Why do we procrastinate? This is a common question we often ask ourselves, with virtually everyone able to relate to the bad habit of putting things off. But why do we do it? And how can we prevent this? 

The word “procrastination” is defined as “the action of delaying or postponing something” where billions of people worldwide everyday actively make a decision not to do a necessary action or task until later, eventually causing stress and work overload. This leads to the question - what is the scientific reason behind procrastination? Most of it comes down to the brain. The limbic system in the brain is one of the most dominant, as well as oldest, parts of your brain. This system controls quick decision-making and plays a pivotal role in triggering the familiar fight-or-flight response you’ve probably heard of. This part of the brain is connected to the prefrontal cortex, a newer and less dominant part of the brain which regulates our thoughts, actions and emotions on a deeper and more complex level.

However, the limbic system’s dominance very often wins the battle of procrastination, meaning our body decides to do what will feel good now, despite being aware of the possible future consequences. We choose to delay the engagements we need to attend to and issue an immediate reward, claiming that we will work better under pressure. Despite this being an effective method for some people, the majority can work better without the stress, once they use discipline and effort to stop themselves from procrastinating.

So how can we achieve this? We may have all at least attempted to stop procrastinating before, but how can we make this permanent, instead of something that happens once before we revert to our old habits?

First of all, simplicity. We need to accept that attempting to overwhelm ourselves with an unrealistic workload every day could perhaps make the situation worse, even though we know we have to start now to get everything done. By spacing things out through the week and making a plan of what to achieve every day, decision-making will become much easier, and getting things done will start to feel less like a chore. 

Another way to prevent yourself from procrastinating is to adjust your environment. Sometimes staying at home all day to “get things done” is actually counterproductive since we have no one but ourselves to motivate us to get something finished. Going to a social environment to get work done such as a cafe, or a library is deemed as a very effective method to complete tasks, as you feel pressured to make a start when you see others doing what you should be doing around you. 

In conclusion, we need to accept that procrastination is common and to forgive ourselves for procrastinating in the past, instead looking to the future to improve and get done what we need to.