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Causes and Effects of Procrastination

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November 15, 2023

Procrastination refers to the behavior of putting off essential tasks that are required to achieve a

goal. It usually occurs due to insufficient self-regulation. It has become a universal issue in the human self

and hence is beneficial to look into. Procrastination often results in unsatisfactory performance since it

involves the intentional delay of an intended course of action despite an awareness of adverse outcomes.

(Nazrina Aziz, Zakiyah Z. et.al, 2018). This paper defines the chronic causes of procrastination and the

well-defined effects on daily activities at work, school, or general well-being.

The predominant cause of procrastination is attributed to the human trait of perfectionism. It can be

defined as “demanding of oneself or others a higher quality of performance than is required by the

situation.” (Hollander, Marc H, 1978). When considering the cause-and-effect relationship between

perfectionism and procrastination, researchers suggest that most people exhibit procrastination since they

are perfectionists. Perfectionist individuals impose irrationally high standards on themselves and

procrastinate because they do not believe they can meet them. Procrastinators often have a perfectionist

feature about how others would assess them. They cannot complete tasks that need to be done because they

excessively focus on the standards set for them and overthink how others would evaluate them. For this

reason, perfectionism and procrastination have a causal relationship (Capan and Bahtiyar E., 2010).

Distraction is the second cause of procrastination. Research has shown that the average attention

span for adults over eighteen is between 32 to 50 minutes. However, this span is decreasing with the

constantly changing generational behavior. Many people have developed the habit of spending too much

time on devices and gadgets that reduce their concentration. Consequently, working without interruptions

from phones, laptops, TVs, and other electronic devices is challenging. This leads to long hours of scrolling

and staring, eventually causing laziness and procrastination. Therefore, distractions play a significant role in

unconditional procrastination, considered the leading factor in chronic procrastination.

Other factors, such as disinterest in the task, a tendency towards laziness, a heavy workload,

inadequate planning, and poor prioritization skills, can cause procrastination. These factors are usually

related to one's attitude and discipline towards work. Being disciplined means prioritizing tasks according to

their urgency and importance, and organizing means planning and not leaving tasks until the last minute. To

avoid procrastination, one must implement strategies to divide tasks into manageable sections and allocate
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appropriate time to each unit, especially as deadlines approach. It is also important to motivate oneself

before starting a task. This can involve setting goals and being determined to achieve them or simply

focusing on the positive outcomes that completing the mission will bring.

It is important also to mention the effects of procrastination. Procrastination is described as

sometimes harmless, generally detrimental, yet never helpful (Balkis M, 2013). Reviewing related studies

shows that procrastination has frequently been ascribed to unfavourable consequences in education,

business, and general work activities. As success is considered to be the pursuit of individuals’ intentions,

people feel great when they succeed in doing something, the most basic form of which is the timely pursuit

of their intentions. In this context, it is evident that procrastinating individuals have difficulties pursuing

their goals on time. The sense of failure in fulfilling their intentions timely paves the way for frustration.

When people even manage to do something, they cannot enjoy their triumph due to last calls, last-minute

remarks, and the fear of being unable to meet the deadline. This turns out to be overwhelming and lowers

general work performance and quality scores. It can also lower one's self-esteem when one presents

unfinished or imperfect outcomes that may be detrimental to one’s career.

In conclusion, it is essential to acknowledge that there is no optimistic projection that procrastination

has on one's performance of tasks. An individual's habit and orientation primarily birth the causes of

procrastination in taking solemn duties in order of priority and discipline. This article has exhaustively

explained the causes and effects of procrastination, basing facts on studied and documented human

behavior. It is, therefore, true to the fact that the mentioned causes and effects are applicable in the modern

world setting.
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References

Balkis, M. (2013). Academic procrastination, life satisfaction, and academic achievement: the

mediation role of rational beliefs about studying. J. Cogn. Behav. Psychother. 13, 57–74.

Capan and Bahtiyar Eraslan, (2010). Relationship among perfectionism, academic procrastination

and life satisfaction of university students. Page 2.

Hollender, M. H. (1965). Perfectionism. Comprehensive Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0010-

440x(65)80016-5

Nazrina Aziz, Zakiyah Z. et.al, (2018). Prioritizing Causes of Procrastination: An Empirical

Analysis Vol.9 No 2-12 page 179.