Procrastination

Psychology of Delay

You know that tomorrow you are expected to submit the presentation you haven’t even started writing. You know that the job has to get done. You know that putting it off just makes it harder, and yet, instead of working on elaborate PowerPoint graphs, you are just getting down to watching television. Sounds familiar? If yes, you might belong to a group of people who adhere to Mark Twain’s principle: Never put off until tomorrow what can be put off until the day after tomorrow.

The group of ‘mañana procrastinators’ is not small - according to a recent study carried out by Piers Steel, a business professor at Calgary University, 15 to 20 percent of adults routinely postpone activities that should be accomplished ASAP. Procrastination plagues especially college students -a worrisome 80 to 95 percent have a desire for postponement.

Although procrastination is as old as humans are, it is probably an even bigger problem in our contemporary society, which offers a whole range of distractions, including television, video games and the Internet. Additionally, many jobs are becoming self-structured, which means it is increasingly up to us to impose our own goals and deadlines.

Can we do anything to overcome procrastination? There is one simple solution: you just have to get started. The anticipation of the task often is far worse than the task itself.

Vocabulary

to procrastinate
to keep delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring

Focus on talking: DISCUSSION

1. Are you good at prioritizing? Why yes / Why not?
2. Do you often put off doing things? What kind of tasks to you usually put off? Why do you postpone them?
3. Which of the following statements best describes your attitude to deadlines?

A. I like having a good time reserve in case something goes wrong.
B. I like to get a little bit of the deadline fever but I still need to have a solid time reserve.
C. I work best having a deadline in the near future.
D. I have the utmost disrespect for deadlines, so I barely finish anything on time.
E. I love the feeling of racing against the clock to see if I can meet the deadline.

4. Do you often have to cope with the guilt and anxiety brought on by waiting until the last minute?
5. Do you think that procrastination is a destructive habit?

6. What could be the potential risks that procrastinators face?

7. Are there any remedies to combat procrastination? What can be done to overcome procrastination?

Focus on comprehension

Read the article again and decide whether these statements are true (T) or false (F).

1. People obsessed with television are more likely to put off other jobs.
2. Most college students are chronic procrastinators.
3. People are more likely to put off doing a task when the deadline is far away.
4. Our ancestors used to have fewer distractions than we have now.

PHOTO CREDIT: thepsychworld.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive...

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