Why is it that most of us procrastinate? All procrastination does is lead to unnecessary stress and work that cannot compete with work done days before a deadline. Why did I procrastinate until tonight to do this blog post? I know the excuse that sates, "I work better under pressure" is ridiculously inaccurate, yet many others and I use it and make ourselves believe in the excuse that we all know is false. Yes, the excuse could work to certain points, for example if it is 10 at night and the assignment is do first thing in the morning students will tend to work much faster than if the did it over a weeks time. I know procrastination causes not only poor work, but also a unhealthy lifestyle because of all the stress being created, yet just like Hamlet the character who struggles with procrastination and indecisiveness I still procrastinate just like he does. Why, there is no correct answer explaining this phenomena.
Could the reason why I along with many others procrastinate be linked with avoidance, motivation and satisfaction vs. dissatisfaction. Avoidance is pretty much another word for procrastination. Why is it we avoid doing tasks? Is it lack of motivation, or are we all just lazy and useless people. I think it is lack of motivation for me personally, because it is not for all assignments I procrastinate for. When it is a subject I really enjoy, or a task that I am excited to do, or a standard I really need to get a good grade on, I am satisfied with the assignment and the amount of time and effort I need to put into it, therefore I have the motivation to do it. For assignments I have no motivation to do I sometimes notice that I fear im going to get a bad grade, or I know the task is to demanding and therefore I will not reach the standards required, also rarely I find myself unmotivated because the task is to easy. It is a vicious cycle that always leads to the same satisfaction if we learn to procrastinate at the correct time. If we are motivated we do it and we feel satisfied, if we are not motivated we don't do it and we still feel satisfied, because we did not make our brain have to think about something we are uninterested in, or have to think too much. Since we delay doing the task we spend less time thinking about it an therefore we are satisfied because our brain goes through less torture. I see how ridiculous this conclusion is, but it is how my brain thinks and even though I know its pathetic I still do it. Hamlet knows from the beginning what he has to do in order to feel satisfaction: kill Claudius. Yet, he gets side tracked because he doesn't have the spark to do it, and therefore begins to procrastinate because he is getting the same amount of satisfaction by not doing it as he would if he did do it. As ridiculous as this sounds, it is true because if he does it he can only feel satisfaction to a certain level because he knows people will look at him as a killer ad he would have to live with blood on his hands, if he doesnt do it the only dissatisfaction he would feel is the fact that he is a wimp, so in the end the satisfaction on both sides of the decision is the same. So the decision he had originally made to kill his uncle gets erased from the picture because he already lost the motivation to do it.
Procrastination is a "curse" as the author of Viewpoint: Why do we procrastinate so much? puts it. We know it is a damaging action but it is almost as an inexplicable control that takes over the body and stops us from doing something. I know I have to do it, but I kept putting the blogposts off so I wouldn't have to do it. I waited until last minute to feel the least amount of displeasure possible from doing the assignment, and that time I decided not to do the blogpost, I was getting a false sense of satisfaction because I was not spending my time and effort on a task that I fear of getting a bad grade on and know I will not reach the standards the teacher requires.
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