Self Improvement :The Disease Called Procrastination - Is It An International Disaster? Part 2

By Alphayo Sande

In my first part, I explained what the term procrastination refers to and some of the positive & negative sides of the habit. In this section, I will explain to you some of the reasons that make us procrastinate.

The following are some of reasons why individuals procrastinate;

Lack of motivation-people procrastinate because they feel they need some motivation before they embark on a task. Real motivation comes in when you begin seeing progress. As you move on, with time, you will start to see the fruits of your labour and with this, you become more and more motivated.

Lack of interest -individuals delay making tasks done because they find them not interesting as there is no motivation. If you find that you have no interest in making a particular job complete, there are ways you can deal with like delegating it to somebody who is better suited to take the task, breaking it down into smallest components and handle one a time and going head-on with the big task in one sitting while putting off all other errands and distractions.

Skill deficits -some people see skill deficit as a hindrance to achieving their objective. They don't know that achieving new goals and objective is a learning process as one develops them on the way. Do not throw the towel. Come up with a learning and development plan that will enable you to develop the skills and knowledge and fill the gap.

Fear of failure -many people fear to fail. They see it as something that can't be rectified. That it is over for them. They see it as a stain that can't be done away with. This makes their self-esteem nosedive, their confidence goes runs down, and makes them to postpone taking action on tasks they are even sure of completing. It is not normal to think that you can succeed without going through obstacles on the way. You fear to fail? Come up with measures that will hike you chances of success and build on them.

Fear of success-some individuals see success as stress and pressure to their life. As they think of succeeding, they also think of the negativity that accompany success.do not fear success. Success comes in with challenges, which hardens you, gives you more knowledge making you develop new skills. No matter which task you are up to, every task needs completion. With good planning and self-confidence, no task is unmanageable.

Resistance-at times many people are able to complete a task but they decide to procrastinate. This is because they have rebelled. They do this deliberately-maybe because they have been mistreated in one way or another. In case you are dealing with someone who is in resistance you may;

Insist on deadlines

Give tasks by email so that you have written evidence

Go frank and talk to them as you find a solution

Make your communication clear

Organize for updates regularly for projects that take long so that you can easily identify the problem and fix it up

If out of control, do away with them

Perfectionism-people procrastinate because of the fear they will make mistakes in their work and show their weakness. This makes people to postpone some of their vital tasks for another day. They want their work to be perfect, since they believe that they will definitely fail if the task is not linking to their talent, so it is better if it is done on another day. Perfectionism bars success.it should be avoided.

Laziness- "I'll do it later", that's what some procrastinators will say. It is a dangerous excuse that gives you hope that in a day or later you will have an opportunity to accomplish your task. You can predict the future. Your moods maybe bad, you may feel worn out, demotivated and you may end up doing nothing.

Apart from the above, other causes of procrastination are; having no strong reason to take action, always thinking short-term, fear of unknown, feeling overwhelmed, low energy levels, a lack of clear goals, anger and resentment, addiction to the last minute rush, and many more.

Check out for my part 3 on how to eliminate the habit.

Alphayo Sande is a young archaic technology-enthusiast who deals in system development, website designing, content management and a number of IT facets. He doubles up as a freelance writer who writes on a variety of topics aimed at helping fellow humans.