PROCRASTINATION

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 losing autonomy

·         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