Procrastinator or people who have the habit of procrastinating is a habit that many people try to find a way to solve or really want to cut off this bad habit. But in reality, it’s not as easy as it seems. So how do we deal with it if we really want to fix the habit of procrastinating?
I have this problem too, but it’s not about procrastinating with everything, but only with some things. Once, when I was in university, in my 4th year, it was only 2 weeks before midterm exams and 1 month before presenting my final project. When I realized this, I was very alert. I thought that other people must be the same as me. I tried to find books to read for the midterm exams, tried to write a chapter or two of my project so that I could make some progress, but I couldn’t do anything.
In the end, I ended up staying up for 2 consecutive days to study for the midterm exam, and staying up for another 3 days before presenting the project because I hadn’t finished my work in the past. I had wasted a lot of my time, using it to turn on the computer, listen to music, watch movies, play games, turn off the computer, go out, and before I knew it, the deadline to submit the work had arrived.
“We just want to enjoy the moment when people say, ‘We are awesome!’”
Tim Urban started a blog about procrastinators because he was one of them. He said that when he was in school, he had to submit a lot of papers, but he always did this: “Procrastinate.” He wrote a 90-page thesis in 72 hours because he had that much time, even though he had a year to do it. However, even though it was a rush job, he still expected the best out of the 72 hours he had to do it. The result was, “This is a terrible thesis. It’s really bad.”
“In reality, sleep deprivation is not something we should do.”
Even though people say, “I’ve been sleepless for this task,” to make it seem like we’re really dedicated to it, in reality, it shows our own mismanagement of time. In the beginning, we have some motivation that if we finish quickly, we’ll be free later. But because there’s a lot of time, those motivations are dismissed. In the middle of the time, we see the remaining time at the end. And when we get to the end, this is when the motivation is so strong that we can’t refuse, causing us to stay up all night to finish it.
Monkeys love having fun with rational decision-makers.
When he scanned the brains of procrastinators and non-procrastinators, Tim found two distinct characters. The non-procrastinators had a rational decision maker in their brains, while the fun-loving monkeys had total control over the procrastinators’ brains.
“Because monkeys don’t like plans and always say, let’s go do something fun.”
When we let this monkey control our brain, all our plans will fall apart because the monkey doesn’t like our work plans. The monkey doesn’t like working or having to do boring things. If we turn on the computer to work, the monkey will invite us to watch a movie. Or if we try to read a book, the monkey will invite us to go open the refrigerator to find something to eat. Or invite us to do other activities that will not have to follow the plans we have, such as eavesdropping on the neighbors’ conversations instead.
“Monkeys have no memory of the past and no idea of the future.”
The monkey that controls our brains will make us forget our reason, principles and duties. The only thing that will interest us is anything that is “easy and fun”. It does not have to be useful. It does not have to work according to the plan because those things are very boring. And if choosing to live like this is okay if we live in the animal world, such as being a dog, a cat or a monkey, etc.
“Because monkeys don’t know how to live civilized lives like humans.”
Even though humans are considered a species on this planet, we don’t just eat and sleep. We live a civilized life, which the monkey in our heads definitely can’t do. A rational decision maker must be the one to do that. He will make us do things that are reasonable, such as working now or we will definitely be crushed by work in two weeks, or we need to start studying if we don’t want to cram three subjects in one night, etc.
“A dark playground”
When entertainment occurs at the wrong time, this dark playground is not so much fun. Most of the people who come to play feel guilty, anxious, scared, stressed or even hate themselves while they are in the playground. Because no matter how much entertainment we consume, deep down inside our brains we know that it is wrong and it is not the right time to use our valuable time to find entertainment like this. However, even if we choose to do the right thing, we still choose not to do it and are still willing to step into this dark amusement park.
“Do you know what monkeys are afraid of?”
The monkeys can’t control our minds forever, and we can’t stay in that dark playground forever. We can thank the Guardian Angel, aka the Mad Monster, who often shows up to chase the monkeys away and chase us off the playground too. He also kindly calls back the rational decision-maker. Unfortunately, he usually shows up just when we’re running out of time, right around the time our deadline is approaching.
“When the mad monster appears, everything is a disaster.”
It may seem like good news that something has chased away the monkey in our head and we can finally get back to work, but we find that the monster comes out because time is running out, disaster is approaching, we start to panic along with the monster in our head because none of the work we have been putting off getting done is done, and it is at that moment that we have to stay up all night to finish all the pending work again.
“Because of the deadline, procrastination ends easily.”
Even though you are a procrastinator, you come to work on the last few days, but the work is completed on the deadline. Some people may think, what’s the problem? Many people choose to be happy with the time they have and choose to suffer for a few days after that, but the work is completed just the same. Of course, we may think this way, because those types of work have deadlines. Procrastination is a short-term problem that ends only on the deadline.
“Procrastination without a deadline”
Not every job that comes into our lives will have someone set a deadline for it. For example, working in an investment company, working in art, or working in music, if there is work, there will be money, being a freelancer with no deadlines, or living a life like visiting family in the provinces, visiting family members in the hospital, taking care of your own health, or walking out of a relationship that didn’t work out, etc.
“Frequent procrastination often leads to long-term regret.”
Examples of words like “I’ll do it later,” “I’ll do it tomorrow,” “I’m not in a hurry,” or “I’ll do it later.” These are words that we often choose to postpone starting something. Even though we intend to use them to postpone it for a while, sometimes it can mean bringing us long-term regret that we might not have expected. This is especially true if the issue of our procrastination is related to our future, such as a scholarship opportunity, a better job position, a job with a leading company, or even the lives of our loved ones and your own life.
“Because we don’t have that much time, maybe there’s only time left today.”
None of us have enough time in our lives to do everything we want, but we spend that precious time procrastinating. If we had started doing it right away, later on we wouldn’t have to rush through the task so sloppily. We could have used the remaining time later to do something more useful, happier, and less tiring. But it’s up to us. We’re the only ones who can bring a rational decision maker into the fun-loving monkey’s shoes all the time, and we can do it without waiting for the mad monster to show up.
Conclusion
Procrastinator is a habit that many people try to find a way to solve or really want to get rid of this habit. We all have excuses for the monkey to have fun in our brains, such as today we are tired, today we are sleepy, today we are not in the mood to work. We create many reasons to support the blame instead because we ourselves do not want to accept the blame for not wanting to work today. The only solution that can be done is to work. Therefore, do not let the monkey have power over you. No one knows when our time will run out and we will not be able to procrastinate anymore.
“People who procrastinate aren’t depressed because they can’t pursue their dreams, they’re frustrated because they don’t even pursue them.”
Inside the mind of a master procrastinator | Tim Urbanim Urban
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