Often procrastination is the offset of Prioritization. It is an opposing force and acts as a couplet to neutralize the effects of Prioritization. In Healthcare we often quote the example of crisis du jour, i.e. crisis of the day, meaning there is one every day, so the workers get accustomed to the new normal and prioritize the work from urgent to important and the day goes on as it is. Procrastination takes the steam off the workload pressure from Prioritization.

While many may confuse procrastination to be transient and therapeutic, it most certainly is not. The sense of overwhelm feeds one of the common patterns that they struggle with: the perfectionism-procrastination-paralysis cycle. It’s our brain that is not buying our plan. For many, the idea of accomplishing a task in a less-than-perfect way may be grounds enough to say, “Forget it!” It may be a well-laid-out plan with a small flaw that may jeopardize the mission, so our brain stalls it further until perfection.

A longitudinal study of the costs and benefits of procrastination, performance and stress found that “procrastination is a self-defeating behaviour pattern characterized by short-term benefits and long-term costs, including an increase in mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem”.

Try to keep your tasks bite-sized. The smaller the task the faster the output hence less energy investment and higher returns on task accomplishment. While the world is drawn to SMART devices, be the one to form SMART goals i.e. (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound)