New Delhi: Nearly all of us procrastinate, especially in today’s fast-paced world, where we often get overwhelmed by things that require our immediate attention. From simple household chores like laundry and cleaning to more complex ones like sitting through a project and finishing it before the deadline, procrastinating things beyond a point can make quality of your life deteriorate and your finances decline.
“There are times I spend days staring at my dirty house and complaining about lack of help to finish my chores. On other days, I achieve more than I aimed for while even still finding time for pleasure activities,” says Neelima, a housewife.
Prioritizing and planning can benefit those struggling to put their life in order immensely. But the reasons to procrastinate a lot of times have psychological roots and say a lot about your emotional health.
According to Psychology Today, “people who procrastinate have poor distress tolerance and when faced with a task that stirs their negative emotions, they freeze and retreat rather than work through their feelings to pave the way forward.”
There are also additional factors that contribute to procrastination and make you less efficient.
DECISION FATIGUE
A person who’s in reasonably good emotional health otherwise might be procrastinating because of decision fatigue. If you are in a job or a situation that requires you to make decisions all the time, there will come a point when you won’t feel like making a simple decision like buying a toothbrush if too many options are presented in front of you. In short, you are likely to feel indecisive if you are suffering from decision fatigue.
Solution: Take a vacation and head to your favourite destination to just relax (not explore). Your brain will get much-needed rest. In general, delegate things to people. Allow others in your office or home to take decisions. This way you could save yourself from decision fatigue.
YOUR BRAIN IS NOT WIRED FOR PLANNING
According to Psychology Today, “on a neuro-cognitive level, some folks aren’t good at planning out multi-step processes. This difficulty is especially prominent in people who have ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder), but there are plenty of folks who don’t have ADHD, and who are otherwise very smart, for whom breaking up a complex task into a series of steps isn’t a strength.”
Well, in this case, you don’t need to be disheartened as you can always work on a To-Do list to make your life easy. Ask others to help you organize. Stick to it and make it a habit to look at it constantly. No harm in taking help and consulting a psychiatrist, as it will only improve your quality of life.
YOU ARE SUFFERING FROM DEPRESSION
There is a definite link between depression and procrastination. When one is suffering from depression, they sometimes don’t feel like getting up from the bed forget about doing a chore (simple or complex). People with depression tend to ruminate or over-think a lot. They also lose confidence which affects their ability to perform a task effectively, which makes them procrastinate things.
YOU HAVE ANXIETY ISSUES
While all kinds of anxiety affect your well-being, it is performance-anxiety particularly that leads people to procrastinate an urgent task. People who suffer from performance-anxiety takes perfectionist approach to a task, which requires more effort than usual that often makes a person want to push it to a future date.
Also read | Monday Motivation: 15 reasons to choose happiness no matter what
Also read | World Mental Health Day: Do you feel angry all the time?
Also read | Diary of a digitally-addicted mother and son
Also read | Take a pause and see the change