in turn continuing your procrastination.
This is because once you start procrastinating, your amygdala recognizes the task as an aversion or negative thing and releases hormones that make you feel uncomfortable, anxious, fearful, or other emotions of discomfort. Your amygdala wants you to get away and run as fast as possible to get to safety and not have to do the work or task, making you procrastinate. When your prefrontal cortex can balance these emotions instead, that’s when you can get back to work.
Many different variables in the world can cause these negative emotions. Moreover, it's essential to show that procrastination produces a chemical response in your brain as it can lead to adverse side effects. Constant up-and -down emotions or never-ending emotional trauma can create chaos throughout your life and can affect your health. This is why it’s crucial to uncover what is causing you to procrastinate and develop techniques to cure it; your health and relationships depend on it.
Common Causes of Procrastination
There are many misconceptions about what causes procrastination. Society views procrastinators as lazy, selfish, and borderline narcissistic. Even if you do think you’re lazy or someone else is lazy, it is not always the case. Causes are broad and include multiple different factors, some of which are personal that you may never experience.
Below are common causes of procrastination:
Perfectionism
Many times, procrastination is the result of perfectionism. This can come about in a couple of different ways. Either you push it off because you know you can’t get it done precisely the way you want, or you end up redoing the assignment too many times until it's late because you can’t get it perfect. Perfectionism and fear of failure are correlated as many prevent success by not starting something.
One example is waiting for everything in your life to be perfect before you start your own business. Most successful entrepreneurs understand that this is not reality. In fact, every day businesses go through unexpected challenges due to human error or due to unavoidable situations.
In other words, a business isn’t perfect and takes risks to be successful. If you strive always to be perfect, you will never learn to take the right risks and leap for the opportunities that are right for you.
The Fear of Failure and Success
New responsibilities or requirements that may be rewarded after the assignment is finished can be too much to process and emotionally handle. The same can be true in reverse and cause you to stall or prevent doing the task. You fear the work because it's new, and you don’t want to be wrong or fail. Not doing it at it all, or using last-minute motivation to get it done, seems better than giving it your most significant try and still failing.
Fear of Criticism
No one likes being judged, especially within their own relationships and at work. It can lead to poor judgment of one’s abilities and self-confidence that can further degrade your work and ability to perform. Unfortunately, not only does this lead to late or missing assignments but also to poor-quality work, due to the emotions of fear taking over your ability to perform at your best.
Dopamine Response
For some, the rush of getting work done last minute and the possible drama it can cause is a fun and exciting feeling. They do it for the dopamine rush to make their days seem more exciting or measurable. It is their way to challenge and add pressure on themselves to motivate or bring more excitement to otherwise dull work.
False Reality of the Future
In simple terms, you decide that whatever you need to do is more of a problem for your future self to worry about than today. You also tell yourself that you will know how to do it better later or have more time than you really do. Just like saying, “I will start my diet tomorrow.” A false sense of reality can easily set you behind. Just because it’s the future doesn’t mean things will automatically improve or be less of a problem later on.