Procrastination

Whoever said, “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today,” obviously never set foot on a medical school campus! While procrastination is a common behavior for most of us, it seems to have a particular place in the world of medicine. Waiting until the last minute to complete mundane or unpleasant tasks is common in medical settings.

Common reasons for procrastination are: 1) fear of failure; 2) poor time management; 3) tendencies toward perfectionism; and/or 4) anger about having to complete the task in the first place. Another reason for procrastination, although less talked about, is that having a bunch of unfinished tasks makes it so we never run out of things to do! Although it sounds funny, having a lot on our “to do” list can make us feel busy all the time. That way we never have to worry about what to do with our free time, which is sometimes an issue for people who have worked really hard to achieve goals much of their life.

Whatever the reason for being a procrastinator, there are things you can do to change the behavior. Here are some tips adapted from Clayton Tucker-Ladd’s book, Psychological Self-Help (Mental Health Net, 2004):

1) Reward yourself for completing tasks that you have been put off.

2) Break down big tasks into smaller ones. E.g., make a schedule for studying (and include breaks) instead of pressuring yourself to learn material in long sittings.

3) Keep a journal to begin to understand your thoughts and feelings about the tasks you are putting off. Many things we put off are in response to emotions we’d rather not think about.

4) Remember that your worth is not connected to the specific task you are avoiding. If doing certain tasks makes you start to criticize yourself, you may need to stop and try to understand why that is.

5) In addition to scheduling your work time be sure to schedule time to relax and play. Remember having lots of time to get to know your self is an important part of becoming a thoughtful physician.

6) Don’t be hard on yourself if it takes a while to change your behavior. All behaviors take a long time to learn. Un-learning them can take a while too. Be as understanding with yourself as you would with a patient who is trying to stop a difficult behavior (i.e. inactivity or smoking). Kind support works better than harsh scolding when making changes. Remember this for yourself as well!