Madeeha Syed

We’ve all suffered from it at some point in our life — procrastination. But some people seem to be late all the time. Read this to understand why we might be putting some things off… and how to overcome it.

Why Some People are Always ‘Late’?

This article or video has been vetted and verified by Meri Sehat’s specialists. It contains citations and research from validated sources.

Procrastination may not be labeled a mental illness. Yet, psychology experts at Meri Sehat emphasize that it is not good for your wellbeing if you procrastinate often.

Why Some People Are Always ‘Late’?

Overview

<p>You&rsquo;re sitting at your desk, but you can&rsquo;t seem to get anything done. You&rsquo;ve tried everything: you&rsquo;ve turned off all notifications on your phone and computer and you&rsquo;ve closed the door to avoid distractions. But despite all these efforts, nothing seems to work. You&rsquo;re still procrastinating.</p>

<p>Why is it so hard for some people to focus? Why do they keep putting off important tasks until the last minute? If you find yourself struggling with this problem frequently, this article will help explain why it happens (and what you can do about it).<br />
&nbsp;</p>

Natural Tendency To Procrastinate

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5><strong>Human Beings Have A Natural Tendency To Procrastinate</strong></h5>
	</li>
</ul>

<p>Procrastination is a natural human behavior, but it can be learned. The habit of procrastinating is hard to break because it&rsquo;s a coping mechanism.</p>

<p>In order to overcome the habit of procrastination, you have to recognise its causes and develop new habits or coping mechanisms that don&rsquo;t involve putting things off until later.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5><strong>Procrastination Comes From The Way You Think About What You Have To Do</strong></h5>
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</ul>

<p>Procrastination is not a character flaw, it&rsquo;s a normal pattern of behaviour. Most people procrastinate at some point in their lives and when they do they feel guilty or ashamed.</p>

<p>The way you think about what you have to do can be changed by changing your mindset. If you change the way you think about what has to be done then it will be easier to start doing it instead of putting off starting until later.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5><strong>Procrastination Can Be Overcome With A Little Discipline</strong></h5>
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<p>There are countless examples of people who overcame this obstacle and went on to achieve great things, including Albert Einstein, who famously said, &ldquo;The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross and which to burn.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p>Here are some tips to help overcome your urge to put things off:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Avoid distractions by turning off your phone and closing the browser tabs that aren&rsquo;t related to the task at hand.</li>
	<li>Reward yourself with short breaks if you finish something early (instead of idly browsing social media).<br />
	&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<p>Some people are more prone to procrastination than others. Procrastination is a learned behaviour, but some people naturally have a harder time staying focused or getting started.</p>

<p>Striving for perfection can lead to procrastination: Some people struggle with perfectionism. They have an ideal version of how something should turn out and become stuck on one small detail that they just can&rsquo;t get right. This causes them not to linger on a project because they haven&rsquo;t finished every little detail on it yet.</p>

<p>Procrastination also comes from wanting perfection in our own lives and being unable to accept anything less than that, even if it&rsquo;s unrealistic or impossible to achieve at some point during our lives (for example, you cannot be perfectly happy all the time).<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5><strong>Disorganisation Is Linked To Procrastination</strong></h5>
	</li>
</ul>

<p>If you tend to put things off, it may be because you&rsquo;re disorganised. This goes back to the idea that procrastination is a symptom of other problems in our lives. If we don&rsquo;t have the tools needed to organise our time and our lives, then it&rsquo;s going to be harder for us to get things done on time.</p>

<p>Procrastination can also be linked with certain personality traits like perfectionism or stubbornness. These types of people aren&rsquo;t always disorganised though &mdash; some may just have trouble getting started on projects because they can always find another thing they&rsquo;d rather do instead (and these are often the same things).<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5><strong>&lsquo;Fomo&rsquo; Can Cause You To Procrastinate&nbsp;</strong></h5>
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</ul>

<p>The Fear Of Missing Out (Fomo) can cause you to procrastinate. If you&rsquo;re trying to decide, but waiting until the last minute, that&rsquo;s because you haven&rsquo;t made up your mind yet and are afraid of making the &ldquo;wrong&rdquo; decision. Fomo is a form of anxiety that stems from the belief that you&rsquo;re missing out on something important or pleasurable.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5><strong>Living In The Present, With Blinders On</strong></h5>
	</li>
</ul>

<p>Procrastinators often choose to live in the present moment and don&rsquo;t perceive future consequences of their procrastination as something real.</p>

<p>There are many reasons why we procrastinate. The first is because we avoid the unpleasantness associated with our task by putting it off for later. We may also be motivated by external factors such as deadlines or being under pressure from others, but these things do not motivate us internally; instead they trigger a reaction that makes us feel <a href="https://merisehat.pk/article/the-benefits-of-cardio-exercise-improving-heart-health-reducing-stress-and-improving-sleep">stressed </a>out, which in turn leads us to delay doing what needs to be done.</p>

<p>Another reason why people procrastinate is because they don&rsquo;t find value in what they have to do, so they delay getting started until it becomes urgent enough for them to feel motivated enough about getting started on it right away (this is known as paradoxical intention).<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5><strong>Struggling With Self-Esteem</strong></h5>
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</ul>

<p>Many times, procrastination can be a self-esteem issue. People who are habitual procrastinators may start to feel like they&rsquo;re not good enough, or that they don&rsquo;t deserve to be successful. On top of that, some people think their success is due to luck and not talent &mdash; so why try?</p>

<p>The good news is that this cycle can be broken. The first step is identifying why you&rsquo;re putting things off and then finding ways to overcome those barriers. If you have low self-esteem from being a habitual procrastinator:</p>

<p>Start with small goals (like cleaning up your workspace) and reward yourself for completing them successfully</p>

<p>Set reasonable deadlines for yourself so that you get better at managing deadlines as time goes on.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5><strong>Your Brain Switches Between Its Focused And Default Networks Mode More Often During Periods Of Procrastination</strong></h5>
	</li>
</ul>

<p>You&rsquo;re probably familiar with the default network. It&rsquo;s what your brain does when it isn&rsquo;t involved in a specific task and it allows you to think about things that aren&rsquo;t immediately relevant to what you&rsquo;re doing. The default network is responsible for daydreaming, mind wandering and other forms of self-reflection.</p>

<p>It&rsquo;s also the part of your brain most active while procrastinating: It helps you recall memories from the past and plan for the future (two things especially useful when deciding what TV show to binge watch next).<br />
&nbsp;</p>

Bottom Line

<ul>
	<li>
	<h5><strong>Room For Improvement</strong></h5>
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</ul>

<p>We hope that the information in this post will help you better understand procrastination, how it affects your life and how to deal with it. It is important to remember that everyone procrastinates at some point in their lives, so if you&rsquo;re a chronic procrastinator, don&rsquo;t be discouraged! You can learn how to overcome this habit by just changing your mindset and becoming more mindful of what goes on inside your head when things aren&#39;t going well for you.</p>