Procrastination Or Exhausting Employment Syndrome

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Are you familiar with this situation? A business that has been planned for a long time is constantly postponed for later. There are a thousand other things that fatally stand in the way of this very important task. For a day, a week, or maybe a month, you have avoided the planned work and, finally, having persuaded yourself, you start writing, for example, an article or cleaning. But suddenly the phone rings and carries away a conversation for twenty minutes with a friend, and then another half hour with my mother. A boiling kettle informatively "squeaks" and beckons to the kitchen to brew tea. Checking mail and notifications from FB steals another hour. The washing machine has finished another cycle, and you need to hang the laundry on the dryer. Lunch time is approaching, and no one has canceled a healthy diet. Scrape the salad and whip up the eggs for an omelette. You wash the dishes and put them in their places … And so on until the evening. Sunset announces the end of the day. The planned job has not been done, and you feel tired as if you were unloading the wagons. The understanding that the third weekend was somehow not so echoes with strong dissatisfaction and irritation, nagging somewhere in the chest area. The inability either to have a really good and high-quality rest, or to do important long-planned things - this is the phenomenon of procrastination.

Procrastination - This is a concept in psychology that denotes a state characterized by the constant postponement of important things "for later", and the time for their implementation is constantly spent on other things that do not really have such a meaning.

This condition is more or less familiar to most people and up to a certain level is considered the norm. But procrastination becomes a problem when it becomes a “work state”. Such a person puts off all important matters "for later" and, when all the deadlines are burning, either refuses to carry them out altogether, or in an unrealistically short time tries to do everything at once. It is clear that the price of such a "leap" is poorly performed work or not done in full and with a great delay. Negative consequences, like circles in the water, creep through the procrastinator's life, negatively affecting service, study, reputation, financial well-being and relationships.

Procrastination can lead to severe stress, which in turn can lead to serious physical and mental health problems. Insomnia, increased anxiety, irritability, chronic fatigue, mood swings, eating disorders, addiction (addictions, addictions) can cause disturbances in the work of such internal body systems as the gastrointestinal tract (diarrhea, colitis, stomach ulcers, etc.). etc.), the cardiovascular system (hyper / hypotension, edema, etc.), the nervous system (headaches, dizziness, etc.).

VIEWS

There are two types of procrastination: behavioral (postponing certain tasks) and neurotic (postponing decision making).

A prime example of behavioral procrastination is many young people preparing for exams or writing a term paper. Students, as the famous saying goes, "from session to session, live fun." In the deadline mode, a medical student, two nights before the anatomy exam, is trying to "absorb" a thick textbook, which should be learned gradually over six months in an amicable way. It happens that such a strategy, at best, is crowned with situational success, and it gets a satisfactory mark. But the quality of the learned material and the psychophysical costs confront such a student with even more unfavorable consequences.

One example of neurotic procrastination may be the inability to part with bachelor status and make decisions to become a family man. Igor (38 years old) has been living with his common-law wife for 9 years. They had two beautiful children, but this marriage is not officially registered. The reason for frequent scandals at home is the insults and reproaches of Irina, who does not feel loved and not valuable in Igor's eyes. At a psychologist's appointment, Igor is trying to figure out what is the real reason for the constant postponement of registration with Irina. He, it seems, does not mind, but for several years now he has not been able to find the time for this seemingly socially desirable event. Igor sincerely does not want Irina to suffer, but either business trips, or a new project at work, or buying a garage distract from the planned trip to the registry office. In the course of working with a psychologist, Igor comes across an unconscious fear of finally saying goodbye to the status of a bachelor, although in fact he has been living a family life for a long time.

CAUSES

Scientists note that the "syndrome of tomorrow" has always existed in the history of mankind, which is proved by documents of antiquity. They just didn't pay attention to him. It is known that this problem has worsened over the past decades and scientists from all over the world have thrown their efforts to study this world phenomenon. A lot of research has been carried out to study the causes of the onset and development of procrastination.

No unambiguous conclusions were made, but we present the general patterns below.

• Personal characteristics, as a prerequisite for the development of procrastination.

Some personality traits have been shown to facilitate the onset of procrastination. For example, the presence of fear of failure and the desire to avoid it (instead of motivation to achieve success), the fear of success itself and the prospect of becoming an object of everyone's attention (shyness), unwillingness to stand out and cause envy in others, an attitude to failure as actually deserved, low self-esteem …

Scientists differ on the role of anxiety. Some suggest that anxious people are more prone to procrastination, while others argue that an anxious person tends to complete the task faster in order to avoid the anxiety associated with the approaching deadline for work.

