Skip to main content

Procrastination? Challenge your Irrational Thoughts


Procrastination is putting off things for another day or doing things that are not productive as an excuse for not doing what is essential. While some procrastinate in certain situations, it becomes a habit for others. They leave dishes in the sink, don’t respond to e-mails, don’t pay bills, put off completing paperwork, finish assignments just before the deadline, or ask for extensions. In the latter group, procrastination becomes a form of avoidance. Psychologists consider avoidance as a maladaptive coping style that relieves one from the mental and/or physical effort of doing a task, reinforcing this behavior. Procrastination can be driven by irrational thought patterns, and sometimes, these are associated with depression and anxiety. The common irrational thoughts that foster procrastination include:
  • “Nothing works.”
  • “This is boring.”
  • “I don’t know where to start.”
  • “I can’t do this.”
  • “This is too hard.”
  • "I am not cut out for this."
  • “I don’t have the time to do this.”
  • “I don’t have the energy to do this.”
  • "I will never be able to get this done. Why bother?"
  • “This may work, but…”
  • “I have to get this perfect, or…”
These thoughts are cognitive distortions, mostly from helplessness, hopelessness, self-doubt, inadequacy, fear of failure or rejection, or perfectionism. You can challenge these irrational thoughts using the following questions and techniques (Duggal, 2016).
  • What evidence do I have that supports the notion that “I can’t do this, or I am not cut out for this, or nothing works?”
  • How helpful is the thought, “I have no energy, or I am always tired” to me? What will happen if I continue to believe this?
  • Is my fear of failing to hold me back from doing this activity?
  • Do I have enough evidence to say, “If I fail at this activity, then I am a total failure?”
  • What is the worst thing that could happen if I did what I am putting off right now?
  • Who says I must complete the whole task, and only then can I feel happy?
  • Am I defeating myself before I start?
  • Can I do this task if I am not feeling depressed?
  • What have I got to lose by trying?
  • Can I challenge myself beyond my comfort zone?
  • Am I self-sabotaging by giving myself irrational justifications? Am I using the “Yes, but…” excuse not to perform a task?
  • Replace “I can’t” with “It is impossible for me.” For example, “I can’t start walking again” will become “It is impossible for me to start walking.” This highlights the irrationality of your thoughts when you ask yourself if this task is really impossible.
  • Substitute beliefs starting with “I wish,” “I hope,” or “Maybe” with “I will.” For example, “I wish I had time to start exercising again” becomes “I will find time to start exercising again.” Words like “hope,” “wish,” and “maybe” are harbingers of procrastination.
These questions and techniques will help you overcome the inertia of getting started with the tasks on your daily schedule. If you are still struggling with procrastination, then it would help to seek guidance from a mental health professional to see if underlying depression, anxiety, or ADHD may be contributing to this.

Check out Dr. Duggal’s Author Page to learn more about evidence-based self-management techniques that promote mental health and well-being.

HARPREET S. DUGGAL, MD, FAPA

REFERENCES

Duggal, H. S. (2016). The Complete guide to self-management of depression. Bloomington, IN: Archway Publishing.







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Value-Based Goals: The Antidote for “Success Depression”

A disconnect between your present accomplishments and your core values may make you suffer from success depression  wherein despite “having it all” (e.g., successful career, stable relationships, healthy children, etc.), you still struggle with depression and view your accomplishments as hollow (Zettle, 2007). The cure for this malaise is to clarify your core values and have goals and actions that are driven by these values. Psychotherapist Russ Harris describes values as our heart’s deepest desires for the way we want to interact with the world, other people, and ourselves. They are what we want to stand for in life, how we want to behave, what sort of person we want to be, and what sort of strengths and qualities we want to develop (Harris, 2009). Values are subjective; what one may consider as a value (e.g., being famous) may be considered as being cocky by another person. Moreover, values do change with time. For instance, you may value social popularity and raising a fa...
Post a Comment
Read more

The 6 Facets of Impostor Syndrome and its Relation to Depression

A lot has been written recently about impostor syndrome, also called impostor phenomenon in scientific literature. Most pop psychology descriptions of this condition, which impairs professional performance and leads to burnout, skew towards making this a syndrome of perceived fraudulence or fear of being seen as fake. However, the fact is that people with impostor syndrome describe a myriad of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and none of the existing scales capture all the facets of this complex and multifaceted syndrome (Mark et al., 2019). Also, contrary to popular belief, impostor syndrome is not limited to highly successful individuals and depends more on how people respond to specific achievement tasks when there is an element of being appraised.  The six facets that define this phenomenon are discussed below: (Bravata et al., 2019; Clance & Imes, 1978; Walker & Saklofske, 2023). 1. Fake: This attribute is the closest to the original conceptualization of imposto...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rumination: A Maladpative Coping Style that Fosters Depression

Rumination is a maladaptive style of responding to stressful situations in which a person repetitively and passively focuses on the symptoms of distress and the possible causes and consequences of these symptoms. Ruminators mistakenly believe that by focusing on their past feelings, they can somehow have a better understanding of their emotions and this will help them solve their problems. The opposite is true: rumination makes people more fixated on their problems and feelings without leading to any active problem-solving to change the circumstances around these symptoms. Research shows that women are more likely to engage in rumination compared to men, which also makes them more prone for depression (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008). Rumination fosters inactivity and can come in the way of getting things done. Many people confuse rumination with worry, but these two entities differ in the following ways (Lyubomirsky et al., 2015): Rumination is focused on the past while worry is fo...
Post a Comment
Read more