Psychologist reveals the most common excuses of “chronic procrastinators”

Costuma procrastinate at times when you need to be productive? Psychologists reveal to Your Tango the most frequent excuses made by chronic procrastinators to justify both inertia, on lack of productivity.

Find out if it fits the general diagnosis of these mental health specialists.

“Cronic procrastinators do not like to admit when they are delaying something”, but there are behaviors that denounce them immediately. Know what excuses they usually make.

“I work better under pressure”

Procrastination is not always associated with the degree of difficulty of tasks, whether hard or too simple, as it does not even depend on a it's about how to better manage the time we have. According to experts, “although the tendency to delay and avoid tasks can sometimes be aggravated by the need to develop boring activities, this is a question of an emotional regulation problem”.

Psychologist and professor of psychology Tim Pychyl says that people who believe they work better under pressure may just be remembering the relief they feel when they finish that responsibility.

“I still have plenty of time”

This is another of the most commonly used expressions by chronic procrastinators according to these experts – all to postpone some boring tasks, since “slow can temporarily relieve anxiety and protect trust”.

Investigations cited by the same source associated low self-esteem with a greater need for procrastination, which explains this need to take control temporarily through “a false sense of security”.

“I’ll start soon”

This is another way to fool themselves. However, note that true trust can increase later on, not before. “A small first step can make the task easier and motivate you to continue.”.

According to Dominic J. Voge, director of the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University, booking a few minutes to plan or start a task can help to increase motivation and “fight with anxious thoughts that fuel a cycle of procrastination”.

“ Try to set a timer and work on the task for five minutes. Thus, not only do you have more chance of feeling less anxious and insecure when returning to the task in the future, but you will also probably end up working more than five minutes when you really concentrate”, they suggest.