It is no hidden fact that every person has tended to procrastinate at some point in their life. Faced with an important deadline, we may busy ourselves with low-priority tasks like cleaning our rooms or attempt to distract ourselves with the latest TV show on Netflix. Often, it may be the case that we desperately want the task to be completed as soon as possible but we just can’t seem to focus. We may insist on “just one more episode!” or “I’ll start by 10 AM” despite knowing that there’s a real chance we’ll only notice the time by 10:03, leading us to burrow deeper into our man-made cocoons and soothe the impending sense of doom by declaring we’ll start working at 11 AM. As the cycle continues, we’ll probably start working by 8 PM, feel pressurized by the sheer volume of work, manage to submit a second before the deadline, and promise ourselves that we won’t fall prey to procrastination again.

Why do we still break that promise and procrastinate then?
One explanation for it is anxiety. Some of us may worry over the smallest details of the task to keep up with our desire for perfection. Parallelly, we may fear failure in performing the task well or be afraid of criticism or negative feedback. As these fears along with our need for perfection loom over our heads, we feel an increasing sense of anxiety. We try to put off the task until we don’t feel anxious and we’re in a comfortable state of mind. Watching a TV show, reading a book, or scrolling endlessly on social media are excellent short-term methods of distracting ourselves from the anxiety churning within us. However, as soon as we’re done engaging with them, we become increasingly aware of the impending task, and our anxiety returns with increased fervor.

This becomes a vicious cycle: our feelings of anxiety provoke us to put off our task and procrastinate which makes us feel more anxious about the closely-approaching deadline which makes us procrastinate further to alleviate the anxiety and so on. At some point, the intense pressure to complete the task becomes strong enough to beat our anxiety driven by fear of failure and the need for perfection. We stop procrastinating and start working.

It’s easy to beat ourselves up for procrastinating. The never-ending cycle of procrastination and anxiety may even be falsely reduced to laziness. We don’t intend to procrastinate but we can’t seem to help it simply because anxiety is uncomfortable and distressing. When you find yourself procrastinating, try to figure out what exactly is preventing you from completing the task. Knowing your enemy gives you a chance to figure out how to defeat it. A possible solution to procrastination is rejecting an all-or-nothing mindset We often believe our first draft has to be absolutely perfect for it to be worthwhile. However, we forget that first drafts do not have to be our final product. First drafts exist for the sole purpose of brainstorming ideas into one blank space and are not intended to be perfect! All the things that make a perfect final product — structure, organization, and editing — can come later.

We may be trapped in the vicious cycle of procrastination and anxiety every once in a while but you can always break out of it. So, take your time, breathe, and take that first step to work on that task which probably won’t take longer than thirty minutes anyway. Good luck!