Procrastination: why don’t we do it now?
He Haiyun Sea
52639407
See I have to write this essay/ that the teacher gave last week/ and it's due tomorrow morning/ twenty pages all in Greek/ Nah but first I check my Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, call my Mom/ Then just one more, one more page/ Oh I waste so much time dot com!
The above text is from an interesting song called Procrastination, which exactly portrays the life of procrastinators. Procrastination means putting off important tasks till another day or replacing high-priority things with ones of lower priority. I do not know since when, procrastination has been everywhere in my life. There is no doubt that procrastination can be disruptive to our life. Yet, when we are surrounded by thousands of choices, why do we always choose to put off important things till tomorrow? For me, causes of this problem may be the lack of self-control, the lack of confidence and perfectionism.
My sanity is fighting with my laziness every day to push myself finish every task in my daily life, such as getting up early. Self-control plays a significant role in my decision making process. So the lack of self-control can lead to my compromise to laziness, happily doing what I want at that moment instead of taking the possible consequence into consideration---What will happen in the future if I don’t do it now? Every time I need to get up early for my class in the morning, probably I would say to myself, “Let me sleep for 5 more minutes…just 5 more minutes…” And after several 5 minutes, the consequence is obvious: I will be late for class! Therefore, the lack of self-control directly causes procrastination.
ides, the lack of confidence may also result in procrastination. Before starting doing a task, I may doubt my related knowledge and ability, being afraid to let others know that I cannot handle this well so that I am in fear of the start. I think I still need more preparation and it is not the right time to do it now. And then the task can be delayed for a really long time and I will never find a proper time to start. Hence, procrastination is often because we are never confident enough to take the first step.
Last but not least, another important reason for procrastination is perfectionism. I want to make everything perfect so that I always have unreasonably high expectation, which is originally a high standard to stimulate me to work hard. However, due to the huge difference between expectation and reality, it may become an impossible goal for me to achieve. For example, if I want to lose weight within two weeks but I seldom exercise, then this goal can only upset but not encourage me. Apart from this, I think there is always a right solution for my problem, and before I find it, I do not want to do anything because it might be wrong. So if exercise cannot make me get a slim figure in a short time, I would rather do nothing and wait for a better way to achieve my goal perfectly. The result is the same—nothing changes.
To conclude, whether it is due to the lack of self-control and confidence or perfectionism, procrastination is because we always hold off our first step to begin. Hence, we should always be sane, think about the possible consequence when we are making decisions, and convince ourselves that it is already a good time to begin now. Any small achievement is worth encouragement because all the people including great writers and artists are doing their masterpieces step by step. Make the first step bravely and say NO to procrastination, your life will become better.
My topic of casual analysis was also talking about the cause of procrastination! What a coincidence!
回复删除Lack of self-control, lack of confidence, perfectionism… Causes of procrastination are almost similar to everyone. But compared with my work, I think this paper is better in structure since the arguments are clear and easy to find at a glance.
Many of us are suffering from the symptom of procrastination now and we also realized that it’s a serious problem should be urgently eliminated. But it is really a hard process otherwise it won’t be so a nightmare to so many people.
Anyway, cheer up bro we are comrade-in-arms now, let’ just punch this “Big Boss” in its face and become an efficient person! By the way I also love the song Procrastination. Actually it was looped through the whole process of writing this essay.
I've never really thought about why I procrastinate but after reading your causual analysis I completely agree that lack of self-control, lack of confidence and perfectionism are the causes of procrastination. I really like how you've analyzed everything and encourage us to think of the future consequences! It's funny how a lack of self-control is also related to increased chances of delinquency because delinquents tend to focus on current benefits and forget about future costs. Perhaps it shows that if we do not do anything to control ourselves, the consquences in the long term can extend beyond procrastination? Taking that brave first step sometimes is the hardest thing but thanks for sharing this with us, from now I will seriously consider the future consequences.
回复删除I really love your essay because I always procrastinate in doing all my works. I especially agree with your point that lack of confidence will result in procrastination. Sometimes I will afraid my work will get a low mark so I afraid to finish the work. I will wait till the moment I am ready for the work. Sounds ridiculous, but it is my logic. I enjoy your essay very much.
回复删除