Procrastination as a Cause of Stress and Anxiety: One Teacher's Quest to Conquer It

Table of Contents:

The Vicious Cycle: My Rationale

The Research Question: How can I reduce my procrastination-induced stress/anxiety level?

My Methods

My Findings

Conclusions/Key Takeaways

Data Sources

Literature Links

The Vicious Cycle: My Rationale

Look at the image to the left. THIS. IS. ME.

If there were such a thing as 'Procrastinator's Anonymous' I would be a member, introducing myself every meeting with "My name is Sheri, and I am a chronic procrastinator." Seriously, I have been one for as long as I can remember! I am well aware of the saying ‘Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today,’ and I have told myself MANY times that I need to take heed of this wise adage, but yet - I don’t listen. This stresses me out, because I am constantly aware of what I need to do, and also that I am not doing it.

Let me give you some context:

I was the high school student who always waited until the ~~day~~ night before a term paper was due to start writing it; the university student who realized in March she still had 7 novels and 4 Shakespeare plays to read with only a month left of school (true story!); the housewife who puts off weeks’ worth of cleaning and tries to get it all done the day guests are coming over; the overweight person who plans EVERY WEEK to start the diet ‘next Monday’; and the teacher who finds ANYTHING to distract her from grading three classes worth of essays! I have had a recurring nightmare, for years now, where I am a student falling so far behind that I FAIL. (I know, there are worse things to have nightmares about, but, having completed university nearly twenty years ago, I believe this nightmare is a manifestation of my procrastination-induced stress. And I would rather not have nightmares). I know that this is an area I can improve upon, and one that affects both my personal and professional life.

My Kryptonite: Any task I should do

After years of psycho-analyzing myself, I have realized that my procrastination stems from any task that I feel pressured, in some way or another, to complete. I then avoid that task like the plague. I can't write it off as laziness, because the vast majority of the time, I find something else to occupy my time: organizing closets, baking, researching teaching methods... things that are useful to complete/work on, but don't have that ~~ominous~~, ~~do-it-or-die~~, nagging deadline attached. I feel a sense of accomplishment for 'doing stuff' but it is accompanied by a sense of anxiety that I didn't do the 'right' stuff. It doesn't matter if the thing I am putting off has personal or professional connotations... in both instances, I tend to put things off until 'tomorrow,' or 'next week,' or 'when I have the time' (which rarely happens, by the way). The longer I put things off, the more my anxiety builds, and the more my anxiety builds, the harder it is to make myself tackle the task. It is cyclical (again, see the image above!), and at times paralyzing.

The Research Question: How can I reduce my procrastination-induced stress/anxiety level?

My tendency to procrastinate knows no boundaries - it equally affects both my personal and my professional life. As such, I decided to give my research a dual-focus on two areas of chronic procrastination that I need to improve upon: one in my personal life, and one in my professional life. For my personal goal, I decided to try out (and stick with!) a diet and exercise plan - something that I have been putting off until 'next Monday' for far too long. For my professional life, I decided to focus on interview preparation. Every June I end up facing the job interview rounds feeling apprehensive and unprepared, so my hope is that if I stop putting it off until 'tomorrow' and prepare in advance (rather than the ~~day~~ night before), I will be less stressed.

The stick figure on the left fairly accurately depicts my mental state at the beginning of the research process: someone who is perpetually stressed/anxious because procrastination has become a bad habit that has taken over my life, rather than just occasionally rearing its less-than-attractive head. The stick figure on the right depicts where I want to be: someone who is prepared and productive, and not constantly worrying about the things I haven't done. My hope is that by structuring my goals in a way that minimizes the tendency to procrastinate, I can reach those elusive goals that characterize the stick figure on the right.

My Methods

Stress-Level Testing

I determined that one way to track whether or not procrastination affected my stress level was to track it. I started off by taking an online stress test, from the website psycom.net, which is a mental health resource site. Though I personally felt that procrastination-related stress was affecting me, I wanted to get confirmation of this from an outside source. The image below is a screenshot of my results: according to the test, I have a moderate indication of high stress, with the needle sitting between orange and yellow on the gauge. So, this is proof that I am experiencing stress, and probably relatively accurate in it's measurement - as someone who was currently unemployed (due to Covid) at the time I took the test, my stress level overall was lower than when I was working full time.

