Why Do We Procrastinate?

 

If you've ever put off an important task by, say alphabetizing your drawer contents, it WON'T be fair to describe yourself as lazy, right?  After all, alphabetizing requires focus + effort and WHO knows, you went that extra mile to wipe down each item before putting it back.  And it's NOT like you're hanging out with friends OR glued in a non-stop Netflix movie streaming.  So, definitely, that's NOT laziness.  BUT that's one example of PROCRASTINATION.  BUT WHY DO WE PROCRASTINATE???

There was this recent experiment @Harvard WHERE the respondents were asked on something that really interests at all, that is, about SAVING MONEY and NOT a surprise, off hand, 79% [8 out of 10] agreed that they should be saving.  And WHEN they were asked if they want to enroll in a company plan that will deposit 2% of their salary to a savings account, 77% agreed BUT when asked if it can be done as soon as possible, voila, only 30% agreed!@#$%?  There you go.  Same idea.  Same plan.  Same benefits.  The only difference was the timing and there's that huge gap💥💥💥

That small, tiny-whiny adjustment revealed something big.  That is, we DON'T seem to make rational decisions four our future.  Similar studies have been done with good habits even like exercising and even some wellness activities.  The thing is, by default, we humans generally PROCRASTINATE even WHEN we know it hurts us.  WHY this happens and WHAT can we do to pre-empt and mitigate this recurring tendency for us to put off things instead of rolling up our sleeves and take concrete steps.  Again, we tend to circle back to our PROCRASTINATION dilemma😌😌😌

Psychologists tell us that PROCRASTINATION is no less than a behavioral issue.  Today, we want to watch Netflix movies, eat ice cream and spend some of our extra monies.  BUT come tomorrow, we may opt to write something, like a blog OR a book.  OR we'd like to be fit.  OR increase our own financial savings via some savings options.  So, the conflict arises because "TODAY YOU" and "FUTURE YOU" are not aligned❌❌❌

Our takeaway:  So, it's way beyond reasonable doubt [even from the cynics] that our general lack of consistency over time is due to overvaluing the present compared to the future.  The present is concrete and easy to imagine WHILE the future is abstract and much harder to visualize.  There we go, as to WHY we tend to overvalue the present and its rewards for now.  The thing is, even if the future benefits are greater, we tend to prefer the present ones simply because we can picture them more clearly.  So, WHY DO WE PROCRASTINATE dude???