Procrastination is a bad habit of all the people in the world. It is inevitable because it is human nature. Humans tend to slack because of psychological events that trigger one’s hormones to stay put and do nothing. Even the great scientists had their procrastination moments. Again, let’s stipulate that the term procrastination is an acceptable human fact. However, the issue gets worse when the habit becomes part of the system and completely paralyzes productivity and development.
First, we have to determine what type of procrastinators we are. This will help in our thought process on the causes and effects of procrastination. Hence, we can determine its effects to our daily lives especially to our roles in society. Lastly, after we learn from the former issues of procrastination that we currently possess, we can devise ways on how to lessen it continuously.
Statistics would suggest that annually, hundreds of millions to billions of dollars are wasted due to time supposedly used for planning and execution of projects for development but failed to due late implementation. This can be blamed to procrastination because the high caliber people are not dumb to fail doing projects. The only hindrance to its continuous development is the slacking motives which derogatorily pulled down progress from small community projects to national economy in a macro level which is felt by millions of people. That’s why as early as when we know our problems, we have to face and resolve it.
Types
Now that we know the roots of procrastination, which is our human nature, we can go directly to the types of it so we can determine which one is identical to our characteristics. Knaus (48) helps us by illustrating the various types of procrastinators. This helped me realize which category I fall under and how I can cope with my problems. It is important to realize what type you are just as it is important to categorize symptoms of a disease. It can help with the treatment.
Type 1: The Intelligent One
The Intelligent One is a type of procrastinator who thinks that all the works that are tasked to him is very easy to do. He may have the capability to do it easily because he is intelligent. But because he underestimates everything he tends to let go of the time essence and just wait until the deadline is very, very near or already there.
The problem with this type of procrastinator is overconfidence. He thinks he can do a lot but in fact he cannot because there is no time left for him to do. He will then try to do the task quickly to meet the deadline but the quality suffers.
That’s why the resolution here is to assume that the work is easy and do it as soon as possible because it will really save you time and do the slacking afterwards.
Type 2: The Relaxed One
As the title implies, the Relaxed One is just relaxed. This type of procrastinator doesn’t care at all about what’s happening around. He/she is just apathetic. For instance, you have tons of work to do but you don’t mind them. Instead, you will just sit around and watch TV or play games in the computer. At the end of the day, people concerned or related on the issue are very mad at you because you just didn’t care at all. You will just make up reasons that are not really acceptable and will cause arguments or even quarrel.
The Type 2 Procrastinators are considered as those who don’t have jobs, just sitting at home and leech other people. The problem with these people is that they don’t really have things to do that are why they tend to maintain themselves as worthless. They get used to doing nothing to the point that they believe they can do nothing.
The only resolution for this kind of procrastinator is- “Get a life.” It is a straight to the point statement to destroy the thinking that you cannot do anything. Once you start working and have responsibilities then you will be sensitive.
Type 3: Decision-confused
A Decision-confused procrastinator is a person who is very confused in choosing a decision. This confusion may be led by being unsure on outcomes of events. He may be a perfectionist because he wants his decision to be perfect and loophole-free. But of course, living in a world like this means there are really risks and even the best scientists in the world cannot predict future. They can only forecast. Therefore, this type of procrastinator will just leave the decision until the last minute because of uncertainty. He/she won’t research on the two sides and instead just slack. Then when the last minute comes, he/she will just randomly choose a decision which he/she didn’t have given a thorough research on.
This type of procrastinators is commonly the ones who are in high positions. They are like managers, chairperson, supervisors and other high executive positions that are expected to always come up with the right decisions to earn the respect of their fellowmen and subordinates. The resolution in this type of procrastination is to have more courage to make decisions. Furthermore, research on possible pro’s and con’s of the choices that you have. Lastly, these people need to learn how to take risks because nothing is 100% correct always.
Type 4: The Scared
This type of procrastinator is a person who is easily gets stressed. When being faced with a problem, instead of dealing with it, he/she gets scared and walks away. He/she forgets the importance of facing problems in order to solve them. So, these people walk away to their problem and just wait for a miracle to happen. Then when the crunch time comes, they get more scared and later on fail solving the issue.
Well, we all become Type 4 Procrastinators especially when we are faced with a very big and difficult problem. Instead of being strong to face the problem, we tend to be scared and surrender. That’s not the real deal of the game. We really need to face and conquer our fears. These things that we think are heavy problems are just stages in our lives.
The resolution for this kind of procrastination is courage and counsel. You need courage because this is a problem that you are facing. On the other hand, you need counsel because you might need somebody to guide you in your problem and give you advice on the matter.
