narrative essay on procrastination

Procrastination Essay for Students and Children

500+ words on procrastination essay.

Have you ever put off your homework till the last minute? Or perhaps studied for the test only a day before? Maybe delayed writing an essay till the last possible hour? All of us are guilty of delaying tasks and putting off important work until a later date. This is essentially procrastinating. It is the action of purposefully delaying any task or activity. In this procrastination essay, we will see the reasons and the solutions to this problem.

As we will see in this procrastination essay, this is not a rare phenomenon. Almost everyone is guilty of it at some point in their lives. So we ask ourselves this question – why do people procrastinate even when they are so busy most of the time? We live in the 21st century, where time is our most precious commodity. And yet, we waste this precious resource procrastinating our time away.

Why do we Procrastinate?

The reasons for a person procrastinating can be varied. It depends on person-to-person and situation-to-situation. However, there are some universal reasons that cause people to delay their tasks and actions. One of the most important ones is the fear of failure. When a person delays doing an important task or is disinterested in finishing it, the cause could be a deep-rooted fear of failure. It is in human nature to avoid and fear failure. So by choosing to never finish the task, we can avoid the consequences as well.

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Another reason is the lack of focus and determination. Feeling directionless and unfocused can often cause people to lose their wills to do their jobs. This leads to procrastination. Sometimes the lack of goals and objectives is also the reason a person loses their focus. Since they do not have an end-goal in mind, they end up wasting energy in other useless tasks.

There are other reasons a person may procrastinate. Sometimes, a person may be too much of a perfectionist. This distracts them from other tasks. And then there are other reasons like laziness, low energy levels, easy distractions, etc.

Read 10 Ways to Stop Procrastinating here.

How to Stop Procrastinating?

While procrastinating is a very natural fault we all share, if it gets out of hand it can get quite troublesome. Excessive procrastination can disrupt your life and cause you to lose control of your schedules and deadlines. So when the procrastination gets out of hand, you need to reign it in and get back in control.

One way to stop procrastinating is to break down the dreaded task into little steps. If the work or the task is too overwhelming, we tend to procrastinate about it. But if the job is broken down, then we can tackle one step at a time without being overwhelmed. You can also create a detailed timetable or a timeline of some sort to help you with the steps.

At other times changing your work environment may be beneficial. It can provide you with the boost necessary to stop procrastinating and finish the task. If possible get a friend or a parent to keep a check on your progress. It helps keep the motivation levels up and encourages you to finish the task on time.

The main concern is not to over-focus or blame yourself for procrastinating sometimes. We are all a victim to procrastination from time-to-time. As long as it does not derail your entire schedule, give yourself a break and just get back to work!

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Personal Narrative Essay about Procrastination

Procrastination is a problem that has followed me around since the beginning of middle school. I remember browsing through TV shows and movies the night before, trying to enjoy one of them. Then failing as anxiety filled me at the thought of the assignments due tomorrow. Shouldn’t I get started now? What would I do if the work took longer than I’d expected? Would I be able to finish it in time?

Despite these thoughts, I often became so overwhelmed at the thought of starting perfectly, as I was certain that the only way to do a task well was to begin it well. This led me to continue putting things off, which eventually caused my consistent procrastination. In a book which I recently read, the protagonist talks about a revelation she had during a counseling session. She’d thought that a perfectionist was like how Natalie Portman acted in Black Swan, shivering from malnourishment and eighteen hour pratctices. Then, she was told that there were many kinds of perfectionists. She was a perfectionist because she would give up anything that wasn’t easy or that she wasn’t good enough at. I felt this to be really true to me as well, possibly even one of the main reasons I procrastinate at all.

Unfortunately for me, these habits of procrastination did not fade as time went by. In fact, they became even more pressing as I grew older and responsibilities began to pile up on my plate. When I was prompted to make pivotal decisions, my mind would immediately turn away, determined to put them off for long stretches of time. Behind my frequent procrastination was my perfectionism, which told me to not even try tasks if I wasn’t sure I would be able to do them to the best of my ability.

Since the pandemic forced me to stay inside and I started spending more time working alone, I grew more aware of my tendencies to procrastinate. To combat them, I eagerly clicked on videos and posts that claimed to share tips and tricks that would help me beat procrastination once and for all. Along these suggestions were, lay out your goals, create a strict schedule, and reward yourself along the way, all of which I tried and found to be of little or no help.

In the end, I was still procrastinating, causing me frustration like no other—why couldn’t I be the kind of student who did her homework the day it was given? Why couldn’t I start important projects before the pressure became too much and forced me to begin? Why couldn’t I just… start? My mental health was crashing down.

I thought it would be impossible to obtain a great result if I messed up from the start, and so I convinced myself I was waiting until I was completely ready. What I was so afraid of was, plainly put, failing. I knew that a single mistake didn’t make me a failure, but I wasn’t sure how to recover from my faults and confidently move on. I was scared that my mind would fixate and ruminate on the bad choices that had brought me to those failures to the point where I couldn’t pick myself back up. I was convinced that starting something on the wrong foot meant I would be limping the entire way, leading me to barely reach the finish line. Wasn’t a successful journey supposed to begin with a successful start?

However, the truth was that the time was never going to be just right. Even if I started a task, adamant not to make a single mistake, I was bound to mess up at some point. It was unrealistic of me to hope for a smooth path from beginning to end with absolutely no bumps in the road. The important part was getting back up and carrying on, and in order to do so, I had to force myself to start running. Starting opened the doors to everything that came after, and I couldn’t do anything without it. Although many tasks could seem daunting at times, once I started, they began to appear much more doable, and that gave me the push I needed to keep working hard.

There were two incredibly significant things that I earned solely from the simple act of starting. One, if I only made a small error in the process, I was left with most of what I’d created, which was evidently more than nothing. And secondly, if I made an error large enough to force me to start over, I was now equipped with newfound lessons gained from that mistake. From that mistake, I was unlikely to fall down the same path again, and much more likely to come up with an improved result. I did not have to be hindered by these obstacles, and I would continue moving forward.

Of course, starting isn’t the only thing that matters when tackling a task. It doesn’t make much sense to start something and abandon it for the next few hours or days with the excuse that technically, I’ve started it. However, if I don’t start, there’s nothing that I can work with and expand upon. Starting, in the sense that it provides the foundation on which I will then build my ideas upon, is an amazing feat. It can be difficult, but it’s definitely worth it.

Aristotle once said, “Well begun is half done,” to explain that starting well guarantees success and prosperity for the rest of the venture. I agree for the most part with this quote, but I would suggest a slight revision to it to instead say, “Begun is half done.” There’s no reason to hold my work to standards that exceed expectations from the very beginning. Sometimes, it’s more than okay to be proud of yourself just for starting. Reminding myself of the knowledge that it’s okay to trip up and what truly matters is that I started, and will continue to improve upon what I have created, is what will propel me towards a satisfactory outcome.

If you’re reading this article and to-do lists and due dates start floating into your head: the stress will only build as you let them simmer. So sit yourself down at your desk, sharpen a pencil, open up a new page of a notebook or a new document on your laptop and just… breathe, start on it.

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Procrastination Essay

Essay on Procrastination

Have you ever postponed your homework until the last minute? Or maybe you studied for a test the day before?

Maybe it's too late to write a story until the last hour? We are all guilty of delaying jobs and postponing important work until the latest date. This is actually procrastination. It is the act of deliberately delaying any task or activity. In this case, we will look at the causes and solutions to this problem.

About Procrastination

As we shall see in this article, this is not a coincidence. Almost everyone is guilty of it at some point in their lives. So we ask ourselves this question - why do people procrastinate or are so busy all the time?

We live in the 21st century when time is of the essence. However, we are wasting our precious resources by wasting our time.

