There are many causes of procrastination but the main two seem to be either psychological or physiological problems that a person is suffering from. Below we will look a little more closely at these two causes and some others as well.

1 Generally speaking Psychological reasons can vary greatly but is is usually possible to categorize them as follows:-

Faced with a task that needs to be completed people suffering from psychological procrastination will fall into 3 distinct groups. The first group will be anxious about the task they need to complete. Those with a self defeating mentality will persuade themselves that they will fail even before they started. The final group who have low self worth will think that they don’t have the ability to succeed.

Often when faced with a task people will persuade themselves that the task will require much more work than it actually does. Unfortunately this type of procrastination can soon become a habit.

2. Physiological. The causes of this type of procrastination seem to surround the role that the prefrontal cortex of the brain plays in a person’s life. It is this area of the brain which controls our executive brain functions such as planning, the control of a person’s impulses, their attention span or lack of it and is also there to help filter out those distractions which might otherwise stimulate the brain.

Physiological Reasons for procrastination can be caused by damage to this are of the brain. A lower than normal level of activation may also lead to physiological procrastination. A classic symptom of this kind of procrastination is the inability to filter out distractions and a distinct lack of organisation.

For people who procrastinate because they feel a task is too overwhelming there are several tactics that work. Firstly divide any tasks you have into small easily manageable chunks. Once you have that then set a deadline for each task and ensure you stick to it.

If you suffer from procrastination on a regular basis there are several things you can do. A visit to a doctor or therapist should be considered and psychiatrists have been know to have excellent results with procrastinators. You should also consider a program like procrastination blaster which in many cases to quickly tackle your procrastination.

Tags: Self Help

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