⏳General Procrastination Scale

Procrastination is a common issue that each of us has the opportunity to encounter. Here, procrastination is defined as "the voluntary delay of an intended and necessary or important activity, despite expecting potential negative consequences that outweigh the positive consequences of the delay." Procrastination can lead to subpar performance in our work or studies and can also result in negative emotions such as anxiety, unease, and guilt, affecting our psychological well-being. Based on your responses, you seem to be someone who procrastinates quite frequently. You tend to postpone tasks until the last moment.

How Does Procrastination Occur?

The causes of procrastination are complex and influenced by various factors. According to research, some individuals appear to have a natural inclination toward procrastination. In terms of personality traits, people with lower conscientiousness and higher neuroticism are more prone to procrastination. They tend to act impulsively and are more emotionally reactive. Additionally, perfectionists are more likely to procrastinate, especially when they haven't found the perfect way to complete a task, leading to hesitation and delay. Those who dislike monotony may also procrastinate more as they seek diverse stimuli and find it challenging to focus on a single task. The General Procrastination Scale measures an individual's overall tendency to procrastinate. However, even if you tend to procrastinate more, it doesn't mean you procrastinate in every situation. Factors like low motivation can lead to good intentions but a lack of action. Several factors can influence our motivation, such as perceiving a task as too complex or overwhelming, which can lead to procrastination. Emotions can also reduce our motivation and lead to procrastination. When feeling sad or fearful, people are more likely to use procrastination as a way to avoid dealing with the issue, especially when more interesting or enjoyable alternatives are available. For instance, when you're feeling down, do you prefer to do household chores or engage in relaxing hobbies?

Strategies for Overcoming Procrastination

Procrastination is challenging to eliminate entirely, particularly for factors related to personality, which may take a long time to change. However, you can work on improving your motivation to reduce procrastination. Firstly, when facing tasks or goals that seem too daunting, breaking them down into smaller, manageable steps can reduce feelings of being overwhelmed and the associated stress. Understanding what needs to be done and realizing that tasks may not be as difficult as initially perceived can boost motivation to tackle them one step at a time. However, this is just the beginning of addressing procrastination. Sometimes, even with simple tasks, people make excuses and delay. For instance, someone might want to exercise but constantly find excuses like "today's weather is too cold," "it will rain tomorrow," or "the weather will be too hot the day after tomorrow." Human nature tends to resist doing things we don't want to do, even when we know we should. To address this, you can try implementing implementation intentions. The key is to create a clear mental link between your goal and your action plan, overcoming the initial hurdle of starting. By establishing an automatic psychological connection, you become more likely to take action when specific situations arise. Using the exercise example, implementing an implementation intention could involve preparing your workout gear in advance and placing it by the door, making it feel like you've already started the task. When you see your exercise gear by the door, you're more likely to be willing to exercise. These suggestions are just the beginning of addressing procrastination. If you have any ideas or want to explore your procrastination further, feel free to discuss it with ForestMind. We hope you can take the first step in confronting procrastination!