Perfectionism or excellent student syndrome can also contribute to procrastination. This manifests itself in an attempt to achieve perfection by concentrating on details and ignoring time constraints. Perfectionists can also enjoy deadlines, proving to themselves once again that they are doing the job "perfectly," and even in extreme conditions.

• Ineffective behavioral skills

A person who has developed procrastination is essentially reluctant to do a certain thing. And “good allies” in this resistance will be such ineffective behavioral skills as: the inability to properly allocate time, set and achieve goals, soberly assess the complexity of the task and the effort required to complete it. For example, persuading himself that “he can do everything in 2 hours” does not allocate enough (realistic) amount of time for the planned amount of work, which leads to bad consequences.

• Rebelliousness or spirit of contradiction

There are scholars who see procrastination as a desire to resist externally set rules and timelines. This mechanism triggers procrastination when a person cannot change the existing system by his will, but experiences dissatisfaction with this system. Violating the timing of activities, he creates the illusion of proving his independence and thus temporarily eliminates the internal dissonance associated with the impossibility of manifesting his will.

To be afraid of wolves - do not go to the forest; or how fears may contribute to the onset of symptoms of procrastination. For example, fear of pain may delay the visit to the dentist or gastroenterologist. Fear of hearing a terrible diagnosis (verdict) does not allow you to undergo routine examinations, which normally people should undergo from time to time, as a preventive measure and in order to avoid more serious consequences.

The fear of facing difficulties in doing a particular task remains one of the most common reasons for the development of procrastination. We may have had bad experiences in the past, and each time we delay the moment of facing a similar situation. Or we vividly fantasize about the terrifying scale of the project, as about the Augean stables and do not strive, unlike Hercules, to approach the gradual implementation of this.

Antipathy or dislike as a "bridge" leading to procrastination.

Dislike for this particular job, for Ivan Petrovich, the head of the department, for a specific case (for example, cold calls to attract customers), encourages procrastination symptoms to intensify.

How do you get out of the web of procrastination?

FIGHT AGAINST PROCRASTINATION

1. It is necessary, first of all, to recognize the fact that the implementation of complex tasks that require dedication is the lot of all socially active and successful people. Having come to terms with this axiom, the attitude towards such activity in general will inevitably change. Unpleasant obligations will pass into the category of automatisms. And the energy that was previously spent on avoiding "from" will be directed into a useful channel.

2. Learn to plan your time - this is a guarantee of personal effectiveness. Diaries are a good help. Making a to-do list for the day, week, month in advance is a simple but very effective way.

3. If there is a “standard” set of tasks that you postpone “for later” with enviable regularity, honestly answer yourself why the process of performing them so scares you. From here and start off: perhaps you will be able to overcome your dislike and start working. If you didn't manage to cut the Gordian knot, think about whether there is an opportunity to relieve yourself of responsibility for unpleasant affairs.

4. If you find it difficult to do some work several times a week, do it every day. As absurd as it sounds, this rule works. Everyday encounter with a difficult task will gradually increase your tolerance to it, that is, you will get used to it and you may even like it.

5. In the morning - the most unpleasant thing. Make sure to do one of the worst things first and start doing it in the morning. Rank your to-do list for today from hardest / unpleasant to easiest, clearly allocating the time spent.

6. Make 2 to-do lists. The first list is important urgent matters. The second list is important non-urgent matters. Force majeure happens and a window appears in the schedule. Make it a rule at such moments to do at least one thing from the second list.

7. Find yourself a company to implement unpleasant cases, if possible. Studies show that business is better at arguing for the company than alone.

8. If in the process of work you tend to be distracted by aimless wandering on social networks, the best time out would be a walk in the fresh air or a relaxation exercise.

9. Self-discipline yourself: for example, start performing required tasks at the same time and work until you have completed the intended amount of work.

10. Praise and Reward Yourself! It is very important to encourage not only your great achievements, but also small victories in such a difficult struggle as the struggle with yourself.

11. The inaction of a procrastinated person often leads him to experience such strong feelings as guilt and shame. The more of these feelings a person has, the stronger his resistance (inaction) becomes, and this is a vicious circle. Accepting responsibility by a person upon himself for the task he has undertaken to carry out will help to break this circle.

Admitting that you are procrastinating is the first step to optimizing your life. Do not hesitate and do not postpone "until later" real actions that will help you in the fight against the "plague of the XXI century"!