Saint Kabir had advised: what you have to do tomorrow, do today; what you have to do today, do it now. Procrastination is the habit of delaying a task or an activity until a later date. The habit of procrastinating the doing things is one of the worst habits of a person. People tend to be slothful to put off the finishing of a piece of work, implementation of a plan till another time. Life is not certain and it is possible that circumstances may change and one may not be able to do the work at all. It is good to procrastinate on things that are bad, but we are right and what we have decided to do, we must do in time.

Reasons for Procrastinating

One of the major reasons for procrastinating on a task is slothfulness. When a person is indulged in luxuries and slothfulness, it will blunt his edge of urge for action. When a person starts fearing the outcome of the task, he tends to procrastinate the task for a later date. Other factors for procrastinating work for a later date are low self-esteem, weak determination, less focus and distraction and also high impulsiveness.

Procrastination is Harmful

Procrastination is harmful in various ways. It maintains tension in mind. It will relieve you of this tension if you do the work right now. Putting off work till another time more often may keep us deprived of the benefits, which might have accrued to us from its having been done. Opportunity knocks at the door once. Opportunity lost once is lost forever. There is no guarantee that the circumstances will remain the same. They may change and you may have to repent later on over the fact that you missed the opportunity. Sometimes it may prove tragic and change the good side of your career to a bad one.

A successful man is one who strikes the iron while it is hot. When procrastination becomes a habit, all cheerfulness and carefree living go out of life and we live a life of perpetual tension, which indeed is not a life worth living at all. While procrastination is harmful to individuals, it may be more harmful to groups, communities and nations.

We must ask ourselves whether we do actually realise the dangers emanating from procrastination and, therefore, shun it. We will perhaps find the answer in the affirmative as well as in the negative. We are still procrastinating steps for development in certain sectors of our life. For example, we have been sadly procrastinating in the educational sector. Even after more than five decades of economic planning, we find half of our population illiterate. We have taken steps to eradicate illiteracy, but our steps are not fast enough.

We have been procrastinating developing certain geographical regions of the country with the result that there are evident regional imbalances in terms of development. We have not yet been able to connect every village of India with a link road. This was the task of utmost importance, a task that ought to have been given priority in any scheme of development. Our pace of development could have been faster if proper planning and implementation had been done at the right time.

While procrastination is regarded as a bad habit, undue hurry or haste is equally a bad tendency. Promptness of action is advisable, but an impulsive decision is fraught with undesirable consequences. One must not delay or procrastinate in arriving at a decision in crucial matters, but unless a well-thought-out decision has been taken, it is more often than not risky to convert into action. Decisions taken in a hurry or haste without cool and calculated deliberation are likely to lead one into blind alleys or unfathomed troughs which it is difficult to get out from. The golden rule is first to get satisfied with the correct decision. Action should immediately follow the correct decision. Action should immediately follow the correct decision. Evil actions contemplated as a consequence of anger, revenge, greed, larceny, lust should be put off as indefinitely as possible till they die their natural death.

How to Avoid Procrastinating?

There are a few tips to curb the habit of procrastination.

Slothfulness:

We must shake off slothfulness altogether. One must be up and doing. Avoid indulgence in luxuries because this makes one blunt.

Value of Time:

Understanding the value of time is very important. Nothing great can be expected from one who does not understand the value of a minute, for seconds and minutes make an hour, a day, a month, a year and the whole life itself. If the value of a minute is descended deep into our mind and heart, sloth will disappear.

Idleness:

Idleness is fatiguing. One must, therefore oneself engage in some useful work like some household chores other than one's main occupation.

To ward off procrastination, one must plan one's work. Detailed planning is necessary. The entire gamut of work may be divided into fragments and time fixed for completing each fragment will facilitate satisfaction and invigorating. What we must have to do right from the time we get up from bed down to the time we go to bed must be clear to us and we must stick to it religiously.

Prioritization:

One may arrange the array of work in order of priorities. How many things are to be done and in what order of priority they must be taken — once this is planned in advance, then most of the battle is won and we can get out of the habit of procrastinating tasks.

Why Do We Procrastinate?

Reasons for postponing a person may vary. It depends on the individual and the situation-to-situation. However, there are international reasons why people delay their activities and actions.

One of the most important things is the fear of failure. When a person is slow to perform an important task or is not interested in completing it, the cause may be a deep fear of failure. It is human nature to avoid and fear failure. So by choosing not to complete the task, we can also avoid the consequences.

Another reason is a lack of focus and determination. Feelings of indifference and insecurity can often cause people to lose their will to do their jobs.

This leads to self-control. Sometimes a lack of goals and objectives is also a reason for a person to lose focus. With no goal in mind, they end up wasting energy on other useless activities.

There are other reasons a person may tolerate it. At times, a person may be a perfectionist. This distracts them from other activities. And then there are other reasons like laziness, low energy levels, easy distractions, etc.

How Can You Stop Procrastination?

Although procrastination is a normal part of life for us, it can be extremely difficult to do so. Procrastination can ruin your life and cause you to lose control of your schedules and deadlines. So when procrastination fades, you need to be in control and in control.

One way to stop procrastinating is to turn a dreadful task into smaller steps. If a task or task is too difficult, we often put it off. But if the work is depleted, then we can deal with it one step at a time without frustration. You can also create a detailed timetable or timeline of some sort to help you with the steps.

Sometimes a change in the work environment can be beneficial. It can give you the energy you need to stop procrastinating and complete the task. If possible, get a friend or parent to check your progress. It helps keep motivation levels up and encourages you to complete the task on time.

The key is not to become too preoccupied with the mundane things of life. We are all victims of procrastination. As long as it doesn't interfere with your entire system, take a break and go back to work!

Short Essay on Procrastination

Procrastination is not a rare thing; nine out of ten people, mostly students, nowadays procrastinate their work until the very last moment and it is also realised that they often feel guilty due to continuous postposing of their important work. The reasons for procrastination vary from person to person and situation to situation.

However, some causes are universal and some may have a particular reason to delay their important actions or tasks. The fear of failure stands on the top and another reason why most people procrastinate is lack of motivation.

Everyone needs motivation while starting a new task or action, but due to lack of motivation most, people procrastinate due to the hesitation of performing a new activity plus lack of motivation, while some procrastinate due to laziness, lack of interest and unwillingness to perform any work.

However, the end product of procrastination is always negative, like people start feeling much guilty, less focused, worried about upcoming projects or actions etc.

In conclusion, it should be stated that procrastination is rooted in many causes, such as numerous distractions, lack of motivation, fear of uncertainty and failure, and perfectionism. At the same time, the result stands the same with infinite consequences such as concern for career, studies, health, and personal qualities. Thus, procrastination prevents a person from rising through the ranks, succeeding in training, and developing a personality.

The major difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful person is that while the former put his decisions promptly into action and reaps the fruits, the latter procrastinates, thereby depriving himself of the fruit.

FAQs on Procrastination Essay

1. What is Procrastination really about?

Postponing or procrastination is the act of delaying or postponing activities until the last minute or beyond the deadline. Some researchers describe procrastination as "a form of self-indulgence that is characterised by unreasonable delays in performance despite negative consequences.

2. Why Are We Here?

We postpone activities that we find "difficult, unpleasant, contradictory or just boring or oppressive." If a task seems overwhelming or raises serious concerns, it is usually very easy to avoid it. Another reason people put things off, says Sirois, is lack of confidence.

3. What Are The 4 Types of Retreat?

They say that there are four main types of archetypes to avoid or procrastinate: the perpetrator, the negligent, the excessive, and the person who seeks new things.

4. Is procrastination a mental illness?

Some people spend a lot of time in the monastery until they can finish important daily tasks. They may have a strong desire to stop procrastination but may feel that they will not be able to do so. Delaying yourself is not a diagnosis of mental health. But yes, less control over your mind is a sign of mental illness.

Procrastination Essay

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Perfectionism and Fear of Failure

Fear of the unknown, lack of motivation, multiple distractions, works cited.

This procrastination essay should start with an acknowledgment: every person occasionally postpones tasks at hand for various reasons. It can be due to fatigue, unwillingness to engage in it at the moment, or lack of spare time to spend on the issue. College students, in particular, have to face this phenomenon regularly.

