At one time or another, most people have procrastinated or put off doing something that they knew they were supposed to do. Imagine getting an assignment at work or school weeks in advance and waiting until the night before to complete it. Why do we voluntarily put ourselves through this when we could simply take some free time well in advance of the due date and complete the work so that we can relax?
While there are myriad reasons for procrastination, many of them point back to fear of failure or anxiety over not being good enough. From a humanistic point of view, all people are inherently good, and we want to do well in the tasks that are assigned to us. This puts us in quite the predicament as many of the tasks are one-shot deals in a sense, either pass or fail. This can create quite a bit of anxiety in any person, causing us to put the task off until the last minute knowing that when we send it in, it will be judged by the person reviewing the work.
Discounting of time is another reason that has been given for procrastination. Sometimes people will be given a task and will put it off for so long that they lose track of time. An example of this is when you have an assignment that is due on August 13th, and only when you check your calendar on August 11th or 12th, do you notice that you have this assignment due. This reason for procrastination is actually more prevalent than procrastinating due to anxiety.
Maslow developed the theory that we have all come to know as the hierarchy of needs. At the base is the need for safety and it goes on up, all the way to self-actualization. Once people have attained a sense of safety, they don’t want to go back to being without it. Procrastination is a way of preserving our safety. Turning in something that we don’t know we are going to do well at is, in a sense, stepping out of our “safety bubble.”
Rogers notes in his defining of personality that all people have freedom of choice. People have a choice of whether they will get out of bed in the morning as well as whether they will accomplish all the tasks that have been assigned to them. People may make a conscious choice to procrastinate simply because they can. Rogers also recognizes that along with this freedom that all people have, is the necessity to accept all the consequences that come along with that freedom. We may choose to put off doing a homework assignment, but in doing that, we should be willing to accept a lower grade since our work was rushed.
It is well known that there are many consequences to procrastination, but what can we do to avoid these consequences? If anything, we have to be able to recognize why we are procrastinating so that we can stop doing it. We need to be able to recognize our blocks and become more self-aware. By living in the moment and being present, we can address the blocks in our unconscious that are holding us back from being productive.
It may be helpful to do a simple meditation in the morning so that you are feeling more motivated. Many successful people will start their day with a meditation and end the evening with one as well so as to review all that they have accomplished during the day. Becoming more aware of what we are actually doing with our time might reduce procrastination by increasing our self-esteem about what we are able to accomplish.
Whatever we do to reduce the amount that we procrastinate, we must also remember that any progress made in this area is to our benefit. When we accomplish things in a timely manner, it leaves us more time to focus on ourselves and do some self-care. When we reduce procrastination, we increase our self-worth and in turn promote good mental health.
References
Rogers, C.R. (1965). Freedom and commitment. ETC: A review of general semantics, 133-152.
Trivedi, A.J., & Mehta, A. (2019). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs-Theory of Human Motivation.
International Journal of research in all Subjects in Multi Languages, 7(6), 38-41.
Zarick, L.M., & Stonebraker, R. (2009). I’ll do it tomorrow: The Logic of Procrastination.
College Teaching, 57(4), 211-215.
Viewing Procrastination Through a Humanistic Lens
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18.03.2024
At one time or another, most people have procrastinated or put off doing something that they knew they were supposed to do. Imagine getting an assignment at work or school weeks in advance and waiting until the night before to complete it. Why do we voluntarily put ourselves through this when we could simply take some free time well in advance of the due date and complete the work so that we can relax?
While there are myriad reasons for procrastination, many of them point back to fear of failure or anxiety over not being good enough. From a humanistic point of view, all people are inherently good, and we want to do well in the tasks that are assigned to us. This puts us in quite the predicament as many of the tasks are one-shot deals in a sense, either pass or fail. This can create quite a bit of anxiety in any person, causing us to put the task off until the last minute knowing that when we send it in, it will be judged by the person reviewing the work.
Discounting of time is another reason that has been........
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