The Negative Effects of Procrastination

Procrastination is opportunities assassin (Victor Kiam). Most people learn the skills of
procrastination at a very young age. Because of a persons fear of failure, most carry that skill of
procrastination all the way through life. Procrastination is an act of postponing or delaying an
action till the last possible minute which you can still do it in time for the deadline. Everybody
procrastinates; just some procrastinate to a more severe attempt. There are many effects of
procrastination, the negative effects, however, can leave a person with short term and long term
effects that can influence a persons life at school and work, a persons life at home and everyday
activities, and a persons life in the future both physically and emotionally.
Life at School and Work: Procrastination Effects
When students procrastinate on school work, the students never fully realize the extent of
the damage, on class grades as well as performance in the classroom at school. A study
conducted in 2002 by Bruce Tuckman, a professor of education at Ohio State University,
revealed that, on the normal Grade point average (GPA) scale of 4.0, students who procrastinated
only occasionally had an average GPA between 3.4 and 3.6, which is still equivalent to an A
on the normal grading scale. But on the other end, those students who procrastinated to a severe
extent received an average GPA of 2.9, equivalent to a low B on the normal grading scale,
which is not as desirable if a student wants to get into a good college (Degree of
Procrastination). People often procrastinate because individual people have a fear that a low
grade will be received, when, in reality, a students grade suffers more from procrastination than
doing the assignment poorly. Low grades in school can jeopardize a persons future, such as to
get into college and getting a good job. Performance in class is another aspect that affects how
we do in school. According to OvercomingProcrastination.net, a site devoted to help people stop
procrastinating, procrastination can lead to many problems within a persons body, such as
severe headaches and difficulties sleeping (The Effects of Procrastinating). These problems
within a persons body can affect how attentive a student may be in class. This lack of paying
attention will most likely be reflected on a students test grades and with low test grades, grades
may also suffer. With this given evidence, it is clear grades in school suffer from procrastination
and this can greatly influence a persons future.
At work, people have responsibilities and commitments to a specific role in a company.
Procrastination affects these things in more ways than one. Procrastination has a negative effect
on how coworkers may perceive another employee and this could affect an employees future in
the company. According to Stopprocrastinatinginfo.com, a site who has been working towards
ending procrastination in peoples everyday lives, procrastination may lead to coworkers to start
viewing a person as irresponsible and lazy (Procrastinating can negatively Affect our
Employment). This can be the result of many things such as lack of sleep which can lead to
forgetfulness, which then would cause a person to not complete a job to the best extent which
one should be able to. Also things such as severe headaches and muscle aches could also affect
the amount of effort which a person may put into work which can again lead coworkers and
bosses to believe an employee is incapable of doing the job. If a boss thinks a person is incapable
of doing a job, the person could possibly lose the job or lose a chance to further advance within
the company which that person may work for. With the previous evidence, it is clear that
procrastinating can negatively affect a persons employment along with a persons education.
Life at Home and in Everyday Activities: Procrastination Effects
One thing that procrastination has a major effect on is a persons health in the persons
everyday life. Procrastination can badly effect a persons health, and if not treated can lead to
long term illnesses. There have been studies that suggest that anxiety may compromise our
immune systems, and therefore render it susceptible to infections diseases
(stopprocrastinatinginfo.com). Anxiety is known as feelings of worry and nervousness most
likely about something that has an uncertain outcome, and because people do things at the last
minute or procrastinate, people are not sure how it will turn out since it was at the last minute.
Procrastination may cause severe amounts of anxiety in a person. This serves to show everybody,
that even though most people do not think procrastination can affect a person physically, it
actually can. Another thing that can cause severe illnesses in the future is the mental illness of
stress. After researching about stress on a site known as The Health Guide, who has been
dedicated to helping people with all kinds of mental and physical problems, it was discovered
that stress can also compromise a persons immune system along with raising blood pressure
which increases risks of heart attack and stroke as well as speeding up the aging process. After
the body is exposed to long term stress, it will start to rewire the brain to try to handle the
stress, but it the long run it makes a persons body even more susceptible to mental illnesses
(Stress). The effects of stress can lead to anxiety and eventually more severe mental illnesses
which can greatly affect a persons future, from a persons family, a persons job, and even how
the person lives life. Things like stress can end up controlling many aspects of a persons life and
not in the most positive way.