However, some people get into the habit of delaying things that they have to do. Thus, they disregard deadlines and cause trouble for themselves and those around them. It is called procrastination, which is, as stated by Ferrari et al., “derived from Latin verbs, ‘pro’ refers to forward motion, and ‘crastinus’ refers to belonging to tomorrow” (qt. in Abbasi and Alghamdi 59). It is worth mentioning that postponing a task to perform a more important one does not refer to this phenomenon. In this case, it is setting priorities, which has nothing to do with procrastination.

The habitual delay of tasks is caused by several factors, such as perfectionism, fear of uncertainty, lack of motivation, and distractions. This essay about procrastination will explore each of them and their consequences separately.

Although perfectionism seems to be a positive trait at first sight, since it implies that a person attempts to do his work brilliantly, it is, in fact, a drawback in many cases. Voltaire is believed to have said: “The best is the enemy of the good,” which is applied to perfectionists. Instead of submitting a well-done task in time, they leave it to the last minute because they do not consider it perfect.

Not all people tend to develop perfectionism because it depends on personal attitudes. According to Dweck, there are two types of mindset, which define an individual’s behavior and beliefs: “the fixed mindset” and “the growth mindset” (7). People with the first type are convinced that they have “a certain amount of intelligence, a certain personality, and a certain moral character,” which cannot change over time (Dweck 7). Individuals possessing the second type of mindset; on the contrary, believe that their abilities are improvable, and “everyone can change and grow through application and experience” (Dweck 7). Thus, perfectionists have a fixed mindset since they always have to prove that they are superior and worthy, which makes them waste much time and effort and causes them to procrastinate.

Perfectionism is closely related to another cause of postponing tasks, which is a fear of failure. Some people are so obsessed with the ambition of being the best that they cannot afford to fail. However, it leads them to reject challenges and opportunities, which could contribute to their personal growth because they are sure they will not cope with them. If they cannot refuse such a task, they delay it for as long as possible since they are afraid of failure. In the workplace, such behavior leads to “low salaries and short employment durations,” as well as unemployment (Abbasi and Alghamdi 61). Thus, obsessive pursuit of excellence leads to procrastination, which, in turn, deprives people of a possibility of personal growth and makes them miss valuable opportunities.

Sometimes, people put their plans off because they are uncertain of what they are going to experience. It particularly concerns health and relationships because, in these areas of life, there are no deadlines, and individuals have to decide for themselves when to take action. For example, a person, having noticed a rash on the skin, may postpone a visit to a doctor, hoping that it will get better on its own. Another instance is a woman who wants to break up with her partner but delays this decision since she expects her life to improving suddenly. In both cases, people procrastinate because they fear the consequences of their actions and prefer to live in uncertainty.

Procrastination due to the fear of the unknown generally results in negative outcomes since problems rarely disappear on their own. For people delaying health issues, it may lead to “hazardous consequences in terms of health, especially when a disease may be progressive” (Kroese and de Ridder 317). Procrastination also influences people’s quality of life since, instead of eliminating disturbance by making the desired change, they continue to postpone problems and waste their mental energy on them.

Individuals may delay fulfilling a task because they are not interested in it and have no essential reasons for doing it. Instead, they prefer performing more pleasant though less important work. Motivation is influenced by the environment, especially when there are other procrastinators who affect their coworkers through “second-hand procrastination” (Abbasi and Alghamdi 60). Furthermore, people face this problem if the task at hand misaligns with their priorities or is vaguely stated.

As a result, procrastination due to the absence of motivation leads to poor individual performance. Postponing tasks causes a person to have fewer career opportunities since “employers are less likely to retain procrastinators for jobs requiring high motivation” (Abbasi and Alghamdi 60). It applies to not only work but also academic achievements, switching to a healthy lifestyle, and any other activity requiring an internal stimulus to get down to action.

Procrastination takes place when many distractions hinder a person from concentrating on a task. This problem is especially significant in the contemporary environment since smartphones and free Internet access has made it difficult for people not to redirect their attention from work to entertainment. Furthermore, in the workplace, colleagues also may contribute to attention distraction (Sirois and Pychyl 245). Thus, people have to choose between pleasant things and their own obligations, which Milkman et al. called a “should-want conflict” (qtd. in Sirois and Pychyl 245). It serves as a cause for procrastination since individuals often prefer instant gratification instead of committing to work.

Like in the cases mentioned above, procrastination caused by distractions has negative effects on people’s performance and well-being. Abbasi and Alghamdi argue that students who engage in entertaining activities rather than studying are likely to submit their assignments after the deadline and generally have poor academic achievements (60). Furthermore, since procrastination often involves excessing the time limit, people apt to postponing tasks complain of “higher levels of stress and anxiety” (Abbasi and Alghamdi 61). Consequently, the problem of not completing work in time leads to not only falling behind peers in studies and career but also having health issues.

Procrastination Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be said that procrastination is rooted in many causes, such as numerous distractions, lack of motivation, fear of uncertainty and failure, and perfectionism. Each of them leads to negative consequences that concern career, studies, health, and personal qualities. Thus, procrastination prevents a person from rising through the ranks, succeeding in training, and developing as a personality. These are serious obstacles on the way to success and life satisfaction, which is why it is crucial for people to begin to struggle with procrastination as soon as they discovered it in their behavior.

Abbasi, Irum Saeed, and Nawal G. Alghamdi. “The Prevalence, Predictors, Causes, Treatments, and Implications of Procrastination Behaviors in General, Academic, and Work Setting.” International Journal of Psychological Studies , vol. 7, no. 1, 2015, pp. 59-66.

Dweck, Carol. Mindset – Updated Edition: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential . Hachette UK, 2017.

Kroese, Floor M., and Denise T. D. de Ridder. “Health Behaviour Procrastination: A Novel Reasoned Route towards Self-regulatory Failure.” Health Psychology Review , vol. 10, no. 3, 2016, pp. 313-325.

Sirois, Fuschia M., and Timothy A. Pychyl, editors. Procrastination, Health, and Well-being . Academic Press, 2016.

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The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Procrastination

The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. —Mary Heaton Vorse

What this handout is about

This handout will help you understand why you procrastinate and offer strategies to combat this common writer’s ailment.

Introduction

Everyone procrastinates. We put things off because we don’t want to do them, or because we have too many other things on our plates. Putting things off—big or small—is part of being human. If you are reading this handout, however, it is likely that your procrastination is troubling you. You suspect that you could be a much better writer if only you didn’t put off writing projects until the last minute. You find that just when you have really gotten going on a paper, it’s time to turn it in; so, you never really have time to revise or proofread carefully. You love the rush of adrenaline you get when you finish a paper ten minutes before it’s due, but you (and your body) are getting tired of pulling all-nighters. You feel okay about procrastinating while in college, but you worry that this habit will follow you into your working life.

You can tell whether or not you need to do something about your procrastination by examining its consequences. Procrastination can have external consequences (you get a zero on the paper because you never turned it in) or internal consequences (you feel anxious much of the time, even when you are doing something that you enjoy). If you put off washing the dishes, but the dishes don’t bother you, who cares? When your procrastination leaves you feeling discouraged and overburdened, however, it is time to take action.

Is there hope?

If you think you are a hopeless procrastinator, take heart! No one is beyond help. The fact that you procrastinate does not mean that you are inherently lazy or inefficient. Your procrastination is not an untamable beast. It is a habit that has some specific origin, and it is a habit that you can overcome. This handout will help you begin to understand why you procrastinate and give you some strategies for turning things around. For most procrastinators, however, there are no quick fixes. You aren’t going to wake up tomorrow and never procrastinate again. But you might wake up tomorrow and do one or two simple things that will help you finish that draft a little earlier or with less stress.

You may not be surprised to learn that procrastinators tend to be self-critical. So, as you consider your procrastination and struggle to develop different work habits, try to be gentle with yourself. Punishing yourself every time you realize you have put something off won’t help you change. Rewarding yourself when you make progress will.

