The 5 Stages of Procrastination
1. The Statement
When starting something you DEFINITELY don’t want to do, all good procrastinators begin on the same note. They state that they’re going to get the job done. By stating it out loud either to your peers or to yourself, saying it out loud makes it real.
It gives you the realization that this is something you need to get done and you WILL get done. The statement stage also comes with an internal voice that says, “this won’t take you that long”, or “you still have 2 weeks to get it done”.
Out of all procrastination stages, this is the longest one. This is the one that continues to justify in your head why you’re not starting this now until you reach stage 2.
2. Fear
Stage 2: fear. As we all know, your fight or flight system kicks in when you’re scared and oh boy, does it kick in when you procrastinate. Some people (non-procrastinators), take this time to start the assignment and finish it with extra time to spare.
Unfortunately, procrastinators do the opposite. The realization that the test or assignment is due soon sends you into a state of shock where you’re actually so scared, you resort to the only thing you know how to do: procrastinate more.
Extra procrastination can come in the form of scrolling through Instagram, binge-watching Netflix, or going out when you DEFINITELY should not be going out.
3. Motivation?
There comes a time with every good procrastinator when you tell yourself that you can definitely get this done. You will pass that test. You will get that A. This is when most procrastinators will tell you, “oh I actually do better when I’m under pressure”.
This is the stage when most procrastinators will go to the library, sit down, headphones in, bring a cup of coffee and try to finish what was due. They speed through their research or they skim through the pages highlighting the most important messages that, of course, they’re going to reread over.
They put in a good few hours of work before convincing themselves that they deserve a break.
4. Acceptance
At some point in the cycle, you get to the final stage: acceptance. The notion that you’ve finally accepted defeat and that you have, once again, screwed yourself over. You begin looking up what the minimum grade you need to pass the class is.
You justify to yourself that it’s just one assignment or just one test. You even begin to give yourself the classic “Grades Do Not Define You” speech as a way of coping with the situation you’ve put yourself in. However, you know you’ve completely messed up and there are two ways to deal with it now.
You can either put yourself through misery or push through the classic day before cram session. Or you can just accept defeat and promise yourself that you’ll do better next time.
5. Repeat
Unfortunately, for all procrastinators, as much as we try to convince ourselves that we won’t put ourselves into this position again, we all know we 100% will. We know soon enough we’ll see ourselves right back to the start of the cycle when we get an assignment and move through the motions once again.
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