4 Dreadful Effects Of Procrastination That Can Destroy Your Life

Leadership

Jun 9

Procrastination - the bane of all humans’ existence. You might think that you are the only one who keeps putting things off, but you will be pleasantly surprised to know that literally everyone does this. I think it would be safe to say that there isn’t a single person on the planet who doesn’t procrastinate from time to time. Such a person wouldn’t be human, but a robot! Don’t you agree?

On a more serious note though, procrastination can leave you in some really tight situations. If you do it chronically, you might even end up ruining your career. Therefore, it is important to understand why this phenomenon exists and how it can impact your life. This can be the starting point for concrete actions to deal with it and minimize it as much as possible.

Why Do We Procrastinate?

Let’s understand the science behind this first. I assure you it is very interesting!

So, when you are faced with an unpleasant situation (let’s say doing your homework on time), it sets off a fight between two prominent parts of your brain. The first part is the prefrontal cortex (a part that developed quite recently in our evolutionary process). The second part is the limbic system (the older, reptilian part of our brain). It is called reptilian because it controls our innate and self-preserving behavior. By doing so, it ensures our survival.

While the prefrontal cortex serves as our internal planner, the limbic system is concerned with how you feel. When these two parts fight, it is the latter that wins most often. I am sure you don’t need science to tell you this. We all give in to our inherent desires and emotions and take spontaneous decisions that are bad for us. We tend to ignore logic if something makes us “feel good”. This was actually explained pretty nicely by Elon Musk on the Joe Rogan podcast.

Anyways, when your limbic system wins, you tend to put off dealing with an unpleasant situation. That’s because it makes you feel better in the short term (the brain sees it as a relief, even if it is temporary).

What Procrastination Can Do To You

Now that we have established that biology is the main culprit behind procrastination, it is time to see what it can do to you and your life. I’m sure you know what’s coming. And even though your limbic system might be telling you to click away right now, trust me, you will want to read this so that your prefrontal cortex can win and you end up making better decisions!

1 | You Experience Higher Levels of Guilt And Anxiety

Guilt is probably the first thing you experience when you put off things that you should be doing asap. It kind of creates a paradoxical situation inside your head. On the one side, your limbic system feels good because you don’t have to deal with the work right now. On the other side, your prefrontal cortex keeps telling you that putting things off will only lead to increased pressure in the future. It also makes you feel guilty because you know what the right thing to do is, yet you are not doing it! So, in your quest to feel better, you end up feeling the opposite.

It is only natural that you will experience higher levels of guilt and anxiety as you progressively procrastinate more and more. This has been proven in studies as well. In fact, the results of the studies went on to say that chronic procrastinators can even experience reduced emotional ties, loss of behavioral control, and less satisfaction in life. More importantly, the internal battle that goes on has to have a negative overall impact that one should avoid at all costs.

2 | You Experience More Stress And Your Health Takes A Hit

Studies that show that procrastination can lead to increased stress go as far back as 1997. In one particular study, researchers rated college students on an established scale of procrastination. Then, they tracked their levels of stress, different health attributes, and other metrics throughout their semester. As expected, they discovered that initially, the students showed lower levels of stress compared to others. This was because putting things off made them feel relaxed and peaceful in the short term. Also, they were using their “free time” to engage in other pleasurable activities.

However, at the end of the semester, the researchers found that the college students were experiencing much higher levels of stress. All their procrastination was catching up to them as they had to finish studying in a very limited amount of time. The stress was so high that they even fell sick more than usual. The researchers thus concluded that the long-term costs of procrastination outweigh the short-term benefits.

I am sure you have experienced this countless times yourself (if you tend to procrastinate a lot). Whether it is homework or an assignment at work, if you waste time early on, you will be stressed at the last minute.

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3 | Your Performance Dwindles

This one is a no-brainer too. If you complete a given task in a fraction of the allotted time, the quality is bound to suffer. For instance, if you have 2 days to write an essay, and you sincerely use the two days, you can write a much better essay. That’s because you have ample time to do research and then revise your work. However, if you wait till the last minute, you will have to write whatever it is that comes to mind, and the quality will obviously not be as good.

This was found to be true in the same study referenced above. The college students, since they had to complete their syllabus in a very short period, got much lower grades than those who didn’t procrastinate. So, they ended up suffering more even though their goal was to actually feel the opposite! Such is the paradox of the workings of the limbic system.

You should really spend time pondering on this. It could give you a much better understanding of your behavior and why you do certain things and avoid doing others. This can then lead you to corrective behavior.

4 | Your Self-Confidence Decreases

Last, but certainly not least, procrastination inevitably leads to a lack of self-confidence. Researchers say, “procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they can actually complete a task.” Again, this is a no-brainer to understand. When you keep missing deadlines, the quality of your work dwindles, and you are stressed and anxious all the time, it is bound to affect your self-confidence.

How are you supposed to have faith in your abilities, when you keep contradicting your own self? There comes a point where your own brain starts questioning whether you are capable of doing even the basic things in life! This is a destructive path that you don’t want to traverse. In a way, it is tragic. That’s because you might have all the capabilities in the world, and yet, you are not being able to put them to use and achieve results. All because of your pesky limbic system that cannot think beyond the short term. As an evolved human, you should make sure that your prefrontal cortex is in charge most of the time. Only then will you be able to put an end to procrastination.

To Wrap Up

Procrastination is something that affects us all. As humans, we are wired to put things off in the anticipation that doing so will make us feel better in the short term. Basically, it is the consequence of the fight between two parts of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, and the limbic system. Since the latter is the much older part of our brain and controls how we feel, it ends up winning most of the time. So, it can be said that we procrastinate because it feels good.

When this becomes a habit, you can become a chronic procrastinator and it might mess up your life in many different ways. It affects your performance, your health, your mental well-being, and it might end up ruining your career and relationships. Therefore, it’s quite important for anyone suffering from this condition to understand how procrastination works and how you can deal with it.

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