Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Procrastination.

Procrastination, according to dictionary.com, refers to the postphonement of doing something, usually out of habitual carelessness or laziness.

Why do we seem to procrastinate so much? Be it completing and submitting an important assignment, paying bills on the last day of the deadline or filing one's taxes on the last day itself, most of us seem to have a habit of leaving things until the last minute before rushing to complete our tasks.

Is this behaviour something we were born with, or did we look at those around us and decide it was ok to do it since everyone was doing it? I know of friends who have weeks ahead of them to complete assignments at their own leisure, yet they continuously put off doing anything until the day before the deadline and it suddenly sinks in that they have less than 12 hours to complete a 3000 word essay. Not that I've never been guilty of similar behaviour as well.

It's not only students who have this habit of procrastinating. Given ample time to file their taxes before the deadline and the Internet as an alternative platform to filling out forms, Singaporeans were still seen in long lines outside the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) on the last day to file one's taxes, with many citing the lack of time to do so earlier.

Are we really so short of time that we must leave everything to the last minute, or are we merely pushing everything back with the excuse that we'll have time for it some other day?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are some of us who have ample time to finish things, but there are also some who are really busy with work, taking care of their family and school all at the same time. In my perspective, it is not an excuse to leave everything to the last minute because there is always time to finish everything off earlier. However, we can't deny unforseen circumstances do happen and some people work better under the pressure of datelines. Although I'm against procastination, I can't deny that I've put off things to the last minute as well. This is one of the common behaviours some people share. :)

yann yu said...

I am so guilty of procrastination! Maybe doing work is so aversive that we keep doing other non relevant stuff to avoid it? I hate myself for procrastinating. But I just can't stop doing it. Maybe I just don't want to face the fact that I have work not done? I guess maybe we should all be shocked when we procrastinate and given a candy when we do our work eh? Maybe then procrastinating would seem more aversive. Heh. Just a little thought of mine =P

Anonymous said...

I am so guilty of procrastination ever since i started university. I never used to be like that in high school because i guess i had teachers who were always on my back. In universities, lecturers and tutors are not constantly on your backs for they expect you to be independent and responsible.

xuan said...

I suppose most people would procrastinate once in awhile. I personally procrastinate especially when it is something that i do not have interest on or when the task was too tough. I suppose it takes lots of motivation and independence to actually kick this bad habit of mine.

Jocelyn said...

Hey YY, I think people procrastinate because the task that they are supposed to do is not something that they enjoy, and at that point in time, they might feel that there is ‘something’ that is more enjoyable for them to perform, thus they just keep pushing back stuff which they do not like. Like myself, I would rather spend my excess time doing non-relevant stuff such as watching tv or going shopping, rather than doing essays or even studying for exams unless it’s really really really close to the dateline, lol…