Summary What Does Procrastination Tell Us About Ourselves

Have any of you ever procrastinated before? If the answer was yes, you would not be the only one. We all procrastinate from time to time. Statistics showed that procrastination affects over 20 percent of the population, and 85 to 95 percent of students have problems associated with procrastination. All the time, not doing the important task when we know we should can lead to anxiety, guilt, stress, and even depression. In the reality, the activities we were doing while procrastinating are never fun or relaxing because we know we should be doing work. So, procrastination is so horrific, then why do we do it? Therefore, today, there are two subtopics procrastination that I want to talk about which are the reasons why we procrastinate and some strategies on how to avoid it.

I found I’m not alone according to two leading experts on procrastination, Joseph Ferrari, professor of psychology at DePaul University and Timothy Phikul, professor of psychology at Carleton University 20% of people identify themselves as chronic procrastinators and up to 70 percent of students in one study said that they procrastinate. This habit affects so many and it one of the most difficult tendencies to kick but fortunately there are ways to go about solving the issue so today I would like to inform you all about why people procrastinate and the effects it can have and also ways to overcome it.

The two articles, 'The Procrastination Doom Loop- And How to Break It' and 'This Was Supposed To Be My Column For New Years' both provide much information about procrastination. One example is that it has more to do with emotion than time. In the article, written by Derek Thompson, he talks about how each of us recognizes it is important to go to the dentist, but still put it off. We look away from this because the pain is too upfront and the rewards are too small. Another example is having nothing to distract you and everything ready to go, but not writing an email back because you don't feel like it. Procrastination can be an effective tool for getting things done.

The Ted Talk “Inside The Mind of A Master Procrastination,” by Tim Urban, explain how he claims that everyone procrastinates even if they don't know it. He uses evidence to prove his point such, as his personal experience and refers back to his blog to prove his idea. He claims that there are two types of precaution when there is a short-term effect of procrastination and a long-term of procrastination.

Urban effectively convinces his audience of how a procrastinator’s mind works through the use of images and diction along with humorous personal stories. Urban claims that the difference between a procrastinator and a non-procrastinator is that the procrastinator has an instant gratification monkey in addition to a rational decision maker that causes people to procrastinate while the non-procrastinator

In “How to quit putting things off” by Julia McKinnell, published on macleans.ca on January 26th, 2011. (McKinnell, 2011) Piers Steel, author of The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things off and Start Getting Stuff Done, explains that procrastination is a real thing in many people lives. Piers is internationally known for his thoughts on procrastination. According to Piers, scrambling to finish up projects, postponed diets and disappointing people in our lives that depend on us, are some of the drawbacks of being a procrastinator.

Besides this omission by Kalat, he still provided an accurate and detailed account of the research article written by Ariely and Wertenbroch. This article is essential in understanding procrastination and answered throughly the three questions it posed. 1.) Are people willing to impose deadlines, with substantial consequences if they are not met, on themselves: yes. 2.) Are these self-imposed deadlines actually helpful in improving overall performance:

“There is a bad side to procrastination, though, the bacteria kind, the one that if you don't clean up quickly, it will spread and fast. It gets to a point where you start seeing it in your dreams, piles upon piles of paper gliding across the room. You start to feel a shiver down your back, while you hear your teacher's voice in the background. Next thing you know, you have twenty-four piles touching the ceiling. It also may be contagious for whoever you may be around for an extended period of

There is a certain irony with procrastination, things we put off doing accumulate to the point of in manageability and feelings of anxiety increase which, is why we procrastinate anyway.

My dad, Cooper Mueggenberg, always felt that he had procrastinated too much while he was young. A quote he lived by was, “procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried”. One day in Math class he had a conversation with his teacher, Mr.Fisher, he realized that in order to fulfill his dream of being an elementary teacher he would have to change his ways.

Attention Getter: A famous author by the name of Wayne Dyer once said, “Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is incredibly heavy.”(1) In todays society it seems as if procrastination has become a normal and acceptable thing to do. It is often joked about amongst schoolmates and co-workers around the world. Nothing seems to get done until it absolutely needs to get done, then everyone runs around getting things done quickly and often times inaccurately. The trouble with this mentality however is that some things will never get done because something will come up tomorrow or the next day and what you are putting off now gets pushed even further back. Today I will persuade you to stop this habit from continuing. I will be explaining the problems we face when dealing with procrastination as well as how to deal with it and actions you can take to prevent it in the future.

Procrastination is a tendency to postpone, put off, delay, reschedule, take a rain check on, put on ice, hold off, or to defer what is necessary to reach a particular goal.(Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition. Philip Lief Group 2009.) While attending College some students find it hard to juggle work, family, and friends. Leading most students down a dangerous path to procrastination; that negative impact affect students from their physical health, mental health, and social health.

With many distractions around us, students across the nation struggle with procrastination daily and it is on an upper spiral. Both men and women students are struggling with putting things off such as work, school, and tasks at home or in their dorms. Unfortunately, 20 percent of males and females are labeled as chronic procrastinators in the United States (Ferrari). Those who are known as “procrastinators” are not born this way, however, their upbringing is what creates this habit. Parents that have high expectations counteract the want to complete tasks among young adults. This is because demanding parents prevent children’s ability of development that allows them to regulate responsibilities (Marano). On the other hand, there are several different types of procrastination according to J. Ferrari, Ph.D. One type is known as the arousal type; this includes people who wait to do homework or tasks until the last minute because they enjoy working quickly under pressure.

Procrastination is a common tendency that we all give in to and all of us have at least a little experience with.

“Procrastination is a common form of self-regulatory failure with substantive connections” where the tendency is to put off tasks. (Steel, Farrari, 2013)