I’ll get to it later. Those are the famous last words of every procrastinator. Because before they know it, the deadline, which seemed so far away, is now staring them right in the face.
Sounds familiar? You’re not alone. More people than you might realize struggle with this terrible tendency, including world leaders and famous artists.
If you or someone you know struggles with procrastination, read this right now. These fifteen facts about procrastination could change how you see it and might even help you beat it.
If you get around to finishing it, that is.
Nearly a quarter of adults are chronic procrastinators.
These are the people who struggle consistently to meet deadlines or even finish projects, falling into the same pattern time and time again.
Almost everyone has put off an important task at least once in their life, though, with about half of all adults describing themselves as people who procrastinate often.
According to some studies, each person spends about 218 minutes, or roughly 55 days out of the year, procrastinating.
75% of procrastinators blame phone notifications for their distraction.
The thing with getting distracted by digital devices is that it’s not always intentional. Sometimes, all it takes is the sound of a notification popping up on your smartphone to divert your attention from work.
Next time you know it, the hours have flown by, and all you’ve done is look at reels of cats all day.
Other digital distractions that also fuel procrastination include binge-watching TV shows, playing video games, and even social media.
88% of workers procrastinate daily.
A self-reported survey in 2019 came up with these results, with a rather staggering admission of over an hour per day of work. That might be a bit of a stretch on average, but it’s not that far-fetched!
The problem with procrastinating at work is that there are more immediate consequences to your actions. Tasks never disappear and instead keep piling up.
Typically, this just snowballs into much bigger issues, such as missed deadlines, poor work quality, and even causes conflicts between coworkers.
In the end, it often comes back to bite you much later.
Procrastination and unnecessary interruptions cost the US economy a staggering $650 billion annually.
Time is money, they say, so time spent not being productive is essentially money lost.
Delaying important tasks means lower productivity, reduced performance, and missed opportunities. Businesses take the biggest hit, having to pay workers for hours spent not working.
Freelance workers and digital nomads also lose out when they procrastinate, and possibly more.
For example, if you earn $40,000 yearly and spend three or more hours a day procrastinating, you could be losing out on over $15,000.
Lack of motivation is the most common reason people procrastinate.
About 41% of people admit that they’ll delay starting a project if they lack the motivation to do it.
Unfortunately, it seems that even looming deadlines might not be enough to get people to work if they find the task boring or simply aren’t interested in it.
Other reasons people procrastinate include not having enough time, lack of urgency, or feeling stuck and unsure of where to begin.
Students are some of the biggest procrastinators.
College students take the lead, with around 80-95% of them admitting they procrastinate regularly.
However, high school students aren’t far behind, with about 86% saying that they’ve intentionally put off schoolwork.
Many are simply struggling to find balance. though.
In between packed class schedules, after-school sports, clubs, part-time jobs, and other distractions, they cope by putting off certain tasks for later.
Students who procrastinate tend to perform worse in school.
If you’re among the 61% of students who admit to watching TV or movies instead of getting started on their assignments, your grades might pay the price.
Waiting until the last minute to start assignments means you have less time to work on them, so you might submit a rushed, poorly done assignment or miss the deadline entirely.
In fact, researchers have found that students who procrastinate on their assignments score 5% lower than their peers on average.
Students who frequently procrastinate are also more likely to drop out of school and less likely to graduate.
Procrastination can worsen your stress in the long run.
At first, procrastination seems like it could be helpful, as pushing tasks to the back burner gives you instant relief. But if you take a closer look, you’d see that what it offers is only temporary.
When scientists looked at students who procrastinate at the start of the semester, they appeared more relaxed and performed better than their peers.
But as the semester came to an end, things took a different turn.
It wasn’t just that they hadn’t done the work and now had to catch up; their stress levels were significantly heightened, and chances of falling ill were greatly increased.
The tendency to procrastinate decreases with age.
The peak age group that procrastinates is between 14 and 29 years old. However, as you grow older, you’re less likely to delay important tasks.
One reason procrastination reduces as you grow older is that you become more mature. Another possibility is that people develop healthier coping skills and appreciate that time is limited as they age.
Procrastination has been linked to some psychological disorders.
This includes, but is not limited to, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
That said, chronic procrastination on its own isn’t a mental health diagnosis, but it can be a valuable clue for professionals when it appears alongside other symptoms.
In some cases, identifying procrastination early can lead to more timely support and treatment for underlying conditions.
Procrastination sometimes helps with creativity.
Believe it or not, there might be a positive side to procrastination. Psychologists believe that delaying certain tasks might help you recharge and get your creative juices flowing.
The key here is to delay only long enough to get fresh ideas, but not long enough that it derails your progress.
If you’re spending the entire time agonizing about the task that needs to be done and not actually refreshing yourself, then it’s probably not too beneficial either.
Animals procrastinate too!
Scientists have conducted multiple studies using pigeons to see how animals respond to tasks with time limits.
In one experiment in the 1990s, pigeons had to peck buttons at specific intervals to receive food.
Surprisingly, many birds chose to delay pecking, even when it meant doing more work later to get the reward.
A similar study in 2018 found the same pattern: pigeons often preferred to wait before starting a task, even if that made things harder.
Leonardo da Vinci never finished the Mona Lisa because he was a notorious procrastinator.
Leonardo Da Vinci’s reputation for delaying art projects far beyond the deadline was well known throughout his career. Take the two versions of The Virgin of the Rocks, for example.
The first version, painted around 1483–1486 for a church in Milan, became entangled in a payment dispute. Leonardo ended up selling or withholding it and later created a second version.
That replacement, painted between the early 1490s and completed by 1508, was the one eventually installed in the chapel.
Some of Da Vinci’s other works, such as the Mona Lisa, were never truly finished (in his eyes, at least). He spent 15 years working on it and passed away before he was truly happy with it.
But laziness wasn’t to blame for Da Vinci’s procrastination. A lifelong perfectionist, he was constantly experimenting with new techniques and often got sidetracked by other projects.
There’s a whole week dedicated to procrastination.
This is the National Procrastination Week, which comes up annually between the first two weeks of March.
But in true procrastination fashion, there’s no set date for this holiday, and it changes each year.
Contrary to what you might think, this event, which began in 2008, isn’t about celebrating laziness or rewarding a poor work ethic. It’s actually to help people turn attention to things they typically neglect.
National Procrastination Week is all about mindful procrastination, where you put the “spare” time towards personal projects, hobbies, or much-needed self-care.
More people procrastinate now than they did 30 years ago.
One of the most widely accepted theories that explains why the rate of procrastination has quadrupled in the last 30 years places the blame on modern technology.
Today, there are countless distractions, including smartphones, social media, movie streaming platforms, and video games.
Even hopping between the countless applications used for work, such as Slack, Asana, and Trello, can give the illusion of being productive, yet contribute to wasted time.
Procrastination isn’t just being lazy, but a complex coping mechanism that’s tough to beat with lots of unpleasant consequences.
It affects the economy, can tank your grades, cut your earnings, and even ruin work relationships.
There’s a surprising twist, though. If you keep the delays to a minimum, you could use procrastination to your advantage to help you recharge!