In addition to taking this test at the start of my research, I decided to track my stress level at the end of each day, as a type of quantitative data. I used a scale of 1-10, with 1 being completely relaxed and stress-free, and 10 being stressed to the max.

This stress level test was quick and easy to do, and appears to be accurate.

If you would like to try it yourself, please click on the image on your left to be taken to the website.

Journal Records

I also decided to write a journal entry each day, where I recorded how I was feeling in regards to my anti-procrastination journey, and any pertinent observations or, if I may be so bold, epiphanies that I might have. The journal entries constitute my qualitative date - they aren't measurable per se, but were immeasurably helpful in determining what works and what doesn't work for me personally. These journal entries include more detailed information about my 'aha' moments than what I am including here - the link is in my 'Data Sources' section below, if you wish to read a more in-depth account of my journey.

My Findings

I must say that this journey was interesting, and I definitely see the value in it - I appreciate the opportunity to research an area of myself that needs work, as I can use the results of this research to better understand, and therefore improve myself, as both a person and a teacher.

First, the results of my daily stress level records. When I did my baseline test (results shown above), I rated my stress level at about 8/10. I was feeling stressed out in both my personal and professional life. I felt like I was lacking a sense of direction, and that I kept falling further and further behind, because I was neglecting to work towards some long-term goals that I have had. I tracked my stress level every day for two weeks, as I worked towards my goals. Below are the results, in the form of a line graph. I started out by recording my overall stress level, but as I moved further along in my research, I noticed that my relative stress level for my personal and professional goals was different. Therefore, this is why you see the line split into two on May 31 - I stopped tracking my overall stress level, and changed to tracking my personal stress level and my professional stress level separately.

As you can see, my stress level in general trended downward, for both my personal and professional goals, as I continued along with my experiment. There were occasional 'blips' where my stress level jumped back up, but these were largely due to overall stressful events (like the news we were going back to school, after being told we wouldn't be going back to school), so I consider them outliers. I am pleased to report that I feel a reduction in stress overall (though admittedly less so with my professional goal). I have recorded an abbreviated list of the most important things I learned on my journey in a 'Conclusions/Key Takeaways' section; but I also delve into the specifics of some of my most enlightening findings in the 'Optional Reading' section immediately below.

My Findings Explained: Optional Reading

Something in particular that I noticed while conducting my research on procrastination was that I seemed to be succeeding in reducing my stress level more in my personal (diet/exercise) goal than in my professional (interview preparation) goal. Even though I was thinking about my interview prep goals, and putting some effort into planning/researching for my interviews, it was something I was putting off - I was only putting the minimum of effort in, and I was avoiding doing it until the end of the day, when I was tired and just wanted to relax. In contrast, I was making sure that I ate on target, got in all of my steps, and performed my targeted workouts... always earlier on in the day. I was putting more effort into this goal, and I questioned why this was. I came to the conclusion that there were two key differences between my goals: Control and Results/Incentives. When it came to my diet/exercise goals, I was in complete control. I decided what to put in my mouth, and I decided how and when to move my body. I was also able to see results early on in the process, which provided me with motivation, and incentive to keep going and NOT procrastinate. On the other hand, when it came to my interview preparation goals, I had virtually no control. Sure, I could control what I prepared for, but the work I did was in preparation for the interview process, in which I have zero control. And there was also nothing tangible in terms of results/incentives. The incentive/reward is that I might get a job after all of this work... however, in the past I have been lucky to even get an interview, let alone get a job. It is a lot of work to do for a mere possibility. I liken it to playing the lottery - you invest in something that might get you a reward, but likely won't. And I am not someone who plays the lottery.