If you don’t care why you procrastinate—you just want to know what to do about it—then you might as well skip the next section of this handout and go right to the section labeled “What to do about it.” If you skip to the strategies, however, you may only end up more frustrated. Taking the time to learn about why you procrastinate may help you avoid the cycle whereby you swear up and down that you will never procrastinate again, only to find that the next time you have a paper due, you are up until 3 a.m. trying to complete the first (and only) draft—without knowing why or how you got there.

Why we do it

In order to stop putting off your writing assignments, it is important to understand why you tend to do so in the first place. Some of the reasons that people procrastinate include the following:

Because we are afraid

Fear of failure: If you are scared that a particular piece of writing isn’t going to turn out well, then you may avoid working on it in order to avoid feeling the fear.
Fear of success: Some procrastinators (the author of this handout included) fear that if they start working at their full capacity, they will turn into workaholics. Since we procrastinate compulsively, we assume that we will also write compulsively; we envision ourselves locked in a library carrel, hunched over the computer, barely eating and sleeping and never seeing friends or going out. The procrastinator who fears success may also assume that if they work too hard, they will become mean and cold to the people around them, thus losing their capacity to be friendly and to have fun. Finally, this type of procrastinator may think that if they stop procrastinating, then they will start writing better, which will increase other people’s expectations, thus ultimately increasing the amount of pressure they experience.
Fear of losing autonomy: Some people delay writing projects as a way of maintaining their independence. When they receive a writing assignment, they procrastinate as a way of saying, “You can’t make me do this. I am my own person.” Procrastinating helps them feel more in control of situations (such as college) in which they believe that other people have authority.
Fear of being alone: Other writers procrastinate because they want to feel constantly connected to other people. For instance, you may procrastinate until you are in such a bind that someone has to come and rescue you. Procrastination therefore ensures that other people will be involved in your life. You may also put off writing because you don’t want to be alone, and writing is oftentimes a solitary activity. In its worst form, procrastination itself can become a companion, constantly reminding you of all that you have to do.
Fear of attachment: Rather than fearing separation, some people procrastinate in order to create a barrier between themselves and others. They may delay in order to create chaos in their lives, believing that the chaos will keep other people away.

Whether these fears appear in our conscious or subconscious minds, they paralyze us and keep us from taking action, until discomfort and anxiety overwhelms us and forces us to either a) get the piece of writing done or b) give up. (The preceding is a summary of Chapters 2-4 of Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen’s Procrastination: Why You Do It, What to Do About It.)

Because we expect ourselves to be perfect

Procrastination and perfectionism often go hand in hand. Perfectionists tend to procrastinate because they expect so much of themselves, and they are scared about whether or not they can meet those high standards. Perfectionists sometimes think that it is better to give a half-hearted effort and maintain the belief that they could have written a great paper, than to give a full effort and risk writing a mediocre paper. Procrastinating guarantees failure, but it helps perfectionists maintain their belief that they could have excelled if they had tried harder. Another pitfall for perfectionists is that they tend to ignore progress toward a goal. As long as the writing project is incomplete, they feel as though they aren’t getting anywhere, rather than recognizing that each paragraph moves them closer to a finished product.

Because we don’t like our writing

You may procrastinate on writing because you don’t like to re-read what you have written; you hate writing a first draft and then being forced to evaluate it, in all its imperfection. By procrastinating, you ensure that you don’t have time to read over your work, thus avoiding that uncomfortable moment.

Because we’re too busy

Practical concerns: jobs, other classes, etc.

Because it works

Unfortunately, procrastination helps reinforce itself. When we avoid doing something we dread (like writing) by doing something we enjoy (such as watching TV, hanging out with friends, etc.), we escape the dreaded task. Given such a choice, it’s no wonder that many of us choose to procrastinate. When we write a paper at the last minute and still manage to get a good grade, we feel all the more compelled to procrastinate next time around.

What to do about it

Now that you know a little bit about why you may have procrastinated in the past, let’s explore some of the strategies you might use to combat your procrastination tendencies, now and in the future. Experiment with whichever of these strategies appeals to you; if you try something and it doesn’t work, try something else! Be patient; improvement will come with practice.

Take an inventory

Figuring out exactly when and how you procrastinate can help you stop the behavior. It can be difficult to tell when you are procrastinating. Think about the clues that tell you that’s what you’re doing: for example, a nagging voice in your head, a visual image of what you are avoiding or the consequences of not doing it, physical ailments (stomach tightness, headaches, muscle tension), inability to concentrate, inability to enjoy what you are doing.

How do you procrastinate?

Try to ignore the task, hoping against hope that it will go away?
Over- or under-estimate the degree of difficulty that the task involves?
Minimize the impact that your performance now may have on your future?
Substitute something important for something really important? (For example, cleaning instead of writing your paper.)
Let a short break become a long one, or an evening in which you do no work at all? (For example, claiming that you are going to watch TV for ½ hour, then watching it all night.)
Focus on one part of the task, at the expense of the rest? (For example, keep working on the introduction, while putting off writing the body and conclusion).
Spend too much time researching or choosing a topic

Once you better understand how you procrastinate, you will be better able to catch yourself doing it. Too often, we don’t even realize that we are procrastinating—until it’s too late.

Create a productive environment

If you have made the decision to stop delaying on a particular writing project, it is critical that you find a place to work where you have at least half a chance of actually getting some writing done. Your dorm room may not be the place where you are most productive. Ditto the computer lab. If you have a laptop computer, try going someplace where you can’t connect to the Internet (e-mail and the Web are the bane of the procrastinator’s existence—as you probably already know). If you are a procrastinator, then chances are you are already pretty exasperated; don’t risk frustrating yourself even more by trying to write in an environment that doesn’t meet your needs.

CAUTION: The most skilled procrastinators will be tempted to take this suggestion too far, spending an inordinate amount of time “creating a productive environment” (cleaning, filing, etc.) and not nearly enough time actually writing. Don’t fall into that trap! While cleaning and filing are indeed worthy and necessary activities, if you only do this when you have an approaching writing deadline, then you are procrastinating.

While you are thinking about where to write, consider also when you will write. When are you most alert? Is it at 8 a.m., mid-morning, mid-afternoon, early evening, or late at night? Try to schedule writing time when you know you will be at your best. Don’t worry about when you “should” be able to write; just focus on when you are able to write.

Challenge your myths

In order to break the procrastination habit, we need to get past the idea that in order to write, we must have all the information pertaining to the topic, and we must have optimal writing conditions. In reality, writers never have all the information, and conditions are never optimal.

Think of a writing project that you are currently putting off. On one side of a piece of paper, write down all the reasons for your delay. On the other side, argue (as convincingly as possible!) against the delay.

Myth #1: “I can’t function in a messy environment. I can’t possibly write this paper until I have cleaned my apartment.”

Challenge: There are no conditions that are necessary in order for you to write, save two: 1) You must have a writing implement (e.g., a keyboard or a pen) and 2) you must have someplace for writing to go, such as into a computer or onto a piece of paper. If, when faced with a writing project, you start piling up prerequisites for all the things you must do before you can possibly start writing, consider whether you might in fact be making excuses—in other words, procrastinating.

Myth #2: “I know it’s time for me to start writing, but I just haven’t done enough research yet. I’ll spend one more night at the library, and then I’ll start writing my paper.”

Challenge: Truth be told, you will never collect all the information you possibly could for your paper. Better to write a tightly-crafted argument with the information you have NOW, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, than to keep doing research and risk throwing your paper together at the last minute.

Myth #3: “I do my best work under pressure.”

Challenge: There are lots of other ways to create pressure for yourself, besides waiting until the night before the paper is due to start writing it. You can set a time limit for yourself—for example, “I will write this paragraph in ½ hour”—or you can pretend that the paper is a timed essay exam. If you do this a week or two before the paper is due, you’ll have a draft in plenty of time to revise and edit it.

