Are you too addicted to kill Procrastination? Yes I am

Procrastination is a state of mind, a mental disorder. Yes, I will say a mental disorder because it starts inside your mind and ends in your mind. Strange!

Procrastination is an addiction that I have been practicing for years. Want in numbers? 5 years. Yes, it is for 5+ years that I delayed and postponed the things which I should have done earlier. And the worst guess what…. Still, I’m not done yet!

These are some running habits which show the sign of procrastination

There were days when I was fit and proactive, but now I am struggling to get the things back on the track.

But why Am I not doing the things which are most required….. This is coz

I’m not able to find which task is of high importance?

I’m not able to find which task is on top priority?

I’m not motivated, I will fail as I am not prepared yet, I’m not competent enough to start now, so I will start my task when everything is on track as I want. So better I will try later.

And worst, - I’m doing nothing to figure out both of them, I'm poor in time management.

But why I’m not doing, why I am not figuring out? Why I am not putting any efforts to find the ins and outs of the matter?

And slowly I figure out after a well-done self-introspection that I am actually addicted to procrastination.

Yes, Addicted to procrastination.

My Gosh, I am suffering from two mental disorders simultaneously… Addiction and procrastination

What is Addiction?  

Addiction is some kind of activity, habit or state of action in which you are excessively involved and keep on performing or indulge into it permanently and it may or may not be beneficial for you.
It is said, ‘anything bad or good done more than a limit always has a bad consequence.' And this gives birth to addiction. You stick to a goal, aim, habit or anything and do it in excess. And then it harms you and you know it, but still, you don’t let it go away. Then it becomes your addiction. Thus, the addiction is fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity.

How does addiction work?

When you are addicted your body adapts to the substance being used and gradually requires increased amounts to reproduce the effects originally produced by smaller doses. This is the case when you are addicted to any physical substance like a drug, caffeine, etc., But it works similarly when you are addicted to abstract or intangible things such as any habit or action, and in my case, this habit is nonetheless procrastination

Addiction works on pleasure principle. It invloves various chemical reactions inside the brain region which is particularly called brain's reward center. The below picture illustrates the process.

Brain's Reward Center | Image Source 

So, what the hell is procrastination!

The action of delaying or postponing something. Yup, it is, I delay and sometimes postpone my tasks to final day just to find that I just have 5 hours to submit my work though I had 1 month or more to complete the task. This might be the worst case of procrastination for me. I’m still exploring the extreme case of procrastination. But I think it has already happened to me. Actually, I have delayed this article for more than 1 year and so. This might be the extreme procrastination for me. Anyway, what is the extreme procrastination for you?

Here are few other examples of worst procrastination random people practice frequently; you can read a few more similar stories here.

I get an examination proposition due at 10 AM (6 hours) as you began at 4 AM, yet most noticeably bad you understand are you got this task seven days prior.

Writing papers in the morning before school, going home to play computer games as opposed to considering et cetera. I don't have much shower as regularly as I ought to...

I am perusing this string while I ought to ponder for my bio exam that is coming in 3 hours

Tonight I needed to do a taping task for uni, and our gathering continued to get together 10 hours after the fact than arranged, then chose straight away to go get sustenance.

Unless somebody misses their uncle's burial service because of lingering, I thusly formally pronounce composing papers at 2 a.m. NOT hesitating.

Mostly, I hesitate on doing grown-up things, such as purchasing sustenance for myself or vacuuming. I'm the most exceedingly bad at placing gas in my auto. I'll hold up until I must choose between limited options in how far I can go to get gas, which is an issue since I work a twenty-minute road head out from where I live. I haven't had any terrible outcomes yet, yet it's as yet something that I don't really need to procrastinate on for any reason and still do.

Okay, now I know a lot about the procrastination but

How the hell I got procrastinated or why do people procrastinate?

Everyone has its own reason to procrastinate. Random people have random thoughts. What different thoughts trigger procrastination differs from one person to another. But there must be some mental phenomena going inside the brain that must be similar to everyone!

