Procrastination Is Assassin of Opportunity

...

Eric Jaffe tells that research into procrastination shows that there is actually more to it than it just being a bad habit, or an inability to handle uncomfortable emotions; procrastination may in fact have something to do with one’s neuropsychology. The author explains that the frontal systems, also known as executive functioning, in the brain control the processes involved with self-control, planning, and problem solving. He references a study, in which a group of about 212 students are first assessed for procrastination, then assessed for other processes controlled by the frontal systems, including but not limited to, organizing, impulsivity, and more. Jaffe teaches us that the researchers found significant links between procrastination, and 9 other executive functioning processes. The author explains that knowing how the act of procrastination is linked to this part of the brain is a great benefit as it helps give an idea of how to intervene, and put a stop the “putting everything off until the last minute” behavior.

Interventions, Jaffe discloses, include procrastinators breaking up their task into smaller chunks, and setting up their own deadlines for the smaller chunks so that they are still feeling the pressure to get something done by a deadline, but it is not the entire assignment at the time that it is due, counseling so that procrastinators might find a more effective way to cope with their distress from a project verses just running away, and avoiding it, procrastinators may even have to take away their own pleasurable distractions until they are able to get all of their work completed. Jaffe explains it all boils down to self- control, and self-regulation, which the author expresses, is the problem in the first place. He suggests that procrastinators may even have to resort to asking their loved ones to be a little tougher on them when it comes to completing a task on time, as the procrastinators are unable to do it themselves. Ultimately, Jaffe concludes that the best solution is self-forgiveness. He discovered that those who forgave themselves for procrastinating the first time did not feel as much distress and anxiety when another task came around, which made the person feel less of a need put it off.

Finally, the origins, the problems, the studies, and some possible solutions associated with procrastination Jaffe talk about in his article, “Why Wait? The Science Behind Procrastination” (published in Observer by the Association for Psychological Science, volume 26, number 4, April 2013), have revealed a lot about not only why people procrastinate, but also what we can do to nip it in the bud. Jaffe teaches that procrastination is not completely a death sentence, but if one forgives themselves, and learn from their mistake, one will, in the end, find that their quality of work, and quality of life improve dramatically.

...