Okay, I’ll admit it. I procrastinate… a lot. It’s just that watching Netflix or filling up my Pokedex is much more interesting than cleaning or paying my bills.
But let’s face it, we all procrastinate. And the question is: why? Why do we put things off when we know those tasks will still need to be done later?
Well American Psychologist Joseph Ferrari said that “We all procrastinate, but we aren’t all procrastinators. ” His research has found that approximately 20% of people are what he defines as procrastinators – those who chronically procrastinate. So what’s the difference between a person who procrastinates and a chronic procrastinator?
Research suggests it may have a lot to do with the brain’s prefrontal cortex. Inside your brain, there’s a constant battle between two areas: The prefrontal cortex and the limbic system. The prefrontal cortex handles your executive functions: planning, problem solving and paying attention.
And the limbic system is involved in emotion, motivation and reward. When you’re doing something kind of boring, like washing the dishes, your limbic system immediately reacts to the task as being undesirable. Since that task probably won’t make you happy, it’s deems less important than something that will: like watching YouTube videos.
But, your prefrontal cortex realises that doing the dishes now will prevent food from getting crusty and gross, meaning the job’s easier now than it will be later. And this is this the battle: These two areas are in competition, and more than we like to admit, it’s the limbic system that comes out on top. That’s especially true for those chronic procrastinators.
Research has found people who had lower executive function in skills like planning, task initiation, behavioural inhibition, and organization also scored higher on a procrastination scale. It starts to explain why some people’s limbic systems may win that neural tug-of-war more than others’. And while we might say, “it’s not that bad!
Some people are just procrastinators! ” this completely hides the fact that procrastinating is kinda bad for your health. In one study that tracked students for a semester, those who procrastinated initially reported lower levels of stress.
But by the end of the semester, procrastinators ended up with, on average, lower grades, higher overall levels of stress and higher incidents of illness. The students didn’t do well under pressure and the stress caused by procrastinating made some more prone to getting sick. It’s probably no surprise that procrastinating is bad.
But how do we beat our limbic systems and just do a task, especially if we’re a chronic procrastinator? Setting personal deadlines is one way to help us get things done. And external deadlines are even better!
If you’re a student working with a group, set small deadlines for everyone over the length of the project. And if deadlines don’t work, try to reframe the situation. Sure paying bills is kind of boring, but having your finances in order does makes you feel more relaxed, and accomplishing a task can feel just as good as avoiding one.
And if you know a chronic procrastinator, like me, don’t enable them! Let them experience the consequences of their actions. The negative emotions associated with a poor test score, overdue bill notice or insect infested kitchen might be enough to teach the limbic system that procrastination is bad!
And they’ll be less likely to procrastinate in the future. Let me know if you have any amazing strategies to avoid procrastinating. I need all the help I can get.
For now, I guess I should get to that cleaning I’ve been putting off.