Myth #4: “In order to work on my paper, I must have six uninterrupted hours.”

Challenge: You can and should work on a paper in one hour blocks (or shorter). This will help you break the writing task down into smaller pieces, thereby making it seem more manageable. If you know that you can work on one part of the paper for one hour, then it won’t seem so daunting, and you will be less likely to procrastinate.

Some writers find, however, that they do need longer blocks of time in order to really produce anything. Therefore, like all of the strategies outlined here, if this one doesn’t work for you, throw it out and try something else. You might still find, however, that you are more productive when you plan to write “all morning” rather than “all day.”

Myth #5 : “What I write has to be perfect, ” AND/OR “I can’t write anything until I have a perfect thesis statement/intro.”

Challenge: A first draft (or a second, or a third, or even—egad!—the final product) does not have to be perfect. When we write an early draft, we need to turn off our internal critic and just get some words down on the page. The great thing about starting early on a writing project is that it leaves us plenty of time for revision, editing, and proofreading; so, we can set ourselves free to just let our writing flow, without worrying about sentence-level concerns such as grammar, punctuation, and style. You’ll find some other thoughts on editing in our video on proofreading and our handout on revision .

Break it down

The day you get the paper assignment (ideally), or shortly thereafter, break the writing assignment up into the smallest possible chunks. By doing this, the paper never has a chance to take on gargantuan proportions in your mind. You can say to yourself, “Right now, I’m going to write the introduction. That’s all, just the introduction!” And you may be more likely to sit down and do that, than you will to sit down and “write the paper.”

Get a new attitude

We shoot ourselves in the foot, to begin with, by telling ourselves how horrible a particular writing assignment is. Changing our attitude toward the task, when possible, may go a long way toward keeping us from procrastinating. Tell yourself that the task isn’t so bad or difficult, that you either know how to do it, or that you can learn how while you’re doing it. You may find, too, that if you start early on a particular assignment, your attitude never has a chance to get very negative in the first place! Simply starting to write can often help us feel more positive about writing.

Ask for help

Get an anti-procrastination coach. If you are really determined not to procrastinate, then get help from the supportive people in your life. Tell someone about your writing goal and timeline, and ask them to help you determine whether or not your plan is realistic. Once or twice a week, email with a friend, relative, or mentor, in order to report (admit?) on your progress, and declare your promise for the next week (or few days). If, despite your very good intentions, you start procrastinating again, do not think, “All is lost!” Instead, talk to someone about it. They may be able to help you put your slip into perspective and get back on track.
Get a buddy. See if you can find a friend to work alongside you. They don’t have to be writing a paper; in fact, they can be playing Solitaire, for all you care. What matters is that you arrange to meet them at the library (or wherever you have decided to write) at a particular time and stay there for a specific period of time, thus creating accountability.
Get help with your writing. If you are procrastinating because you think you are a weak writer, then ask someone (a Writing Center writing coach, a current or former professor or teaching assistant, a friend) to help you improve.
Form a writing group. A writing group is a great way for undergraduate and more advanced writers alike to create accountability, get feedback, and simply get reminded that you are not alone in the struggle to produce and to improve your writing. See our writing group packet at for more information on how to form and sustain a writing group. Dissertation writers may benefit not only from joining a writing group but also from reading our handout on the dissertation . This handout was written by a former Writing Center staff member who eventually completed her dissertation.

Get unblocked

Sometimes, we procrastinate because we feel stuck on a particular essay or section of an essay. If this happens, you have several options:

Turn off the screen. Type with a dark screen, so you can’t see what you’ve written, decide you don’t like it, and delete it immediately. Sometimes procrastination stems from insecurity about what to say, or whether we have anything to say. The important thing, in that case, is to get started and KEEP GOING. Turning off the screen may help lessen your fear and turn off your internal critic. When you turn it back on (or print out what you’ve written), you may find that you do have something to say, after all.
Write about writing. Take 15 minutes and write a letter to yourself about why you don’t want to write this. This lets you vent your frustrations and anxieties. Then, Take 15 minutes and write about what you could do to get unstuck. You can also try writing about what you’re going to write, making an initial assessment of the assignment. You won’t have the pressure of writing an actual draft, but you will be able to get something down on paper.
Write the easiest part first. You don’t have to start at the beginning. Whatever section you can do, do it! If you think that’s wimpy, and you would rather do the hardest part first so that you can get it out of the way, that’s fine—whatever works for you. If you start writing and you get stuck, write about why you’re stuck.
Talk it out. Try tape-recording yourself speaking the ideas you want to include in the paper, and then transcribe the tape.

Make yourself accountable

Set a writing deadline (other than the paper’s due date) for yourself by making an appointment at the Writing Center or telling your TA (or a former TA) that you’re going to give them a draft on such-and-such a date. If you make your Writing Center appointment for several days before the paper is due, then you may be motivated to have a draft finished. Or set an earlier appointment at the Writing Center to have a conversation about your plans for the draft. Talking out your ideas with someone will help you get them organized for subsequent writing.

Leave your work out

Keeping your work (books, notes, articles, etc.) physically out, in full view, gives you a reminder that you are in the middle of the paper, or that you need to start. Also, if you write in more than one shift, it can be helpful to leave off in the middle of a paragraph and leave your ‘tools’ where they are. When you return to the paper, you’ll be able to “warm up” by finishing that paragraph. Starting a new section cold may be more difficult.

Work on improving your writing when you don’t have a deadline

Investigate your writing process. First of all, you may not think you have a thing called a “writing process.” But you do—everyone does. Describe your writing process in detail.

Ask yourself:

When do I usually start on a paper?
What tools do I need (or think I need) in order to write?
Where do I write?
Do I like quiet or noise when I write?
How long a block of time do I need?
What do I do before I start?
What do I do at the end?
How do I feel at the end (after I have turned it in)?

Then ask yourself:

What do I like about my writing process?
What do I want to change?

Once you can see your writing process, then you can make a decision to change it. But take it easy with this—only work on one part at a time. Otherwise, you’ll get overwhelmed and frustrated—and we all know where that leads, straight down the procrastination road.

Evaluate your writing’s strengths and weaknesses

If you aren’t ready to evaluate your writing process completely (and it’s okay if you aren’t), then you could try just listing your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. For instance, perhaps you are great at creating thesis statements, but you have trouble developing arguments. Or, your papers are very well-organized, but your thesis and argument tend to fall a little flat. Identifying these issues will help you do two things: 1) When you write, you can play to your strength; and 2) You can choose one weakness and do something about it when you DON’T have a deadline.

Now, doing anything when you don’t have a deadline may sound strange to a procrastinator, but bear with me. Let’s say you’ve decided that your writing is too wordy, and you want to work on being more concise. So, some time when you don’t have a paper—but you do have a free hour—you waltz into the Writing Center and tell your tutor, “Hey, I want learn to how to write more clearly.” You confer, and you come away with some simple strategies for eliminating wordiness.

Here is why this may make a difference the next time you write a paper, regardless of whether or not you have procrastinated (again!): You print out your draft. It’s 1 a.m. You go to bed. The next morning, you read over your paper (it’s due at noon). You say to yourself, “Hmmm, I notice I’m being too wordy.” BUT, rather than concluding, “Oh, well, it’s too late, there isn’t anything I can do about that,” (as you may have in the past), you can choose to employ some of what you learned (previously, when you weren’t under the gun) to make your writing more concise. You edit the paper accordingly. You turn it in.

When your instructor hands the papers back the following week, there are far fewer instances of “awkward,” “unclear,” etc. in the margins. Voila! You’ve made a positive change in your writing process!

What does this have to do with procrastination? Well, making one small change in your writing process creates momentum. You begin to feel more positive about your writing. You begin to be less intimidated by writing assignments. And—eventually—you start them earlier, because they just aren’t as big a deal as they used to be.

Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses in your writing gives you a sense of control. Your writing problems are solvable problems. Working on your writing when you don’t have a deadline helps you gain insight and momentum. Soon, writing becomes something that, while you may not look forward to it, you don’t dread quite as much. Thus, you don’t procrastinate quite as much.

This strategy also accounts for the fact that if you perceive procrastination as having been successful for you in the past, you aren’t going to give it up right away

Hone your proofreading and editing skills

If you procrastinate on writing because you don’t like to re-read what you have written, the good news is this: you can learn specific proofreading , revising , and editing strategies. If you finish your paper ahead of time, and you re-read it, and you don’t like it, you have options. Writing a first draft that you don’t like doesn’t mean you’re a terrible writer. Many writers—in fact, I would venture to say most—hate their first drafts. Neither Leo Tolstoy nor Toni Morrison produce(d) brilliant prose the first time around. In fact, Morrison (a big fan of revision) said recently that you don’t have to love your writing just because you wrote it! If you practice some revision and editing strategies, you may feel more comfortable with the idea of re-reading your papers. You’ll know that if you find weaknesses in the draft (and you will), you can do something to improve those areas.

Learn how to tell time

One of the best ways to combat procrastination is to develop a more realistic understanding of time. Procrastinators’ views of time tend to be fairly unrealistic. “This paper is only going to take me about five hours to write,” you think. “Therefore, I don’t need to start on it until the night before.” What you may be forgetting, however, is that our time is often filled with more activities than we realize. On the night in question, for instance, let’s say you go to the gym at 4:45 p.m. You work out (1 hour), take a shower and dress (30 minutes), eat dinner (45 minutes), and go to a sorority meeting (1 hour). By the time you get back to your dorm room to begin work on the paper, it is already 8:00 p.m. But now you need to check your email and return a couple of phone calls. It’s 8:30 p.m. before you finally sit down to write the paper. If the paper does indeed take five hours to write, you will be up until 1:30 in the morning—and that doesn’t include the time that you will inevitably spend watching TV.

And, as it turns out, it takes about five hours to write a first draft of the essay. You have forgotten to allow time for revision, editing, and proofreading. You get the paper done and turn it in the next morning. But you know it isn’t your best work, and you are pretty tired from the late night, and so you make yourself a promise: “Next time, I’ll start early!”

Make an unschedule

The next time you have a writing deadline, try using an unschedule to outline a realistic plan for when you will write. An unschedule is a weekly calendar of all the ways in which your time is already accounted for. When you make an unschedule, you consider not only your timed commitments such as classes and meetings, but also your untimed activities such as meals, exercise, errands, laundry, time with friends and family, and the like. It is not a list of what you should do in a given week; rather it is an outline of the time that you will necessarily spend doing other things besides writing.

Once you have made your unschedule, take a look at the blank spaces. These represent the maximum number of hours that you could potentially spend writing. By starting with these blank spaces as a guide, you will be able to more accurately predict how much time you will be able to write on any given day. You may be able to see, for instance, that you really don’t have five hours to spend writing on the night before the paper is due. By planning accordingly, you will not only get a better night’s sleep, you may also end up with a better paper!

The unschedule might also be a good way to get started on a larger writing project, such as a term paper or an honors thesis. You may think that you have “all semester” to get the writing done, but if you really sit down and map out how much time you have available to write on a daily and weekly basis, you will see that you need to get started sooner, rather than later. In addition, the unschedule may reveal especially busy weeks or months, which will help you budget time for long-term projects.

Perhaps most importantly, the unschedule can help you examine how you spend your time. You may be surprised at how much (or how little) time you spend watching television, and decide to make a change. It’s especially important that you build time for fun activities into your unschedule. Otherwise, you will procrastinate in order to steal time for relaxation.

You can also use the unschedule to record your progress towards your goal. Each time you work on your paper, for example, mark it on the unschedule. One of the most important things you can do to kick the procrastination habit is to reward yourself when you write something, even if (especially if) that writing is only a little piece of the whole. Seeing your success on paper will help reinforce the productive behavior, and you will feel more motivated to write later in the day or week.

Set a time limit

Okay, so maybe one of the reasons you procrastinate on writing projects is that you just plain hate writing! You would rather be at the dentist than sitting in front of your computer with a blank Microsoft Word document staring you in the face. In that case, it may be helpful to set limits on how much time you will spend writing before you do something else. While the notation “Must work on Hemingway essay all weekend” may not inspire you to sit down and write, “Worked on Hemingway essay for ½ hour” just might. Or, if you tell yourself that you will write “all weekend,” for instance, the sheer agony of the thought may keep you from doing any writing at all. If, however, you say that you will write for two hours on Saturday afternoon, you may actually accomplish something. The important thing here is to keep your commitment to yourself. Even if, at the end of the two hours, you think you could keep going, stop. Go outside and enjoy the weather. Your procrastinating self needs to be able to trust your new non-procrastinating self the next time you say you will only write for a certain amount of time. If you go overboard this time, then the next time you say, “I’ll write for two hours and then stop,” the procrastinator within will respond, “Yeah, right! I’m going rollerblading!”

On the other hand, it may work better for you to trick yourself into working on your paper by telling yourself you’re only going to write for two hours, but then continuing to work if you’re feeling inspired. Experiment with both approaches and see which one seems to work best for you.

Be realistic about how long it takes you to write

Procrastinators tend to be heroic about time; they estimate that it will take them two hours to complete a task that would take most people four. Once you have determined that procrastination is hurting your writing, begin taking notice of how long it actually takes you to write. Many students have a “page an hour” rule. Perhaps you can write a page in an hour if you are totally rested, fed, and focused, your roommate isn’t home, and the wind is blowing just right. But what if the phone rings, what if you are tired, and what if you have to go to the bathroom? When you estimate how long it will take you to write something, expect that there will be interruptions along the way.

Parting thoughts

As you explore why you procrastinate and experiment with strategies for working differently, don’t expect overnight transformation. You developed the procrastination habit over a long period of time; you aren’t going to stop magically. But you can change the behavior, bit by bit. If you stop punishing yourself when you procrastinate and start rewarding yourself for your small successes, you will eventually develop new writing habits. And you will get a lot more sleep.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Burka, Jane M., and Lenora M. Yuen. 1983. Procrastination: Why You Do It, What to Do About It Now . Boston: Addison-Wesley Publishing.

Ellis, Albert, and William J. Knaus. 1977. Overcoming Procrastination . New York: Signet.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Home — Essay Samples — Psychology — Social Psychology — The Impact of Procrastination in College: Causes and Strategies

The Impact of Procrastination in College: Causes and Strategies

Categories: Social Psychology

About this sample

Words: 455 |

Published: Mar 8, 2024

Words: 455 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Defining procrastination, causes of procrastination in college, consequences of procrastination, strategies for overcoming procrastination.

Create a schedule: Developing a schedule can help create structure and provide a sense of direction towards academic and personal tasks. Make sure to include ample time for study sessions as well as leisure activities.
Break tasks into smaller chunks: Break up long-term projects into smaller and more manageable tasks. This way, students can avoid feeling overwhelmed, make consistent progress, and remain motivated.
Set goals: Specific and achievable goals can help track progress and maintain productivity. Goals should be measurable, attainable, and time-bound.
Remove distractions: Minimize or eliminate the distractions that may be causing procrastination, such as social media applications and games.
Utilize the Pomodoro technique: This technique involves working for a specific period, usually 25 minutes, followed by a short break. This method encourages focus and productivity while allowing for a necessary break to recharge.

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Academic procrastination and its characteristics: A Narrative Review

2017, future of medical education journal

Background: Time management, especially at university is an important factor contributing to the academic success of students. However, majority of students relentlessly delay their academic work. Drawing upon the literature, we attempted to identify the characteristics of academic procrastination. Methods: For the review, articles, books and theses in English and Persian were identified with a search of Scopus, Proquest, Pubmed, Magiran, and SID databases using the keywords such as procrastination, academic procrastination, academic cunctation, academic shillyshally, and academic dilatoriness. However our search was not limited by a time frame. Results: We identified 603 articles and theses by searching the databases. Sifting through the information, we consulted only 27 articles and 2 theses which were relevant to our study. After a perusal of literature on academic procrastination, we identified procrastination issues (i.e definition, prevalence, types of procrastination, academ...

