Researchers say chronic procrastination is an emotional strategy for dealing with stress, but it can also lead to issues in relationships, jobs, finances and health. Here are five ways for procrastinators and others to get started:
1. Break the project into specific, concrete sub-goals and designate the amount of time they should take.
2. Just get started. Have a narrow focus. Choose a topic and do something on it now. A long list of tasks can be overwhelming.
3. Remember that completing a project now helps you in the future. Putting it off won't make it more enjoyable.
4. Set up "micro costs" that make stalling behavior harder. Have a separate log-in for computer games.
5. Reward yourself for completing a sub-goal.
Timothy Pychyl (say pitch-el), a psychology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, says procrastination is: "We're giving in to feel good."
Many procrastinators feel they don't want to get started on a task because they want to do it perfectly. Instead, studies show procrastination isn't tied to perfectionism, but to impulsiveness. It's a tendency to act immediately on other urges.
It's not anxiety that keeps them from getting going. Anxiety, in fact, is the cue to get going for people low on impulsiveness. Highly impulsive people shut down when feeling anxiety and want to do something else to get rid of the bad feeling.
The mental-health effects of procrastination are well-documented, say experts quoted in The Wall Street Journal. Procrastinators have higher rates of depression and anxiety and poorer feelings of well-being.
Psychologists at the University of Sheffield, in England, are studying the effects of procrastination on serious health problems. So far, they have found that procrastinators with high blood pressure and heart disease were less likely to engage in active strategies for coping with their illnesses.
