If you’ve ever wondered how to stop procrastinating, new research from the University of Tokyo has highlighted how being more optimistic can help you fight back against the phenomenon.
Whether you are heading towards burnout or you’ve simply fallen behind on your to-do list, procrastination is a feeling we all know and dread. Getting past it can be easier said than done, especially if you find yourself bed rotting in a human burrito made from your duvet.
How to stop procrastinating
Graduate student Saya Kashiwakura has always had an issue with procrastinating, so decided to delve into the topic at her University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
“I have struggled with procrastination since childhood. I would clean my room when I needed to study for a test and prioritize Aikido practice over my postgraduate research. This habit of putting off important tasks has been a constant challenge,” she said. “I wanted to change my behavior, as I realized that I was not confronting the future impact of my actions.”
When starting her research, Saya was shocked by how many people were also battling against procrastination. Though this made her feel less alone in her mental health fight, she was more inspired than ever to find a fix.
Thinking about the relationship between procrastination and the procrastinator’s sense of time, Saya looked at previous studies that identified how procrastinators disregard future consequences. Though said research found that people had difficulty linking present-day procrastination with future outcomes, they were unsure of the reason.
Saya, along with co-author Professor Kazuo Hiraki, surveyed 296 Japanese citizens all around the age of 20. They were asked about their lives from 10 years in the past, to 10 years in the future, before being sorted into four separate groups. Each group was then designated a procrastinator rank of either severe, middle, or low.
One mindset rose above the rest
Through their study, Saya and Professor Kazuo Hiraki were able to highlight how optimistic people were less likely to fall into “severe procrastination habits.”
Saya explained: “Our research showed that optimistic people — those who believe that stress does not increase as we move into the future — are less likely to have severe procrastination habits.
“This finding helped me adopt a more light-hearted perspective on the future, leading to a more direct view and reduced procrastination.”
The research team hopes that their study can be used to encourage optimistic mindsets as a method of fighting against procrastination.
We hope our findings will be particularly useful in the education sector. We believe that students will achieve better outcomes and experience greater well-being when they can comprehend their procrastination tendencies scientifically, and actively work on improving them, rather than blaming themselves,” added Saya.
“Thoughts can change with just a few minutes of watching a video or be shaped by years of accumulation. Our next step is to investigate which approach is appropriate this time, and how we can develop the ‘right’ mindset to lead a happier and more fulfilling life.”
Their findings were published in the Scientific Reports journal.
