Why Procrastination Is Dangerous?

Procrastination and laziness are two different things. Procrastination is the habit of putting off an important matter, instead of focusing on less urgent, more enjoyable and simple actions. It is different from laziness, which is unwillingness to act.

Procrastination makes a person seriously suffer, realizing his inferiority and inability to independently influence his consciousness. It has a bad effect not only on work and school, but also on your health.

• Stress

  Putting off things until later is a common habit of procrastinators. The reason of such delay is that they want to rather hold off unpleasant situations or to avoid problems.

  This is an unhealthy coping strategy, a technique that a person uses to overcome difficulties. This approach makes stress management less effective and even exacerbates stress.

  Procrastinators understand that they are the source of their own problems and that is why they feel guilty for this, which provokes even greater stress, which they again are unable to cope with.

  Stress in turn provokes various unpleasant consequences in chronic procrastinators - insomnia, headaches, colds or flu.

• Loss of time

  A person, who thinks too much, certainly loses time. He/she does not notice how he/she spends the best years of his life on useless nonsense. Procrastination can poison a person from the inside with endless feelings and doubts. Losing time is the worst thing that can happen to an individual, because there will not be any resources left to simply enjoy life. People have to resist procrastination and become people who do things and don’t overthink them. 

• Procrastination harms job and study performance

  Procrastinators are more likely to postpone everything (project, homework). It means that they do not have enough time and often have a feeling of panic which leads to stress.

  Long-term procrastination has a negative effect on students: their grades and general condition worsen by the end of the year. Regarding workers, procrastinators do not seek career growth, they have low salaries.  They also find it harder to leave their job, even if they do not like it and do not give any growth prospects in the current place.

• Intrapersonal conflict

  Global procrastination can lead to severe internal conflicts. This is primarily due to the fact that a person reproaches himself/herself for lost time, which cannot be returned. That leads to constant torment and mood swings which increase the occurrence of conflict.

Procrastination is very tricky. Its consequences are very difficult to treat, that is why it is really important to fight it. Firstly, you must recognize that you are procrastinating and understand why you do it. Secondly, you can try spending at least ten minutes on an unpleasant task, then have a break and again spend 10 minutes on working. This way you will complete your task. Thirdly, you can reward yourself for doing something you do not like. Also you should keep a to-do list for the day so that you can see what you have to do for the day.

Text by
Alexandra Borshchenyuk