Five Common Causes of Procrastination

Most people would admit to having been plagued by procrastination at one point in their lives. A small amount of procrastination, if it only happens sometimes, is normal. To some people though, procrastination is a cruel habit that prevents them from fulfilling their daily duties effectively, causing them to fail at achieving their career goals. Procrastination happens when there is a gap between when a person is supposed to do a task and when he or she actually does it. When you find yourself dropping more important tasks in favor of an easier, less important one, then you are procrastinating. The reverse is not the same. Choosing a more important task over a less important one may just fall under good prioritization. Knowing the causes of procrastination can help you fight this habit and avoid it from becoming a chronic condition for you. Causes of Procrastination #1 – Lack of Organizational Skills. The most common among the causes of procrastination is a lack of organization skills. Most people procrastinate on a task because they have not figured out how important the task is. Organized people find it hard, if not impossible to procrastinate because they use such tools as To-Do lists that show how important tasks are relative to others. rnThey also have schedules that tell them when they need to start certain tasks in order to finish them on time. Causes of Procrastination #2 – Getting Overwhelmed Another cause is a feeling overwhelmed by a task and fear of success. This happens particularly when your boss gives you a big project without telling you how he or she wants it done. Your boss is leaving the details up to you because he or she trusts that you are equal to the job. Do not let your boss down. To fight being overwhelmed, break down the project into small, manageable tasks. That will help you get started. Causes of Procrastination #3 – Fear Of Success A fear of success may be causing you to procrastinate. If you are afraid of the consequences of successfully finishing a task, you will tend to procrastinate on it. You may be afraid that you will be given more ad hoc work, if you succeed on this one, or maybe be reassigned to another department that needs your skills. Whatever it is, recognize that procrastination will not help your career either. Causes of Procrastination #4 – Being A Perfectionist Other causes of procrastination are being a perfectionist rnPerfectionists procrastinate because they dwell on the fact that the perfect circumstances for a perfect outcome do not exist yet. So they put off a task because they cannot do it perfectly today, or they do not have the perfect resources. Surprisingly, perfectionists are imperfect this way. Causes of Procrastination #5 – Lack of Decision-Making Skills Lack of decision-making skills can also cause you to put off tasks. If you do not know what to do, you will put off doing it. An example is wanting to move to another job but not knowing what kind of job you want to move to. It will result in you procrastinating on sending your applications. rnYou are now better-equipped to recognize and battle it, now that you know the causes of procrastination.