THE PASSIVE CYCLE OF “I DO TOMORROW”: PROGRESSION ILLNESS
When it comes to duties and responsibilities, almost everyone tries to fulfill them quickly and accurately. Sometimes it is necessary to suspend existing works for reasons beyond our control. However, some factors, including the modern world, are increasing the amount of delay. Today’s work is not left for tomorrow, but as far as possible. So, for what reasons does the increasing urge to procrastinate arise? What should be done to overcome this situation that can cause big problems especially in business life? Expert Psychologist Firdevs Şirin talks about the psychology of procrastination.
“Procrastination Affects Every Area of Life Negatively”
The chronic urge to procrastinate is called procrastination in the psychological literature. This situation, which is defined as constantly delaying or avoiding completing a task that needs to be done, arises as a result of various reasons. Expert Psychologist Firdevs Şirin states that there can be very valid reasons when it comes to procrastination. However, these reasons cause the procrastination behavior to be repeated and when it starts to become a habit, he states that a pathological procrastination disease will be mentioned and says: “When the feeling of procrastination comes into play, our mind finds so many logical reasons that even we are surprised. But every procrastination is a new ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’ and unfortunately, there is no end to those tomorrows. As a result, both our work life and social relations are negatively affected. Therefore, it is necessary to know that procrastination does not affect a single area of life, but the whole of it.”
“Cognitive Distortions Fuel Procrastination”
Procrastination is not limited to a single area, but spreads to our entire lives over time. This situation, which usually occurs in business or education life, brings along other problems such as distancing from socialization over time. So why does this behavior, which affects our quality of life so much and causes other problems to be overcome, continue? Firdevs Şirin says that the biggest reason why procrastination becomes chronic is our thought patterns. Underlining that cognitive distortions should be considered the number one factor that fuels procrastination, Şirin details the situation with the following words: “In the emergence of procrastination; Emotions such as lack of motivation for the work to be done, perfectionism, anxiety, feeling inadequate and helplessness can be effective. These are defined as faulty and dysfunctional thought patterns, namely cognitive distortions.” Stating that cognitive distortion does not occur consciously, Şirin underlines that the mind tends to continue the way of thinking it is used to: “Negative thought and belief patterns that cause procrastination come into play in an instant on autopilot. So the brain always chooses the wrong way of thinking it’s used to, just as we always want to go home the way we know. It is also resistant to this situation when we want to try new ways.
The Thought of Being Perfect as well as the Feeling of Inadequacy Leads to Procrastination”
Stating that if we were convinced that we were inadequate or helpless in the past, we will continue to do the same in the future, Şirin said, “If you had to prove yourself constantly in your childhood and you were the focus of conditional love, you may experience performance anxiety in your adulthood. At this point, you need to ask yourself the question: ‘Is it less of a hassle to procrastinate, or to start and fail?’ If the answer is to procrastinate, it is necessary to determine what negative emotion this behavior is preventing you from facing. Saying that the feeling of inadequacy is one of the key points of the chronic procrastination problem, Firdevs Şirin emphasizes that excessive perfectionism also triggers this problem at the same rate: “The ideal of producing a perfect product also causes anxiety and inhibits productivity in the long run. ‘My work must be flawless!’ thought, ‘I can’t do this job.’ It becomes as obstructive as the thought of it and often results in procrastination. Along with the procrastination pattern; brings guilt, stress and anger. Thus, an inescapable passive loop is entered.
“Getting Started Is Often The Most Powerful Motivation!”
Stating that as long as faulty cognitive behaviors are compensated, the impulse to procrastinate will be overcome, Firdevs Şirin explains what can be done on the subject as follows: “Listing the tasks that need to be completed in order of urgency and importance makes the situation much easier. Also, you need to stay away from distractions and non-breaking work behavior that can cause you to delay what needs to be done. Again, if you strongly avoid starting a job, it is of great benefit to be able to continue the same job after even dedicating 5 minutes of your time to that job at the beginning. Because the frontal lobe of our brain has a wonderful ability to plan.”
