Procrastination – Why People Delay?

To delay or postpone an action that needs to be done is procrastination. I will do this afterwards. There is enough time still. What do these people think by setting deadlines? I have my own priorities. This is boring. What I don't do this work at all? Ultimately what will I gain by doing this? Why cannot I have some freedom? Why everything needs to be done on time? These are all typical thoughts of a procrastinator. Rather if we finish a job in given time, we feel happier. But a lot many of us procrastinate. What are the possible reasons?

The first cause may be doing something means dropping something else which is more comfortable. Ask any smoker about when he/she proposes to drop the habit and the answer always mentions some time in future -never the present. Delay the process of pain and get as much pleasure as possible. But the pleasure that a procrastinator derives by delay is itself a pain. On the other hand if the procrastinator finishes the job in time, the pleasure of doing something unpleasant will be far greater. It also enhances self-esteem. But we still procrastinate. Is that not mysterious?

Fear of failure may be another possible cause. We may sometimes take up a task that looks very difficult. Our outcome can be known only when we try to finish it. Till we don't try, we are happy with the thought that we can probably do it. This fear of failing causes damage. The correct course would be try, if failure results, seek help and try again. But we postpone. There are many other underlying emotions that make a person procrastinate. The strange part is that a person may delay doing one thing but never delay another? For example, if given work in Math and history, a student may finish his/her Math works fast and postpone the History part. This may be as well vice versa.

Does procrastination help? It rarely does. It instead adds the pressure of guilt on the mind. It keeps the pressure on all the time. Doing a work and finishing with it can remove the pressure. By postponing it we stop our onward progress, because the incomplete work always remains on the agenda. Those who set time goals, and proceed according to the set schedules are far happier and self-confident persons. They always have the satisfaction of having finished the work. Those who don't value their time and in turn their life highly develop habits such as procrastination.