HAVE you ever found yourself faced with a deadline but instead of using the ample time you have you prefer to 'work under pressure' and choose to complete it closer to the due date? Have you ever tried to complete a task but constantly find yourself doing everything but…? Have you ever procrastinated? I'm sure many, if not all of you, would have answered yes to at least one of these.

The word procrastination finds its origin in the Latin verb 'procrastinare' which means to put off until tomorrow. If one were to search a little deeper you may even come across the word 'akrasia.' This word was used by Ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle and Socrates and translates to, 'a lack of self-control,' but has come to be defined more generally as a 'phenomenon to act contrary to one's own considered judgment about what is best to do.'

Indeed, it was so incomprehensible for these famous philosophers to believe that human beings would put off an important or pressing task and instead choose immediate gratification that they suggested that if someone does this it is simply because they have wrongly judged the value of their actions (Steward, 1998).

Motivational psychologist Piers Steel has gone insofar to suggest that procrastination is similar to 'self-harm.'

'When we procrastinate, we're not only aware that we're avoiding the task in question, but also that doing so is probably a bad idea. And yet, we do it anyway,' (Steel, 2010). Doesn't it appear completely irrational to do something you know is going to have negative consequences? Yet many of us continue to do it. Why?

The truth is that procrastination has nothing to do with laziness, disorganisation, or poor time management. Instead, it has everything to do with our emotions. Research has demonstrated that procrastination is a way of coping with negative moods- such as boredom, anxiety, insecurity, frustration, resentment, self-doubt etc- induced by certain tasks or situations. In short, procrastination is not a laziness problem but an emotional regulation problem (Pychyl 2013). It is our way of addressing our immediate discomfort or negative mood toward a task rather than the task itself.

Our perceptions of how unpleasant the task is plays a role in the nature of our aversion. For example, we might deem the task externally unpleasant such as cleaning a bathroom or we might deem it internally unpleasant such as public speaking because it induces feelings such as self-doubt, anxiety, fear etc.

What's more the immediate relief we feel when we procrastinate can lend to its cyclical nature as we as human beings tend to repeat behaviours that are gratifying or rewarding in some way. Hence procrastination never seems to be a one-off event.

So now that we know that procrastination is not a productivity problem but an emotional response and one that occurs repeatedly how can we find healthier ways to manage our emotions that trigger procrastination?

CULTIVATE CURIOSITY

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