Here are few triggering thoughts as reasons which are seen almost in all procrastinators

1. “I don’t feel like doing it.” – lack of motivation
2. “But, I don’t know how” – skill deficits
3. “But, what If I can’t cut it?” – fear of failure
4. “How can I top this?” - fear of success can be the other side of fear of failure.
5. “This stuff is just plain boring.” – lack of interest
6. “You can’t make it.” - rebellion and resistance

So I am sure you must be affected with one of the six reasons to postpone your next assignment.
But, Why Am I addicted to this thought? Is there any tool to measure it and to what scale I am procrastinated?

Procrastination is a typical issue, but defining and measuring it is debatable. This paper summarizes results from students and employees (N = 2893) in Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Sweden using the Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS) and the Irrational Procrastination Scale (IPS; Steel, 2010)

Here are best findings which show occurrence of procrastination in us.

• The occurrence of procrastination depends on personal and situational factors. 
• On the one hand, procrastination relates to personality traits such as conscientiousness and impulsiveness (Steel, 2007). 
• It also occurs more often in the context of mastery-goal orientation (Howell and Watson, 2007), and less in self-determined activities (Senécal et al., 2003). 
• On the other hand, certain task characteristics and contextual factors bear a greater potential for procrastination than others, for example, high task complexity (Ackerman and Gross, 2005), and the absence of clear deadlines (Schraw et al., 2007). 
• Also, procrastination often entails manifest negative consequences concerning objective well-being, for example, health-related or academic achievement-related consequences (Tice and Baumeister, 1997) and subjective well-being (Deniz, 2006; Klingsieck, 2013b). 
• Research indicates that approximately one-fifth of the adult population regard themselves as having great difficulties initiating or completing tasks and commitments (Harriott and Ferrari, 1996) while at least half of the student population perceive procrastination as a recurrent and severe problem in their everyday life (Day et al., 2000). 
• These findings show procrastination is linked to personal, situational and psychological factors. So it is again related to thoughts, changing mindset, attitude and thoughts can surely help combating procrastination.

Next, I’m going to share ways to combat procrastination. 

Procrastination thoughts are not less dangerous than suicidal thoughts. Eradicating these thoughts is the most penetrating approach to combat procrastination.

I’m doing following things against these thoughts to fight procrastination. Remember action is more important than mere thoughts. Self-help is the best help.

As said, Action speaks louder than words, here we act

1. “I don’t feel like doing it.” – But I will do it, so just do it
2. “But, I don’t know how” – I will find my way once I start up, so just do it 
3. “But, what If I can’t cut it?” – Then I’ll try again, but first I need to begin it, so just do it
4. “How can I top this?” – It doesn’t matter, if I fail I will learn, then I will start over, so just do it
5. “This stuff is just plain boring.” – So is the breathing but I’m living so I will put my hands on it, so just do it.
6. “You can’t make it.” – Surely, I will make it, who the hell are you to predict my future, I can breathe so I can make it, so just do it.

These anti-thoughts against your procrastination thoughts will come quite handy if you strike as soon as these thoughts appear in your mind. Remember, You should be very quick and strike instantly after the first flash of negative thoughts. If you delay, there are high chances negative thoughts will produce a chain reaction and as a result, different sets of negative thoughts will be created in no time.

These thoughts are smart enough to collectively make up a story that has an unhappy ending or negative consequences. As soon as I say to myself, “But what If I can’t cut it?” I must strike with a positive set of thoughts i.e. “Then I’ll try again, but first I need to begin it, so just do it, ” but if I am slow to act, my mind be attacked by a different set of thoughts which can make up a story. This can be “If I will fail, people will laugh at me. They will say I am a failure, I can’t do anything in my life. My partner will break up with me. Parents will torture me and story goes on until we find bad ending.

It is very important to be quick and rinse negative thoughts with a positive mindset. 

I’m not good in attacking on procrastination. It was not possible for more than a year. But once, I admitted that I’m procrastinating, I started searching for ways to combat it as it has done much harm to me. But guess what, I was still procrastinating and this time I was procrastinating in finding ways how to kill procrastination.

Now I have found it is impossible to beat procrastination until you act. Action against the ill-thoughts of delaying or postponing is the key to kill procrastination. And if you want to eradicate it, just do the things as soon as you get them.

Mathematically,

Positive Thoughts + Quick Action = Beat/Kill Procrastination 

Negative Thoughts + Delay in Action = Birth/Growth of Procrastination 

Are you still reading this article, now don’t think over, just do it. Yeah, you can do it.