Everybody procrastinates, especially teenagers. And the sad thing about this bad habit is that it comes with immense disadvantages. Leaving tasks undone until the last minute typically results in low-quality work performance and in some cases may lead to a lot more serious consequences. Take for instance, when teenagers who always procrastinate doing their assignments consistently get lower grades. And this has consequences as you may well know. So seeing as there is no good associated with procrastination, why then do teenagers procrastinate a lot? Please see reasons below:
ABSENCE OF STRUCTURE: The lack of imposed direction that’s become commonplace in schools and homes might contribute to the increase in procrastination. In other words, when there are no set regulations stipulating and enforcing the need for hard work among students both at schools and in homes, teenagers may likely become lackadaisical in studying; a situation that will definitely lead to procrastination. One solution to this problem is to design the school and home environments in ways that will incite and facilitate teenagers to learn.
UNPLEASANT TASKS: The most significant predictors of procrastination among teens are those tasks they consider unpleasant, boring, or uninteresting. Examples include- studying, doing household chores and generally being productive. Frankly speaking, nobody likes doing what they naturally find boring. But since it just so happens that we cannot do without boring jobs, it will be better to find ways of coping with them rather than procrastinating them only to still come back to them later. Therefore, one strategy to deal with unpleasant tasks is to divide and conquer. Shift your focus from the ultimate goal to a series of easy to complete, intermediate tasks.
TIMING: Another important factor is the timing of the reward and punishment; the point of choice and the associated consequences are separated in time. A gap like this produces internal conflict between future and present interests. Procrastination occurs when present efforts are highly noticeable in comparison with future ones, leading individuals to postpone tasks without anticipating that when it comes time to do them, the required action will be delayed yet again. The solution is to find a way to make long-term goals feel more like short-term rewards. Associate tasks with the positive outcomes of doing them…
ANXIETY: Avoidance is a well-known form of coping with anxiety. Procrastinators may postpone getting started because of a fear of failure. Evidence indicates that procrastination is associated with high levels of stress. Therefore, to relieve stress, procrastinators shift their focus away from the future towards more immediate rewards in order to avoid high-priority, yet challenging tasks. Finding ways to reduce stress can strengthen an individual’s capacity to reduce procrastination.
SELF-CONFIDENCE: When difficulties arise, people with weak self-confidence easily develop doubts about their abilities to accomplish the tasks, while those with strong beliefs are more likely to continue their efforts. When low self-confidence causes people to avoid activities, they miss opportunities to acquire new knowledge and skills. For example, a teenager with a low sense of confidence for math may avoid attending the Math class or even doing Math assignments. This will therefore deprive the student of valuable skills development experiences. In contrast, goal attainment may raise feelings of self-confidence, which can result in a person setting even more challenging goals.
