Free Essay Sample on Procrastination

‘Procrastination is a fascinating, highly complex human phenomenon,’  (Ferrari et al., 2017). It is the act of delaying an act, it is defined as purposefully deferring a task until the last minute to complete it. Procrastination a fascinating concept there are two types, active and passive, and they are not good or bad. It has been proven, in some circumstances, that procrastination can hinder or aid someone in completing a task therefore it cannot be labelled in black and white. 

Procrastination begins at an early age and has the potential to develop into a habit. Procrastination materializes primarily as a consequence of stress, if something is overly stressful a procrastinator will delay starting or completing the task till the last minute. Procrastination can be attributed to the feeling that stress that comes with a task and someone trying to evade that feeling, one will procrastinate or distract themselves to relieve that pressure for a short period of time. Another is fear of failure, if someone simply doesn’t start then they cannot do it wrong, on top of the fact that if they start the task later and then they can blame their failures on a lack of time rather than blaming it on a lack of intelligence. 

There are two types of procrastination, active and passive. For the most part, it has been taught that procrastination is a hindrance to accomplishing tasks, ‘for young people, it can lead to poor grades, added stress, and the failure to live up to future expectations.’  (Coralia et al., 2012). However, In. recent years it has become apparent that not all procrastination is bad. Perhaps in this article, it was referring to passive procrastination which is ‘the traditional maladaptive type where behaviour is delayed unintentionally, despite known risks of disadvantage to performance,’ (Wessel et al., 2019). On the other hand, active procrastination is when one defers the act to increase motivation. Active procrastination is defined as still doing something useful with your time, an active procrastinator will still be completing other menial tasks whilst putting off the main task at hand. In this aspect procrastination could be a good thing as getting these little tasks out of the way can free time up later to complete the task. 

‘Nearly three out of four college students say they procrastinate.’ according to University of Calgary business school professor Piers Steel. Steel, who has been studying the behaviour for more than 10 years, says that the desire to stop procrastinating is reported as one of the people's top goals worldwide. As discussed, this mindset of ‘procrastination is bad’ is rooted in passive procrastination, that it can only be one thing, however, as with many decisions and phenomena made by us humans, it is not black and white. Even when discussing active vs passive, with passive typically described as bad whilst active is good, even here the lines are blurred. If someone is actively procrastinating by cleaning their room or organising their papers it could still result in a bad outcome, the room might be clean, but that time could’ve been used towards the assignment to get a better grade, and the room could be cleaned after. Accompanied by the fact that if someone was to watch a movie and have a snack one night before studying or doing an assignment it could help them calm down and do the task more efficiently. 

Procrastination is an intriguing notion. There are two kinds: active and passive, and neither is good nor bad. Procrastination has been shown in some cases to either impede or help someone complete a task, therefore it cannot be defined in black and white. Active procrastination typically describes as good can also hinder one’s ability to do tasks as more time is spent on other tasks which can be completed later. Passive procrastination which is regularly perceived as bad could aid someone in finishing a task as if they watch a movie and they become more relaxed the task could be done more efficiently. Procrastination is a concept that is changing and growing and we are learning more about it every day.