procrastination

Are you a "Type A" personality with little patience for mindless mistakes and mediocrity? Sure, an A+ performance and a job well-done is something to be proud of, but is too much of a good thing simply too much?

Perfectionism can be a blessing. Nobody wants a so-so surgeon or a repairman with a "screw loose." But most people may fare better if they leave their perfectionism at the door and learn to embrace a mentality that accepts that not everything will be 100 percent 100 percent of the time.

These three reasons explain why perfectionism may not be so perfect after all. You can still get the job done well – even spectacularly – without the weight of perfectionism crushing down.

The Pressure Can Be Prohibitive

Billy Joel sings, "You have to learn to pace yourself/Pressure/You're just like everybody else/Pressure…" You know what is a major cause of pressure? Perfectionism. The stress you put yourself under may make your goals too great to bear.

As Utica College describes, "You are constantly busting your butt to live up to that impossible standard and feel mortified when somebody realizes that you are, in fact, imperfect like everyone else."

The Nest notes how stress can be stifling, "Perfectionism creates stress, because realistically creating a perfect product demands perfect conditions. These conditions won't always be present in the workplace. Distractions, sudden interruptions, and unexpected new developments will constantly shift production and change your day."

The pressure of striving for "perfect" can be a pitfall. Loosening up can be a lifesaver.

It Can Lead to Procrastination

There's no time like the present thumbor.forbes.com

Procrastination may seem like the last thing that coexists with perfectionism, but the drive to be the best can lend itself to setbacks and stagnation. AsMy Body + Soul points out, "Unhealthy perfectionism can turn people into procrastinators or avoiders. They take longer to do a task and won't just give things a go."

Career Addictnotes, "Perfectionists usually have a specific way of doing things which they deem as the best. They assume that they know everything and are therefore unwilling to embrace input from other people. This denies them the opportunity of being exposed to new situations and ideas they would have learned from."

Personal Excellence explains why this correlation is common, "When it's time to get to work, they (procrastinators) become extremely detail oriented, start to obsess about every single thing, get weighed down by every problem, and get caught up by the need to create everything perfectly. Over time, such intricate attention becomes too painful, and this subsequently leads to procrastination — putting off a task to get some relief, but is in actual fact pushing away the pain that they create with each task."

There is nothing perfect about missing deadlines or pulling "all-nighters."

Your Well-Being Can Suffer

No pain, no gain?reginaboyd.com

Be it mental or physical (or a combination of the two), perfectionism can lead to problems, and one's health can be at risk. Emotionally, "[perfectionists] want to achieve precision in everything, yet this precision creates great unhappiness for themselves," notes Personal Excellence. "In the end, they build this cave of misery that they suffer in each day." Career Addict adds, "Perfectionists are usually workaholics who will not stop until they achieve the result they desire. They constantly sacrifice recreation, food and sleep for the sake of work."

As per BBC Future, "The drawback of perfectionism isn't just that it holds you back from being your most successful, productive self. Perfectionistic tendencies have been linked to a laundry list of clinical issues: depression and anxiety (even in children), self-harm, social anxiety disorder and agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome, insomnia, hoarding, chronic headaches, and, most damning of all, even early mortality and suicide."

You are stretched too thin, exhausted, and ultimately, unsatisfied.

Keep readingShow less
PayPath
Follow Us on

Procrastination is the bane of almost everyone's existence. It detracts from productivity, creates unneeded stress, and can lead to missed deadlines. It's just bad all around. However, not many people actually know the cause of procrastination or how to really work against it. But there is a one step solution that will work for everyone struggling with procrastination.

Keep readingShow less

You have a huge project looming yet you can't tear yourself away from Kylie Jenner's latest posts to Instagram. Your quarterly report is due tomorrow afternoon, yet baking an apple pie from scratch seems like a much better (and tastier) idea for now. Urgent emails are filling your inbox, but catching up on your Harry Potter series is all you can think about. Sounds like procrastination and there's a reason you're putting important work off 'till the last minute.

Your tendency to not get on top of things is not (entirely) your fault, but with some insight into the issue, you can take control of your destiny. There are actual reasons you're procrastinating and ways to change your behavior. See if any of these 3 reasons sound familiar. You can get on a better path once you realize the roadblocks ahead of you. But remember, read this NOW, don't put it off for later!

You Don't Want to Do It

Sometimes procrastination occurs when we simply don't feel like doing something. Have you ever let the garbage pail nearly overflow because you didn't feel like bagging it up and taking it to the curb? It's not particularly pleasant, so putting it off as long as possible seems like a reasonable reaction. But as we all know, the trash won't wind up outside unless you finally take it out. And don't you always wish you've done it sooner (i.e. before it starts to stink)?

Same goes for work-related items. Generally speaking, we don't want to do something because we deem it unpleasant (or boring). As perPsychology Today, "The most significant predictor of procrastination is a task that's considered unpleasant, boring, or uninteresting." We can even become lazy about the task(s) at hand and never seem to find the motivation to make a dent in the project.

What to do? According to Forbes, perhaps this project isn't necessary at all. "If you really don't want to do it, could you abandon the task entirely and save yourself the wasted time in putting it off?" If this is really an option, then move on to something that will actually move the needle. However, if totally ditching the task isn't doable, develop a plan.

Psychology Today recommends, "One strategy is to divide and conquer. Shift your focus from the ultimate goal to a series of easy to complete, intermediate tasks. Another strategy is to form an if-then plan to automate goal striving—e.g., if I turn on the computer, I will first work on my assignment for 45 minutes."

While some tasks aren't the most exciting, they won't become any more intriguing as time passes. Just gear up and do it. Thinking about it hour after hour and day after day will only supply you with more reasons to procrastinate. Break up the task into digestible bits and it won't seem so terrible.

Failure is a Worry

While procrastinating when you've got so much to do seems counterintuitive, many of us do so when we are fearful that we may not be successful in the endeavor. The possibility of failure is one of the biggest triggers leading to procrastination.

As per Lifehack, "Of course you cannot fail at something when you don't do it at all. Unfortunately, this is an unproductive way of thinking. Facing your fear of failure will help you eventually overcome that fear, or learn to manage it."

Put it this way. You'll definitely fail if you don't do your work at all. But you have a chance to succeed or at the very least, learn something of value, if you delve in and try. Psychology Today notes, "When difficulties arise, people with weak self-confidence easily develop doubts about their ability to accomplish the task at hand, while those with strong beliefs are more likely to continue their efforts. When low self-confidence causes people to avoid activities, they miss opportunities to acquire new knowledge and skills."

If you were assigned a project at work, your manager or boss believes in you. He or she trusts you have the abilities to succeed. Use their encouragement to fuel your desire to get to work and do a great job.

You're Unstructured

Without a sense of structure or proper planning, it's easy to put off a project that needs a timeline in order to work on it to completion effectively. You may not know where or how to start, so you just don't.

According to Psychology Today, "The collapse of the delay between impulse and decision inevitably favors impulse (e.g., checking Facebook instead of doing work); our easy online access makes urges easy to gratify. One solution to this is to design your environment in a way that makes your desired goal more likely to happen."

You can create a summary of the project or an organizational flow chart. Lay out the items that must be finished before you can move on to the other tasks. If you are working on a group project, assign specific tasks to the members of the group so the work doesn't seem so overwhelming.

In the meantime, remove yourself from distractions like social media and other work that's not as pressing, but more interesting to you. You can get to those things later. Give yourself the best chance to succeed – a clear mind and environment. You will then have the ability to focus and finish.

Are you motivated to get to work without delay? Understanding the reasons why you're putting off important work gives you the chance to do things the right way. Now get to it!