Another key observation I made was that I seemed to have more success when I had rest or cheat days built into my schedule. I am the sort of person who, once I have created a schedule for myself, tells myself every day that I MUST complete what is on the schedule. Depending on how far down a procrastination rabbit-hole I am, this could mean doing it all on schedule; or, it could mean avoiding what is on the list, but continually stressing about it. However, this all-or-nothing attitude isn't really sustainable - the saying 'everything in moderation' is a good one to follow here. Trying to do all of the things, all of the time, is a great way to over-exert myself, resulting in a crash-and-burn scenario. I made this observation after I noticed that I had built-in rest and 'cheat' days on my diet/exercise plan, and this was working for me far better than my interview prep plan, which didn't include any breaks. HOWEVER, there is a caveat to this: I know myself well enough to know that I am one who takes advantage of breaks... A scheduled one-day break can quickly turn into a week-long break. I need to be strategic in planning my breaks, so that they don't easily snowball out of control. For example, I should plan a 'cheat' meal in the middle of the week, when I have a more structured schedule, rather than on a weekend... because a Friday night cheat meal can quickly become a cheat weekend.

As I continued on my journey, I noticed something else that I believe was a positive by-product of my personal diet/exercise goal: I was happier! Overall, I had more energy, and just felt better about things. Though my interview prep goal wasn't as successful as my diet/exercise one, and I wasn't accomplishing all of my goals, I wasn't totally stressing out about that. I was feeling happier in general as a person. This is contrary to my past experience of the attempted interview prep process. From my limited knowledge of the science of healthy eating and exercise, I believe the healthy foods I have been putting in my body, and the endorphins released via exercise, are contributing to my overall sense of well-being.

Conclusions/Key Takeaways

While I have mentioned what would technically be considered conclusions within my 'Findings' sections above, I wanted to isolate my key takeaways (A.K.A. 'personal epiphanies') from everything else, so that they don't get lost. So, here are the main things I am taking away from this adventure/experiment in procrastination:

1. 1. In order for me to have even the tiniest modicum of hope in kicking the procrastination habit, I need to create visual checklists/schedules... so that I can tangibly see what it is that I need to do, and physically check off items once complete. This provides a sense of satisfaction, in addition to a visual measurement of my progress.
  2. I need to schedule 'down time' like cheat/rest days into my checklist schedule, or I risk burning out and falling back on old (procrastination) habits.
  3. I need to plan my 'cheat/rest' days strategically, so that one day doesn't become two, become three, become four, etc.
  4. I am highly motivated by rewards.
  5. The more control I have over the outcome of whatever project/goal I'm working towards, the higher my chance of success. When I have no control over the outcome, there is less motivation to put in a lot of work, because there is less possibility of getting a reward at the end.
  6. A healthy diet and regular exercise contribute to me feeling better in all aspects of my life.

On a final note, I have to be honest in saying that I don't believe I will ever NOT be a procrastinator. After doing a little research (study of pre-existing literature AFTER my own personal research), I believe that procrastination is an inherent part of my nature, my personality, what makes me ME. However, I do believe that what I have learned can help me manage my procrastination habits. Similar to a program for addicts, like AA - a series of things that I can do, that help me deal with something that will always be trying to sneak back into my life.

Data Sources

I would be remiss as a researcher if I didn't include a link to my data sources as part of my research. My data collection was entirely personal (all primary, rather than secondary or tertiary sources), so all of the linked documents/sites are of my own creation - they may not look über professional, but they worked for me!

Please click on the images below to be taken to the individual sites where you can view my sources.

Journal

My blog, created for the purposes of journaling my research, is titled "Can I 'Quit' Procrastination?" As per blog format, entries are in reverse-chronological order, with my most recent posts appearing first. However, I did record all of my daily experiment posts under the same entry to provide ease of reading in chronological order.

Daily Checklists

To help keep myself focused on my goals, I created some trackers to fill out daily. This is in the form of Google Sheets - one tab is for my personal goal (diet/exercise); the other tab is for my professional goal (interview prep).

Literature Links

I feel it is important to note that I did NOT consult any pre-existing research/literature on procrastination prior to conducting my research, as I did not want what I learned to influence my self-research. However, I did read some articles AFTER I had completed my self-research, for the purpose of self-enrichment. Below are some good articles that I found.

"Why Wait? The Science Behind Procrastination" by Eric Jaffe

"Why You Procrastinate (It Has Nothing to Do With Self-Control)" by Erik Winkowski

"On the Behavioral Side of Procrastination: Exploring Behavioral Delay in Real-Life Settings" by Frode Svartdal et. al.

"Tips for Dealing with Procrastination When You Have Social Anxiety" by Arlin Cuncic

"Stop Procrastination and Eliminate Anxiety - Here's How" by Alicia H. Clark

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