PROCRASTINATION
I have been
intending to write this essay for some weeks now. Why am I finally doing it? Is
it because I found some uncommitted time? Wrong. I have assignments to do,
mathematics to solve, clothes to wash, dissertation drafts to read. This is the
essence of what I call ‘’structured procrastination ‘’, an amazing strategy I
discovered that converts procrastinators into effective human beings, respected
and admired for all they can accomplish and the good use they make of time. All
procrastinators put off what they have to do. The key idea is that
procrastinating does not mean doing absolutely nothing. Procrastinators seldom
do absolutely anything; they do marginally useful things, like playing, making
a diagram, sharpening a pencil. Why do they do these things? They are a way of
not doing something more important. If sharpening the pencil was all he had
left, no force on earth would get him do it.
We’ve all been plagued by procrastination
at one time or another. For some, it’s a chronic problem. Others find out it
hits only some areas of their lives .The net results are usually the same
wasted time,missed opportunities, poor performance, self-depreciation or
increased stress. Procrastination is letting the low priority tasks get in the
way of high priority ones. It is socializing with colleagues when you know that
important work is due soon , watching TV instead of completing your assignment
,talking about superficial things with your partner instead of discussing your
relationship concerns , reading a novel instead of reading a textbook . We all
seem to do fine with things we want to do or enjoy doing for fun. But, when we
perceive tasks as difficult, inconvenient, or scary, we may shift into our
procrastination mode. We have very clever ways of fooling ourselves.
Procrastination is a bad habit. Like other
habits, there are two general causes; the first is the ‘’crooked thinking’’ we
employ to justify our behavior. The second is our behavioral pattern. Procrastinators
often follow exactly the wrong tracks. They try to minimize their commitments,
assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit
procrastination and get them done. But this goes contrary to the basic nature
of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation. The
few tasks he has to do will be by his definition the most important and the
only way to avoid doing them is doing nothing.
At this point you may be wondering, ‘’How
about the important tasks at the top of the list, that one never does?’’
Admittedly, there is a potential problem .The trick is, they take the useless
sorts of things as a priority; these things seem to have a clear deadline (but
really don’t), seem awfully important (but are not). In High School, vast
majority of tasks fall into the procrastinating category. Let me take for
example the item that is my top priority right now, writing this essay. It was
supposed to be done a couple weeks ago. I have accomplished an enormous number
of important things as a way of not working on it. Last week, bothered by
guilt, I told my brother about it expressing my good intentions to get to work
.Telling him was, of course, a way of not working on the article .It turned out
that I wasn’t further behind schedule than anyone else.
The observant reader should at this point
feel that procrastination requires a certain amount of self- deception, since
one is constantly perpetrating a pyramid scheme on oneself. One needs to be
able to recognize and commit oneself to tasks with inflated importance and
unreal deadlines, while making oneself feel they are important and urgent. This
is not a problem, because virtually all procrastinators have excellent
self-deceptive skills also.
WHY
WE DO IT
Because we are afraid
·
Fear of failure
·
Fear of attachment
·
Fear of being alone
·
Because we don’t like our
writing
·
Because we’re too busy
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
Create a
productive environment
Get a new attitude
Ask for help
Work on improving
your writing when you don’t have a deadline
Control your time
Make a schedule
EUREKA, YOU’RE GOOD TO GO
Akinjide Afolarin
