This post is all about what happens when you procrastinate.
Are you deciding on whether you should complete that task or save it for later? I’m going to tell you about what happens when you procrastinate.
With this knowledge being transferred to you, I hope to convince you of choosing to not procrastinate and try to get the task completed as soon as you are given it.
I will mostly be speaking in terms of how I deal with procrastination with my school work; however, if you aren’t in school, my procrastination consequences can still be applied to you.
Maybe you’re procrastinating on chores, work tasks, family obligations, or anything that you can procrastinate on. (I’ll give you some solutions all the way just because I am nice like that.)
This post is all about what happens when you procrastinate.
Disclaimer
This post is my personal opinion and should only be used for informational purposes only. Everything listed below is based on my personal experience. You may have different results than me when it comes to procrastinating. This post is not intended to offend anyone and should not be taken personally. I am not an expert in overcoming procrastination. I am just another culprit of doing it.
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Let’s begin.
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What Happens When You Procrastinate?
1. You Will Be Confused About What To Do First
I don’t know if I am the only one that has this issue but anytime I procrastinate, I am most likely procrastinating on more than one thing.
Sometimes, I’ll push off one assignment to work on another one and then more assignments are given to me in the process.
Then, while I’m working on that one assignment that I pushed off the first time, the other newly assigned assignments are getting pushed off.
Over time, all of my assignments start piling up and I start to lose track of which assignments are more of a priority than others. I also start forgetting to do the other assignments that I procrastinated on.
If you can’t already tell, it’s getting really chaotic and unorganized with how I am describing the events. That’s because it is.
At this point, I lost my flow and don’t know which assignments to tackle next because there are so many assignments that I need to do.
A solution that I have to combat this issue is to keep a planner. But honestly, having a planner might heighten my overwhelming emotions because I’ll see all the assignments I wrote down, but haven’t gotten to yet.
So, another solution besides using a planner would be to just do the assignments as soon as you get them.
Not only will the freshly learned material be fresh in your mind, but you’ll get the assignment done sooner, turn it in on time, and won’t have to worry about it anymore.
With how much stuff you piled up for yourself to do, your situation will only get worse and you won’t know where to start to end your problems.
This idea of not knowing which task to do first brings me to my next point.
2. You Will Miss Deadlines
Since I am confused about what assignments to do and when to do them, I start to forget to do some of those assignments in general.
This actually happened to me last week where I had an online exam due on Friday. However, that day was also my birthday.
Obviously, I knew about my birthday and the exam ahead of time so I was trying to cram all of my class assignments and exam studying throughout the week before my birthday so that I could enjoy myself on my special day.
Long story short, I wasn’t able to complete everything in a timely manner and was not able to take my exam on time because I was not ready for it (as in I didn’t study enough).
I did not get to study for the exam until the day before it was due. So that was bad.
Pretty much, if you are procrastinating, it is going to be much more difficult for you to turn assignments in on time. Doing anything at the last minute will not give you sufficient time to complete the task and complete it well.
So, again, don’t you dare procrastinate.
3. You Will Feel Unmotivated
All these consequences are really tying together very well.
After you have piled up all your procrastinated assignments, missed some deadlines, and received some unsatisfactory grades, your motivation levels will plummet significantly.
You’ll start to think “wow, is any of this worth it? I am so tired of everything.”
And then guess what happens when you have thoughts like these. You procrastinate even more and pile up more tasks that you still haven’t done.
Your problems seem like they are compounding like compound interest at this point (did that make sense?).
The last thing you want is to feel unmotivated and not complete the task at all. (This is a time where you most likely will not be able to run away from your issues. The issue would just keep growing.)
If you hate the feeling of being unmotivated and lazy, then you know exactly what you need to do. Don’t procrastinate.
Only the ones that push through persevere.
4. You Will Lose Sleep
Losing sleep is one of the biggest consequences of procrastinating.
Maybe you have an assignment due at midnight or a presentation to give the next day.
Whatever it is you procrastinated on, you find yourself having to spend late nights scurrying to finish your task on time.
