Procrastination has negative effects

The National Letters

ARE you a procrastinator? Have you heard this phrase before?
Well, it’s an old saying, coined by the English writer Edward Young in his 10,000-line poem titled: The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality, more simply known as Night-Thoughts.
In the poem, Young ponders on death and urges us to ‘be wise to-day’ as life and opportunities can slip away quickly.
What does procrastination actually mean?
To procrastinate means to intentionally and habitually delay or put off doing something till a later time.
People procrastinate because of many reasons such as:

  • THE task is too long, complicated, boring, not important or likeable;
  • THEY choose doing pleasurable activities;
  • THEY are too over-confident and believe that they have enough time or the competency to complete the task;
  • THEY have a careless attitude and always believe that nothing bad will happen if they hand in late work and that people will always forgive them;
  • THEY do it due to peer pressure as they fear being mocked or ridiculed if they turn in their work early; and,
  • THEY procrastinate due to laziness.

Postponing something is harmful to yourself as well as others.
It wastes your time and that of others.
Why others? Because we are living in an interconnected world.
Whatever we do will always affect others in one way or another.
For a student, missing deadlines for assignments or being late studying for exams can lead to bad grades and even failures.
When you fail, you either have to repeat your year of study or retake the examination.
This could add more to your already-long list of tasks that you need to complete.
Not only time is wasted, but money and other resources as well.
Even if you don’t fail, doing last-minute work can result in low-quality work, resulting in a lower grade than you are capable of.
Those poor grades will definitely not look good on your testimonials.
But what’s worse is that your poor grades can demoralise you or affect your parents and other family members.
For an employee, procrastination can also lead to missed deadlines or sloppy work.
Procrastination will do you more harm than good as you are putting yourself under undue stress and pressure.
Steve McClatchy, president of Alleer Training and Consulting and the author of New York Times bestseller ‘Decide’ said: “When quality matters, then procrastination is not a smart choice.
“When you have to do a high-priority task or produce high-quality work, or it’s the first time you have ever done a task, waiting until the last minute to do it impedes your ability to control the quality output of the task, making procrastination a poor decision.”
In fact, your substandard work may just cause your company to lose profits or important business deals.
This is definitely an unforgiveable act and could very well jeopardise your career.
Doing things last minute can cause us a lot of stress.
Procrastination is a stress because it often causes you to cram at the last minute.
Stress affects your ability to think properly, remember things, process new information or be creative and critical.
Procrastination is a unbearable illness that can rob us of our success both in our studies and career.

Thief of Time