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Education Research International

yared Fentaw

Academic procrastination among university students is a common problem. The authors examined the prevalence, reasons, areas, and effects of academic procrastination in selected higher education institutions in the Amhara Region, Ethiopia. We also examined whether academic procrastination varied with respect to the institutional category and gender of the student. 323 students sampled from three universities, using a stratified sampling technique, completed the questionnaire. In a concurrent mixed-methods study, both qualitative and quantitative data are integrated starting from data collection through conclusion. The results indicate that nearly 80 percent of the students are procrastinators to varying degrees, of which half always procrastinate due to poor time management skills, lack of planning for academic activities, laziness, and stress. The results also showed that procrastination happens irrespective of gender and institutional realities and results in not only academic fail...

Sidra Muneer

The present research is aimed to investigate the academic procrastination among male and female university and college students. Effect of some demographic variables like gender, age and education were also explored. Sample consisted of 200 students (100 college students and 100 university students) from different colleges and universities of Islamabad. Their age ranged between 16 to 27 years. Tuckman Procrastination Scale (TPS) (Tuckman, 1991) was used to collect data. Results indicate significant difference on demographic variables of age, gender and education. Specifically, a significant difference is found among males and females on academic procrastination. The results further show that college students tend to procrastinate more than university students. Moreover, there is a significant difference found on academic procrastination between students of age below and above 20 years.

Acta Didactica Napocensia

hakan aydogan

The purpose of this study is to determine some correlations of academic procrastination, as well as to examine gender differences in this hypothetical construct important to the learning environment (in our case, in a Turkish EFL context). A total of 213 participants (120 females and 93 males), recruited from Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University, participated in this study. Their mean age was 20.70 (SD = 1.99). Results revealed that the instrument (Academic Procrastination Questionnaire) applied in this research had very good reliability and validity. The other findings suggested that Turkish students from our sample had average levels of academic procrastination. In addition, students who were intrinsically (and less extrinsically) motivated and who estimated their English competencies as high (very good or excellent) did not procrastinate too much. Furthermore, academic procrastination was in a strong, negative correlation with students' grades at the last English exam. At the end of the article, the author provided some recommendations for researchers who are eager to contribute to this field of educational sciences.

Jurnal Muara Ilmu Ekonomi dan Bisnis

Penundaan atau prokastinasi dapat diartikan sebagai kecenderungan menunda pengerjaan atau penyelesaian suatu tugas atau aktifitas. Ada banyak factor yang empengaruhi penundaan akademik seperti kecanduan internet, self – efficacy, manajemen waktu, motivasi dan stress. Salah satu dampak dari penundaan akademik adalah hasil akademik. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisa factor yang mempengaruhi academic procrastination diantara mahasiswa di wilayah Cikarang – Bekasi. Peneliti menganalisa data yang didapatkan dari hasil 139 mahasiswa yang telah mengisi kuesioner menggunakan metode analisis jalur – PLS. Sampel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah mahasiswa angkatan 2016 – 2019. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa sebagian besar hipotesis yang diajukan diterima. Beberapa hipotesis menyatakan bahwa kecanduan internet tidak memiliki dampak yang signifikan terhadap manajemen waktu, kecanduan internet tidak memiliki dampak yang signifikan terhadap academic procras...

Journal of Education and Training Studies

Serkan Boyraz

Journal of Exploratory Studies in Law and Management

World of Researches Publication WRP

One of the problems that human beings and students and university students are faced with is procrastination in doing tasks and duties. It is centuries that procrastination meaning postponing the task of today to tomorrow is problematic. More attention is been paid to this phenomenon and its emergence and treatment in recent years. In psychology perspective, procrastination is postponing a task which we have decided to do it. This undesirable and faulty behavior is changed to become a personal characteristic of the person. The common form of procrastination of learners is at the beginning of the task, so they have to work very hard to do finish it on time. Since procrastination is very widespread among students and university students, it is effective on their different educational aspects, health and future occupation. Therefore, procrastination in students and university students is been studied in this study.

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Procrastination Psychology: Understanding Effects, Causes, and Solutions

What is procrastination?

The word procrastination comes from the Latin procrastinare: “deferred until tomorrow” and the Greek akrasia: “acting against one’s better judgment.” The word itself suggests that procrastination is an active process: you choose to do something other than the task at hand, despite knowing that its delay will cause you to suffer in the future.

Procrastination can vary from chronic (perpetual problems finishing tasks) to situational (the delaying of tasks that may seem unattractive or boring). At some point in our lives, nearly everyone has delayed completing a task, with a number of studies showing that “procrastination appears to go hand-in-hand with the human condition.” Numbers are particularly high among students, with 80-95% of this group being estimated to engage in procrastination.

Dr. Joseph Ferrari , professor of psychology at DePaul University and a leading voice in the study of procrastination, says that a true procrastinator “has twelve things to do, maybe does one or two of them, then rewrites the list, shuffles it around, then makes an extra copy of it. That’s procrastinating.”

Procrastinators often seek “ephemeral pleasures” such as watching a TV show or spending time with friends instead of working on an important task. This type of procrastination is easy to identify. However, procrastination may take a more subtle form, disguised as the pursuit of “ephemeral chores.” If you have ever convinced yourself that organizing your spice cabinet or color-coding your agenda is more important than starting a task, you may employ this form of procrastination disguised as productivity.

The harmful effects of procrastination

Contrary to popular belief, procrastination is not caused by poor time management or a fear of failure. Rather, studies show that procrastination is due to self-regulation failure and a poor ability to manage emotions. Procrastinators recognize the harmful effects of putting tasks off, but can’t overcome the emotional urge of a diversion.

When discussing procrastination, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius reminded himself to “stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you,” suggesting that the Romans had insight into the causes of procrastination that psychologists are studying today. According to Dr. Timothy Pychyl , author of Solving the Procrastination Puzzle , “emotional regulation is the real story around procrastination because, to the extent that I can deal with my emotions, I can stay on task.”

The link between procrastination and struggles with self-regulation can play a role in substance abuse disorders or impulse control, suggesting that missing a deadline or rushing to finish a task can have more severe consequences than a bad grade or poor performance at work. The poor emotional regulation that comes with a tendency to procrastinate can also lead to a higher likelihood of developing mood disorders such as depression, anxiety, and even bipolar disorder.

Choosing short-term rewards over long-term benefits

Several studies have linked procrastination to depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and overall poor mental health. One of the earliest studies to investigate the negative effects of procrastination followed a group of students throughout the course of a semester in 1997. Students who engaged in procrastination experienced less stress at the beginning of the semester, but their bliss was short-lived. By the end of the semester, the procrastinators not only earned lower grades than other students but also reported significantly higher stress levels and cases of illness, suggesting that procrastination had an influence not only on their performance but on their overall well-being.

When it comes to the link between procrastination and mental health conditions, it can be hard to identify which came first. The decreased energy, negative thoughts, and low self-esteem that come with depression can lead us to believe we cannot carry out the task at hand. In turn, putting off important tasks can increase our stress levels, decrease our self-worth and lead to elevated levels of anxiety and a higher likelihood of depression. A 2017 study found that the way participants felt influenced how and when they approached a task. Similarly, in research settings, people who procrastinate have higher levels of stress and lower well-being.

Don’t delay: take care of your mental health today

Due to the complicated underlying causes that lead us to procrastinate, telling a procrastinator to “just do it” can be as counterproductive as telling a person who suffers from depression to “cheer up.”

Training your mind and body to prioritize important tasks may be difficult, but the long-term benefits can not only improve your professional and academic performance but also improve your mental health and overall well-being.

3 tips to help you procrastinate less

Change the narrative.