I know that when I procrastinate on my assignments, I end up staying up all the way until midnight (when the assignment is due).
What makes this worse is that most of the time, I have to wake up early in the morning to turn it in or get ready for the next class and the next assignment.
School really whacked up my sleep schedule and I am kind of upset at school, but mostly upset at myself (because this was all totally self-inflicted).
I have two solutions to combat losing sleep.
The first one is to take the loss and not complete the assignment until the next morning (and turn it in late). My second solution is to not procrastinate in the first place and just get everything done ASAP.
(I will warn you now that I will probably be saying the latter solution to be the solution to everything that is mentioned in this post.)
If you value your sleep, you need to consider trying not to procrastinate anymore.
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5. You Will Experience Bodily Stress
Along with losing sleep, you’ll start to feel bodily stress too.
When you lose sleep, it is affecting your productivity throughout the day.
Since you’re already procrastinating, having a stressed body isn’t going to help you overcome it.
If anything, having a stressed body will make you procrastinate more.
Just like how you will feel unmotivated to tackle your tasks, you might eventually be incapable of completing your tasks because your body is no longer willing to do what it needs to do.
Specifically, your mind (which can be seen as separate from your body) will not want to help you get your tasks done.
At this point, your body and mind will be so tired and overwhelmed that everything just keeps going downhill.
You’ll be focused on how you want to sleep, how much stuff you still need to do, and eventually will start to lose your focus.
Even when you’re procrastinating, you need to find a healthy balance and take care of yourself too.
Be responsible. Be intentional. Drink water. Take a walk.
The best solution? Just don’t procrastinate (duh!).
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6. You Will Generate Low-Quality Outcomes
The worst consequence of procrastinating (in my opinion) is generating low-quality outcomes.
If you procrastinate on a homework assignment and get an F, you probably deserved that F.
You deserved it because you didn’t manage your time well and didn’t give yourself enough time to process the instructions and put out good quality work.
This goes for projects, responsibilities, anything.
If you don’t give yourself sufficient time to complete whatever your task is, you’ll be rushing to finish, you may skip over important details, and you probably will not be thinking clearly of how you should approach the task.
Luckily these events have only happened to me on assignments that were not worth a lot but that still didn’t stop me from feeling bad about myself. (I know I can always do better.)
Not only will not procrastinating help you put out better quality work, but it will also make you feel more accomplished afterward.
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Ending Note
If we want to be completely honest, procrastinating has the potential to feel rewarding too.
Nothing feels better than procrastinating, getting the task done right before it’s due, turning it in on time, and still getting a satisfactory and desired outcome on it.
Who said you had to do things in a timely manner to be proud of yourself?
“Wait, what? Did you not just read everything you just wrote?”
Yes, yes I know, but I need some kind of counterargument.
So, yes there can still be rewards to turning things in last minute and still generating good outcomes. But was all that stress and rush worth it?
Why not just take it easy and get it done in a slower and intentional fashion?
I would say that being intentional with everything is guaranteed to bring out the best rewards you could ever imagine.
I hope you liked this post. Comment below on your thoughts about this topic and share your stressful procrastination stories!
I hope you consider ending your procrastinating ways after reading this very insightful post.
If not, then it’s okay because I will most likely still be procrastinating too.
Writing this post is motivating me to stop my bad habits too though so help me help us both. Have a good day!
This post was all about what happens when you procrastinate.
Olivia says
It can be so hard to try to not procrastinate. I used to struggle with this alot and still do sometimes. I am sure these tips will help alot of people get through it!
Lily-Anne says
Hopefully !! 🙏
Jenny in Neverland says
Great post. Luckily I’m not a procrastinator by nature (Type A Virgo, hello!) but occasionally it does creep in. Although I tend to be the opposite in regards to sleep. I get MORE sleep when I procrastinate because I’m usually napping haha!
Lily-Anne says
I don’t normally ally procrastinate either but being halfway into the semester always starts to get to me. I have noticed I’m napping more to make up for my loss of sleep too 🤔
Thank you for reading! ❤️