Something else that effects how a person lives life is the work overload that one may
develop from procrastination. A work overload may negatively affect a persons organizational
commitment and create family conflicts (Family and work-related consequences.). This
allows people to explore the possibilities that this work overload may build-up and influence
what people do during the day. Instead of hanging out with friends or spending time with family,
a person is doing homework for the entire weekend. This affects relationships that a person once
had with certain people and the more a person pust the work off, the more trouble a person has
getting it all done. This all can lead to a lack of social life and doing other activities outside, lets
say school. These broken relationships can greatly affect a persons future and can lead to
damaging effects on a persons life in the present and in the future.
Life in the Future: Procrastination Affects
While everything affected by procrastination most likely influences some part of a
persons future, something that may directly influence a persons future is the development of
mental illnesses. Like stated in previous paragraphs, things that develop from procrastination
such as stress and anxiety can cause our immune systems to become weakened and more
susceptible to those physical diseases (stopprocrastinatinginfo.com). But procrastination can also
lead to long term illnesses. One thing that it can lead to is depression. Depression is associated
with a persons thoughts and can affect not just a persons thoughts but also a persons ability to
sleep and eat and may involve others around the person (Untreated Depression). This state
known as depression is really hard to come back from and can lead to a more severe version of
depression. Depression may also lead to a person inflicting pain on oneself and others around the
person, which may also lead to other mental and physical illnesses which may not be good for
the body. Another thing that depression may cause is self-criticism, which may not sound
dangerous, but can lead a person into a vicious mental cycle of bitterness (Procrastination
Effects and Its Negative), which is basically when a person starts to socially isolate
themselves and start to push all their previous friends and family away. They may also start
blaming their failures on other people, which can also cause problems between the person and
others which can again damage the other persons emotional state, causing them to go into an
even worse state of depression. This can seriously affect a persons future. If someone is in a
mental home because they are unstable, they cannot make a life from themselves. Also if a
person is mentally unstable, they are most likely not going to get hired for a job or make a good
life for themselves. A persons future can be greatly affected by the mental illnesses that
procrastination may cause in a person. Medical help is necessary if anything starts to get as far as
described in the recent paragraph.
Overall, procrastination may affect every aspect of a persons future, no matter what it is.
These effects are almost always negative. Procrastination can lead to lost relationships, which
leads to lost opportunities, which cost you Money and all of which creates, Stress, Guilt,
Feelings of inadequacy, Anxiety, and Low self-esteem which all affect your mental stability state
and your future (beat Procrastination). As anyone may be able to see, there is a long chain of
things that can be affected negatively. Even procrastinating on finances could be passed on to a
persons children, who then have to deal with the problems and nobody wants to put that burden
on the rest of a family. If one does that, then the procrastination problems may also be passed
down the family line, to the worst extent of course. As previously stated, procrastination can
have many negative effects on every aspect of a persons life.
To conclude, procrastination can negatively affect a persons school work as the students
performance level, in class, drops because of the amount of procrastination we do, as well as
negatively affect a persons work as coworkers and bosses might begin to see the employee as
lazy and unqualified for the job. Procrastination may also affect a persons health as the more the
person procrastinates, the more work build-up the person get and more stress the person creates
for oneself which can affect the persons mental state, as well as procrastination creating too big
of a workload which can affect the persons social life and social connections. And lastly, all
these negative effects of procrastination can affect a persons future, mostly affecting the
persons emotional and mental states to a severe extent as well as affect all the way down a
persons family line. With the evidence provided, people can clearly see that out of the many
effects of procrastination, the negative effects can leave people with effects that can influence so
many aspects of a persons life including the persons life at work and school, the persons life at
home and in everyday activities, and the persons life in the future both emotionally and
physically as well as with long term and short term effects. These negative effects of
procrastination have such a severe extent on a persons life that there is no reason that a person
needs to procrastinate to put so much pressure on oneself. It is important for people to think
about the consequences of ones actions even if it something most people do not consider a bad
thing, like procrastination, and for something many people perform in everyday life out of habit.







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