August 19, 2022 – Did you know that as many as 20% of adults are chronic procrastinators and that the average person spends 55 days a year procrastinating? That means that for every seven years we live, we spend over a year procrastinating. As common as procrastination is, however, many myths surround it that hinder the solution to the problem, with three most prevalent.
Studies have suggested that procrastination is involuntary, that procrastinators often intend to work as hard as non-procrastinators, and that there are correlations between procrastination and depression. When we procrastinate, we focus on the urgency of dealing with negative moods instead of the long-term benefits of completing the task we’re supposed to be working on. It’s a bias that favors our short-term needs over our long-term ones.
Psychologists emphasize that procrastination is a way of coping with unpleasant emotions like anxiety, self-doubt, or insecurity triggered by certain tasks. We procrastinate because we can’t manage our negative moods. Nevertheless, there are many myths about procrastination, with the most common myths including:
Myth #1: People procrastinate because they’re lazy
People rarely procrastinate because of laziness. In fact, those who take on the most are often the ones who procrastinate because they are overwhelmed and believe there isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done.
“Most people are surprised to learn that procrastination is an emotional regulation problem. Once they know that, they typically find it much easier to find behavior patterns and understand why they procrastinate. Only then can they actually manage their procrastination,” says Psychotherapist Dainius Jakucionis, M.D., one of the creators of the Sensa app.
Myth #2: People procrastinate because they lack time management skills
Many people believe that they lack the time management skills necessary to complete all of their tasks. In reality, there is usually enough time, but people are distracted by their negative moods and emotions.
“Many Sensa users think at first that they need a time planner or a habit builder to stop procrastination, but that’s not always the case,” Jakucionis explains. “More than the act of voluntarily delaying an action, procrastination is a form of emotional self-harm. So while time planners can help plan time more effectively, it won’t help to get to the root of procrastination and related problems.”
Myth #3: People procrastinate because their priorities are wrong (or they haven’t prioritized at all)
Procrastination is rarely the result of prioritization because most people know where their priorities lie. The problem isn’t that they can’t prioritize; rather, when they start to feel discomfort and unpleasant emotions from a task that should be completed, they give themselves an out.
“This is what we call a procrastination excuse. These excuses give us a way to paint our procrastination as being an acceptable or understandable thing. Once we can justify it, it becomes easier to keep procrastinating,” says Jakucionis.
Experts agree that the most challenging part of procrastination is understanding and acting on your problem. So understanding the most common misconceptions about procrastination from a psychological point of view is a good start.