Procrastination is defined as the act of delaying or postponing a task, and almost every person on the planet will have done it at some point in their lives. Whether you’re overwhelmed by the task at hand or simply don’t want to do it, procrastination is a natural response. But when does it become a problem?
If you’re concerned you’re a chronic procrastinator, we’ve gathered a series of procrastination examples below so that you can spot the signs and, hopefully, stop them.
18 Real-Life Examples of Procrastination
Stopping procrastination in its tracks isn’t as simple as just saying you’re going to do it. However, if you get to know the examples of what and when you’re procrastinating, you’re much more likely to get to the root of the issue.
Below are procrastination examples in three areas; work, school, and kids. These procrastination examples should help you make an effort to stop procrastinating and get on with even the most arduous tasks when they arise.
Procrastination Examples in Work
Procrastination in work can lead to missing deadlines, losing focus, and jeopardizing your career aspirations. Below are eight procrastination examples you may notice at work.
1. Decision-Making Paralysis
It’s quite common for procrastination to manifest itself as paralysis when it comes to making decisions. This means that when you have to choose between two or more options, you simply freeze. You cannot decide because you’re afraid you’re going to make the wrong decision.
This can often be overcome by employer training in decision-making and research into calculated risks. You should ensure you have all the information possible to make the most informed decision. Employers could also ensure that employees are given support in their decisions.
2. Perfectionism
Wanting to be perfect is an entirely human feeling, and procrastinators are often perfectionists. Fear of failure is a huge aspect of both perfectionism and procrastination and as such, you may put off important tasks and deadlines because you’re worried you’re going to get it wrong.
To overcome this, you should set realistic goals and deadlines, taking into account the time to make alterations. You should also look into better time management if you struggle to reach your goals on time.
Using the SMART acronym is a fantastic way of setting realistic and specific goals that you can actually meet.
3. Lacking Motivation
Unfortunately, sometimes you just don’t want to complete the task. There isn’t any real underlying issue, you just have no motivation to complete it. This often leads to work avoidance or coming up with elaborate ways to not do it.
If you’re lacking motivation, maybe you don’t see value in your work, or you are low on energy. You may benefit from more feedback from supervisors or recognition of your efforts. You should also take the time to find meaning in your work.
4. Poor Time Management and Disorganization
Lacking the proper time management skills can lead to procrastination. It can leave you feeling stressed out about not having enough time to finish your task, which then leads to a fear of failure.
Learning time-blocking, using calendar solutions, and creating to-do lists can make meeting deadlines easier. It can also help you to set small goals that make the whole thing seem much less overwhelming, reducing stress levels.
5. Overthinking
Spending too much time analyzing and thinking about a task can set you on a path to procrastination. To overcome overthinking and rumination about a particular task, it is best to set time limits at this stage of work.
If you need to make a decision before you can start the task, set a limit on how long you can spend thinking. This gives you a goal to aim for and can help you to avoid over-analysis.
Additionally, overthinking can often be a symptom of many mental health conditions, including anxiety and stress. If you think you are overthinking due to anxiety, stress, or another mental health issue, then you must address these concerns with a mental health professional.
6. Lack of Clarity
If the rules aren’t clear, then you’re likely to spend more time overthinking, over-analyzing and generally avoiding the task because you don’t know what you’re doing. If lack of clarity is causing you to procrastinate important tasks, then the best thing to do is ask for more clarity.
Having further guidance on a task and addressing clarity issues with your boss or team members is the only way around this cause of procrastination.
7. Abstract Goals
Abstract goals, or goals without clear deadlines or expectations, can be overwhelming. Like a lack of clarity in instructions, a lack of an end date or ultimate goal can leave you spiraling. As with the above example, asking for firmer deadlines, well-outlined goals, and a clearer picture of the expectations of a project or task is key to getting over procrastination.
8. Chronic or Habitual Procrastination
Sometimes, you’ve just fallen into the habit of procrastination. It means that you’re more prone to procrastination, even if there isn’t an underlying issue that’s causing it.
Some people with mental health issues, like ADHD and anxiety, can be more predisposed to procrastination, but not everyone who procrastinates has these conditions. If you’re concerned about them, though, you should speak with a mental health professional to build effective solutions.
Procrastination Examples in School
If you’ve found that you’re procrastinating at school or in your academic life, you may be worried about how it’s going to affect your grades. Unfortunately, putting off work can lead to missing deadlines, not having enough time for other commitments, and not studying for tests.
Below are a few examples of procrastination in school work and ways that you can resolve the issues and get back on track with your studies.
9. Optimistic Time Goals
It’s a commonly told tale of the student who completes all of their work the night before a deadline, but this is rarely a suitable solution and often leads to rushed assignments. Students are likely to overestimate the time they have left, and indeed, underestimate the time something will take.
To stop yourself from leaving everything until the last minute, you might benefit from breaking down your task into smaller and more manageable tasks. Tasks can be as simpler as ‘write one paragraph today,’ to make the process as simple and manageable as possible.
10. Not Knowing Where to Start
Sometimes there are too many aspects of a project or there is too much to learn in one go and students simply don’t know where to start. If this is where you have found yourself, then there is no need to panic.
