Procrastination And Personality (Scientific Evidence And Best Practices)

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

Procrastination and stress

Scientific evidence supports the expected conclusion: People are more likely to avoid tasks that cause disgust. That is, unpleasant tasks are often postponed. Scientists have also found that people under stress are more likely to procrastinate.

My comment: In stressful situations, people's behavior often becomes … one might say, neurotic. There is a lot of confusion and anxiety, in this state it is easy to start fussing and doing things that are not very useful and environmentally friendly for yourself and for other people. In general, in the fuss often not very necessary things are done.

Prolonged stress depletes the nervous system and the entire body as a whole. As a result, in a situation of exhaustion it is easier to start postponing, the body seeks to carve out an opportunity for rest."

My advice in this situation - in a stressful situation, do not burden yourself with new labor achievements. Try to do the bare minimum and give yourself time to rest and recover. Take care of yourself and comfort yourself. The time for a new leap will come after recovery."

Procrastination and a negative image of the future

High anxiety often leads to procrastination because people fantasize about unfavorable development of the situation, which leads to irrational postponement of events.

My comment: “High anxiety, expectations of failure - this is a little constant stress that some people arrange for themselves. It is important to understand how to reduce this stress.

All thoughts about the future are thought at the present moment. There is no future yet, it is projective, that is, we ourselves endow it with some features in our imagination. Where do dark thoughts come from, and what to do with them?

First, if the future is portrayed as gloomy, then you can try to analyze: which of what is happening in the present provokes gloomy expectations. And think about how you can take care of yourself in the present moment to reduce your anxiety. Situations are different, but at least you can take care of your physical comfort.

Second, failure fantasies may be linked to past experiences. It is helpful to analyze what in past experiences is driving anxiety now. Perhaps, certain situations come to mind. Then you can "play" a psychological game akin to "find 10 distinguish" and look for differences between the situation in the past and the present moment, between oneself in the past and oneself in the present."

According to scientific evidence, there are two cognitive biases (that is, two under-justified beliefs, possibly due to stereotypes) that contribute to procrastination:

- belief in one's own insignificance;

- the belief that the world is too complicated.

My comment: Such beliefs are the consequences of previous experience. That is, someone or something convinced you of their own insignificance and that the world is too complicated (which means nothing will work out).

It is important to analyze - where did these beliefs come from? Perhaps some memories come to mind, literally, someone's voice from the past. What can you say to this voice in your defense?"

Procrastination and self-esteem

Often times, people who procrastinate feel helpless in the face of the situation. They believe that none of their actions will lead to a positive result, fixate on their fears and focus more on their experiences, and not on deeds. Reflecting in this way increases anxiety levels and lowers self-esteem. The result is a vicious circle and a gradual increase in anxiety and fear of failure.

People with procrastination tend to be self-deprecating and have low self-esteem. They try to avoid situations in which something needs to be done, or they try to find an external reason in order to get out of the situation. This is how they protect fragile self-esteem.

But there is an observation that people with low self-esteem feel proud if they manage to do their job. Even if there was a risk of shame or humiliation.

My comment: "This is a very important observation that action raises self-esteem, as opposed to inaction. Indeed, the level of mental stress, which, among other things, turns into self-criticism, decreases if a person turns his mental stress into activity. to do it imperfectly, not to put yourself in a perfectionist framework, but simply to do it."

Procrastination and mental illness

Anxiety and depression are common in people with procrastination. Depression is often based on wrong beliefs about yourself and the world, the so-called. cognitive distortions.

Procrastination and stress are positively correlated and mutually reinforcing. Accordingly, stress and mental health are also correlated and inversely related.

Scientists have discovered the relationship between procrastination and time perspective. The lower the assessment of one's past and the more hedonistic the attitude towards the present, the higher the level of procrastination in the absence of orientation towards the future. A negative time perspective leads to depression and procrastination.

My comment: “The funnel of depressive experiences can be very addictive; if you notice that the world is steadily turning gray and black, then it is worth seeking help. help to a specialist. If there is depression, depressive thoughts, then you can work with them and reduce their impact on life."

Thus, the level of procrastination is correlated with various indicators that speak about the quality of life (stress, self-esteem, mental health). And these relationships are not pleasant - the higher the stress, the more procrastination, the more procrastination, the lower self-esteem and the worse the subjective and objective indicators of mental health. But ideas about yourself and the world that are conducive to procrastination (in other words: beliefs, introjects, cognitive distortions) can be successfully worked with.

References:

Zvereva M. V. "Procrastination and Mental Health", Journal of Psychiatry, 2014 №4.