Due to the reciprocal nature of the link between mental health and procrastination, approaching tasks with a more positive outlook can trick your brain into prioritizing them instead of dreading them. Instead of seeing tasks as something you have to do, reframe them from a more positive point of view.

Instead, try:

“I can’t wait to show off my writing skills in this paper”

“Studying this topic is going to set me up for success in my career”

“This project is a great chance to showcase my analytical skills to my manager”

Practice self-compassion

A 2012 study that looked at the links between procrastination, stress, and self-compassion found that lower levels of self-compassion can lead to higher stress levels and a greater tendency to procrastinate. Lower self-esteem reduces our confidence in completing a task, leading our bodies and minds to opt for the short-lived pleasure of avoidance, instead of the long-term reward of overcoming a task.

Ways to increase self-esteem and practice self-compassion can include the following:

Forgive yourself for your mistakes

Take care of your body and mind with a healthy diet and exercise

Be kind to yourself

Acknowledge your strengths

Recognize your weaknesses not as shortcomings, but as opportunities for improvement

Create a reward system

Our tendency to procrastinate is intrinsically connected with the regulation of our emotions. When we procrastinate, we often choose immediate pleasure over long-term reward. By creating a reward system, you can train your mind to associate accomplishing difficult tasks with positive emotions.

Try rewarding yourself with a refreshing walk after completing half of the day’s tasks (just remember to get back on track) or spend time with friends getting coffee once you complete a hard assignment.

Home / Essay Samples / Psychology / Behavior / Procrastination

Procrastination Essay Examples

Essays about procrastination aim to delve into the phenomenon of delaying tasks, its underlying causes, and its impact on personal and professional life. The purpose of such essays is to raise awareness about the negative consequences of procrastination, provide insights into effective strategies to overcome it, and inspire readers to cultivate better time management and productivity habits. These essays offer valuable guidance to individuals struggling with procrastination and help foster a proactive and goal-oriented mindset. Self-Awareness and Reflection One of the primary goals of essays about procrastination is to encourage self-awareness and reflection. These essays prompt readers to identify the reasons behind their tendency to procrastinate, such as fear of failure, lack of motivation, or perfectionism. Essays on this topic emphasize the negative consequences of procrastination, such as missed opportunities, increased stress, compromised quality of work, and a sense of unfulfillment. By highlighting these drawbacks, the essays motivate readers to take action and change their procrastination habits. Procrastination informative essay offer practical strategies and techniques to overcome this habit. These strategies may include setting specific goals, breaking tasks into smaller steps, using time management tools, and practicing self-discipline. These topic guide readers toward adopting healthier and more productive habits. Tips for Writing Essays About Procrastination:

Thesis Statement: Start with a clear thesis statement that introduces the topic and the main points you will address in the essay. Personal Anecdotes: Share personal stories or experiences related to procrastination to create a relatable connection with readers. Causes and Effects: Discuss the common causes of procrastination and the negative effects it can have on various aspects of life. Research and Evidence: Include psychological research and expert opinions to support your arguments and provide credibility. Strategies for Improvement: Offer a range of practical strategies and techniques to help readers overcome procrastination. Real-Life Examples: Provide real-life examples of individuals who have successfully conquered procrastination and achieved their goals. Encourage Action: Conclude the essay by encouraging readers to take steps to overcome procrastination and improve their time management skills.

Essays about procrastination serve as a valuable resource for individuals seeking to overcome the challenges of delaying tasks. By shedding light on the reasons behind procrastination and providing practical solutions, these essays empower readers to take control of their habits, enhance their productivity, and lead more fulfilling lives.

The Causes of Procrastination Among University Students and the Solution to It

Procrastination is the act of delaying something that has to be done within a certain time. According to Ferrari and Díaz-Morales (2014), there are 20% - 25% of adults from all over the world affected by the issue of procrastination, it is a common problem...

Phenomenological Look at Workplace Procrastination Through the Eyes of an Employee

Phenomenological look at workplace procrastination through the eyes of an employee. Aim: The major purpose of this study is to explore procrastination at the workplace from a phenomenological perspective. The present study aims to look through the eyes of a procrastinator and understand one’s individual...

The Main Causes and Consequences of Procrastination

Procrastination in time management is no stranger to the modern society. Statistics estimated that 40 percent to over 50 percent of students were procrastinating. 'Procrastination arises from the Latin 'pro,' indicating 'ahead, forward, either for,' as well as 'crastinus,' meaning 'future''. On that basis, procrastination...

The Concept of Procrastination in Psychology

Psychology is a study of human behavior and cognitive operations. By studying particular human behavior or mental performances it could be used to treat mental issues, understand events, and even improve the way of life. Procrastination is common phenomenon when individual postpone their work to...

Procrastination, Its Causes and Negative Effects

Have you ever put off an important project or task until the very last minute? If this sounds like something your familiar with then you may be suffering from chronic procrastination. According to Dr. John Riddle, an author of several books whose byline has appeared...

The Hidden Benefits of Procrastination

Imagine this, it is a first week of February your programming professor asked you to design a website which was to be due on 3rd week of the same month. You just acknowledged it and play your favorite online computer game. Afterwards, in the second...

The First Steps in College Life

Starting college is a new and exciting time. Most Students look back on college life with fond and happy memories. It is a time to learn new skills, meet new people and work towards your dream career. However, the college life does come with a...

The Link Between Procrastination and Personal Well-being

Procrastination is repeatedly seen as self-regulatory failure, affecting many people in their everyday lives. From putting off tasks on the basis that they will later complete them. It has been suggested from research that procrastination may negatively impact professional advancement and our general well-being, such...

The Reasons Why Procrastination Occurs and How to Fight It

Each of us happened to postpone important things for later, dragging out their implementation as much as possible, doing anything instead of them. Unable to explain to ourselves why we are doing this, after that we are tormented by guilty feelings because of the deadlines,...

Positive and Negative Sides of Procrastination

Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished by a certain time; an intentional delay of starting or finishing the assignment despite knowing it might have negative consequences in the future. Most students have procrastinated at some point, doing more...

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About Procrastination

Procrastination is the action of delaying or postponing something.

The origins of procrastinate come from the Latin prefix pro-, meaning "forward, " and crastinus, "of tomorrow." The word means moving or acting slowly so as to fall behind, and it implies blameworthy delay, especially through laziness or apathy.

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Procrastination Essay for Students and Children

Why do we Procrastinate?

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Personal Narrative Essay about Procrastination

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What this handout is about

Introduction

Is there hope?

Why we do it

Because we are afraid

Because we expect ourselves to be perfect

Because we don’t like our writing

Because we’re too busy

Because it works

What to do about it

Take an inventory

How do you procrastinate?

Create a productive environment

Challenge your myths

Break it down

Get a new attitude

Ask for help

Get unblocked

Make yourself accountable

Leave your work out

Work on improving your writing when you don’t have a deadline

Evaluate your writing’s strengths and weaknesses

Hone your proofreading and editing skills

Learn how to tell time

Make an unschedule

Set a time limit

Be realistic about how long it takes you to write

Parting thoughts

Works consulted

The Impact of Procrastination in College: Causes and Strategies

Table of contents

Cite this Essay

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Procrastination Psychology: Understanding Effects, Causes, and Solutions

What is procrastination?

The harmful effects of procrastination

Choosing short-term rewards over long-term benefits

Don’t delay: take care of your mental health today

3 tips to help you procrastinate less

Practice self-compassion

Create a reward system

Procrastination Essay Examples

The Causes of Procrastination Among University Students and the Solution to It

Phenomenological Look at Workplace Procrastination Through the Eyes of an Employee

The Main Causes and Consequences of Procrastination

The Concept of Procrastination in Psychology

Procrastination, Its Causes and Negative Effects

The Hidden Benefits of Procrastination

The First Steps in College Life

The Link Between Procrastination and Personal Well-being

The Reasons Why Procrastination Occurs and How to Fight It