If you’re having difficulty beginning a project, then the first thing you need to do is identify the best starting point. This means brainstorming or listing ideas or even trying to type out an introduction, just to get your head in the right place. You could even consider speaking your ideas out loud to hear them back and make sense of them.
11. Poor Study Habits
Study habits can be built from an early age, but if you’ve never had any structure to the way you do your academic work outside of a classroom setting, then you may struggle to get work done on time.
Building better study habits may take some time to establish, but good habits can help to ensure you get on with work when you need to and don’t put it off.
12. Distractions
Everything from social media to friends and family can be a distraction when it comes to academic work. Even if you set the intention of working, it’s incredibly easy to get distracted by your phone, texts from friends, or even internal thoughts.
One of the best ways to avoid this kind of procrastination is to de-clutter your study area, go to a space with minimal distractions, and even remove distractions by blocking social media apps or leaving your phone out of the room while you study.
13. Overwhelm
Overwhelm is a common example of procrastination in students. Sometimes it’s just too much. Like with not knowing where to start, sometimes there is just too much to do, it’s too complex, or too time-consuming, and the task can seem scary to even think about.
This fear can lead to paralysis and a tendency to procrastinate starting the project. As with many of the tips for procrastination on this list, you can reduce the overwhelming nature of an assignment by completing it in bite-size chunks.
14. Too Many Commitments
Lastly, students tend to add activities to their day to make their resume or college applications look better. This can sometimes lead to them taking on too much and not having the time or the brainpower to get things done.
If you’re procrastinating schoolwork because you’re too tired after a day of extracurriculars, you may be taking on too much. While it’s good to add more to your academic resume, if you’re struggling to keep up with academic work, you may need to rethink all you’re taking on.
Procrastination Examples in Kids
If you’re a parent of a child who is procrastinating, you may find that it becomes frustrating. You can see them procrastinating on homework or not doing simple tasks because they’re getting distracted and delaying.
With children, there are a few common themes that make them more likely to procrastinate. These are detailed below, with a few solutions for procrastination examples in children.
15. Difficulty Regulating Emotions
Some children may have difficulty regulating certain emotions. Emotional dysregulation is common in children and adolescents and may even persist into adulthood. This dysregulation can sometimes be a sign of anxiety, depression, ADHD, and Borderline Personality Disorder, but it isn’t always.
Emotion-regulation theory is the idea that procrastination is caused by people prioritizing their short-term mood rather than their long-term goals. They postpone tasks they don’t want to do to avoid the negative emotions that are associated with them.
As the child avoids doing tasks to prioritize feeling better at that point, they begin a cycle of avoiding tasks and then feeling guilt, shame, and worry about the task they have been putting off. By not being able to deal with these emotions, they then procrastinate more, feel more guilt, and so on.
You can do a few things for children struggling with emotional dysregulation that leads to procrastination. These include
- Working out what fears are stopping them from working in the first place
- Helping them to increase self-compassion and encourage them to forgive themselves for past procrastination
- Helping them to break the tasks down, starting with smaller goals and moving on to larger goals
16. Fatigue
Tiredness is a common procrastination example. If your child doesn’t have the energy to do something, the chances are they’re going to put it off. Consider how much sleep they’re getting, how many commitments they have, and what they’re procrastinating.
17. They Don’t Understand The Task
Not understanding the task is a really common reason for procrastination, even in adults. You must make sure your child understands what is expected, whether it’s housework or a simple household chore. Make sure they know that they can come to you for a better explanation of the task if they need it.
18. They Can Get Away With It
Your kids can be pretty smart and if they have worked out which is the more lenient parent or how to tell when you’re bluffing, they are unlikely to complete the tasks you ask them to. If you constantly let them off for household chores, or they leave it until you do it yourself, then they’re much more likely to procrastinate.
You could solve this issue by setting deadlines for chores or swapping chores for something they enjoy more.
Time to Stop Procrastinating
If you or your child is struggling with procrastination and you don’t know how to overcome it, then a procrastination app could come in useful! The Virtue Map app is a fantastic anti-procrastination tool that you can use to take back control of your life and kick procrastination to the curb. Check it out now.
Conclusion
Procrastination is common for adults, teens, and children alike. Often, there is a reason that we are procrastinating, and working out why is the easiest way to put a stop to it. Our 18 procrastination examples should give you a broader idea of the signs to look out for.
The key in most cases is to make the work more manageable, by breaking it down, and ensuring that the end goal is as clear and achievable as possible.
FAQs
What is a common procrastination example in kids?
Kids may procrastinate something if they don’t know where to begin. If they have been given an overwhelming task, that will take up lots of time, or is too complex for them to break down, then they will put it off. Help them out by breaking it down and encouraging them to achieve a series of small and manageable goals.
What example of procrastination is the most common in everyday life?
Social media is one of the most common procrastination examples in everyday life. This is a form of distraction, and people often put off tasks for hours while scrolling through social media. If you’ve got a deadline or an important task to do, consider blocking social media apps or even locking your phone away until the task is done.