Type 5: Escaped Artist
This type of procrastination is also known as “The Daydreamer.” The person involved is caught leaving the reality and going to his/her imaginary world. This world involves attaining his/her ambitions and dreams. For example, you have troubles with your work. Instead of facing it, you will dream about successfully doing it and getting promoted to your dream position afterwards. You forget that you are just dreaming and you have already wasted your time dreaming rather than solving your problems. Problem solving tends to provide anxiety and you’d rather escape that. Knaus insists that anxiety must be faced nonetheless (83).
It is assumed that almost everybody becomes the Escaped Artist. Well, it’s not really bad to be ambitious. The only problem here is the timing. You should not dream in times of problematic times. Instead, you should be even more careful, conscious and concentrated in resolving problems. That’s why the resolution here is become always focus on the work. Be firm in doing your work and facing your problems. Dreaming is always fine during free time.
Personal Experience
As per my personal experience, I’m actually the Type 5 procrastinator or the daydreamer. I usually set aside all my problems and just sit around and dream that I’ve finished doing my tasks and solving the issues that I’m facing. I find it so much easier to make small excuses that will delay my work instead of actually doing it. My back itches, I need a nap for inspiration, the nightmare last night is playing with my head—I make all these silly excuses to justify my daydreaming instead of working. This happens often with my schoolwork, but the worst time it appears is during group works. Oftentimes, I’m not the only member who procrastinates. Usually, we try to set deadlines (e.g. by day four, we should finish our individual parts, by day six we’ve compiled our works, etc.). Sadly, they’re not always met. Only one or two people are actually responsible. This leads to cramming the night before.
Of course in the end, the result was disastrous. We failed to submit the project on time. Worse, there were so many mistakes and loopholes in the project that we submitted. It even came up to the point when we blame each other for lack of support and participation. Everything was chaotic. This happens so much that I start thinking this is normal behavior for students.
After reading the book, it came to my senses that procrastination is really a time waster. I needed to change even little by little. As per the science of procrastination, studies say that 10 years of a person’s life in an average is wasted due to procrastination. Imagine that! This started to nag me at the back of my mind. Then came a simple assignment. It was only a page long and was due five days from when it was given. I thought that perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad if I did it early. And so I did. When the deadline approached, most of my classmates were desperately researching and producing shoddy work. They didn’t learn from the activity given and passed an output only because it was required, not because they did it properly. For the first time, I felt a feeling of achievement. I did something right! But when larger projects came, my old self came in. They were harder and took more strength than just a small, nagging voice in my head. I start dreaming of my summer break, the weekend or any other time but now. Looking back at recent events, I realized I could’ve saved so much time by snapping out of my daydreams, ignoring my lame excuses and started to work. I’m already at a point where I know I have a procrastination problem but I still need the strength to resolve it. But I’m changing, little by little by reminding myself about the book and how much time I could save by not procrastinating. I’m starting to regret the time I wasted daydreaming, especially when the book points it so blatantly that I could’ve finished earlier.
The change wasn’t very easy to do. But everything has its time and through constant desire to change, I finally changed. I sometimes dream about myself still. These dreams happen during sleep or leisure time.
Realizations
There are so many realizations that you can get from procrastination. First, it is inevitable because of the fact that it is human nature. However, there are so many ways to reduce or possibly eliminate it if we want. Second, there are several types of procrastination and it is likely that you have one or more types in the abovementioned types. Third, it is also true that you have similar problems with millions of people encountering procrastination issues. Fourth, procrastination has proven to lead people and economy to extreme lack of productivity. Lastly, procrastination can be reduced to simple and basic ways as mentioned.
Lessons
There is one lesson that is important to instill our lives when it comes to procrastination. We should always put into consideration that we always need to find motivation. Motivation is the driving force for us to do our jobs very well. It is the reason why we want to attain our goals. It is the reason why we should not stop until we’re at the finish line. The truth is we always need to establish, strengthen and remember our motivation so that our procrastination habits will be lessened.
Courage is also one thing that we have to imbibe in our system to overcome our procrastination habits. Remember, one good reason why people are so wasted, uncertain and confused is due to lack of courage to face our problems and fears. If we have so much courage, then we can face our problems and fears with eagerness to resolve it. Having trials and problems are very normal for humans. These are main reasons why we live actually.
In the end, the actual lessons reside when we both have motivation and courage in our heart and minds. We must not only speak about it but we should also do it. As what the saying goes, “Actions speak louder than words.”
Works Cited
Knaus, William. Do It Now!: Break the Procrastination Habit. USA: Wiley, 1997. Print.
