Procrastination can impact your ability to succeed in school and work. When you procrastinate in school, you may end up cramming for an exam or staying up all night to finish a project. This may cause you anxiety, guilt, frustration, and exhaustion, and it may even result in a low grade. When you procrastinate at work, the consequences might be even greater: You could receive a poor performance review, and if this behavior continues over time, it could even get you fired. The following activity will help you identify procrastination triggers and brainstorm strategies you can use to overcome them.
1. Identify an activity at school or at work that you’ve been putting off. What are some of the reasons you are procrastinating on this activity? Look at the following list and identify which of these reasons apply to you, or provide another explanation of your own.
Boring
Frustrating
Difficult
Ambiguous
Unstructured
Not intrinsically rewarding
Lacking in personal meaning
2. Reframe your attitude about this activity by brainstorming concrete ways to make completing it more appealing. For example, if the task is boring, can you turn it into a game, or reward yourself for completing it? If it’s unstructured, can you give it structure by breaking it into smaller tasks? Can you focus on the task for short increments of time at the beginning, and work your way up to spending more time on the activity? Can you enlist the help or support of someone else in completing this activity?