Desai !

Mallika Desai

English 1201

Professor Strehle

23 June 2019

Procrastination and Mental Health

Procrastination has been and continues to be one of my worst habits and weaknesses. I’m

not the only one plagued by this terrible habit; I’ve watched numerous classmates struggle

through their workloads and lack of motivation, each of us miserable because of our habit of

procrastination. This past school year, our English teacher assigned us a Multi-genre Research

Project (MGRP), for which we were given half the year to complete. I worked on my research

fairly diligently through that time, but the night before the project was due, I was still writing

extra pieces and editing. The next morning when I arrived to school, I found out not only me, but

ninety-nine percent of my grade had pulled an all-nighter trying to finish their project. It was to

the point where all of the teachers could tell the MGRP was due that day from our sleepy yawns,

dark circles, and hooded eyelids which brought me to wonder, why did we all wait until the last

possible moment to finish such a large project (some hadn’t even started)?

As I began typing this proposal I remembered that this is due tonight. I had an entire

week to do this, and I am a good student who does care about my education. So why do I

procrastinate? So as mental health awareness increases in today’s world, I’ve been curious for

awhile, what, inside my mind causes me to continually put my tasks off until the last minute.

What invisible force causes procrastination to control us like a puppeteer? And if procrastination

makes us so miserable and tired, what effects does it in turn have on our mental health?
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When asked how I feel about my topic, I can’t help but laugh dryly and groan at the same

time, because of how familiar this topic is to me through its effects - that’s why I am so curious

to understand how this habit arises and its effects. I think that there has to be be a strong

connection between mental health and procrastination, that procrastination negatively affects

mental health, and deteriorating mental health is the source of procrastination before researching

this topic in depth. I believe that if we can get to the bottom of why procrastination arises, we

can be better equipped to prevent procrastination and its negative effects on mental health (I

would also really like to be relieved of this terrible, never-ending cycle of procrastination). I

already know that mental health issues plague more and more individuals each day and that

procrastination has almost become a part of daily life for most individuals, but I don’t concretely

know much about the connection.

I am hoping to not only learn why procrastination occurs and affects so many people, but

I would like to know if there are ways or techniques to prevent procrastination. Also, to better

determine the connection between procrastination and mental health, I want to do some research

on mental health to better define it; my definition is fairly hazy currently. I think I’m going to

start to find out the answers to my questions first through the traditional Google search, next

through EBSCO scholarly article search (or Google Scholar), then with books and health

magazines, and lastly a digital interview with a few experts. Two good (in my opinion) research

questions I have about my topic are: (1) how are procrastination and mental health connected?

(2) How can procrastination be prevented through mental health awareness and mental health be

improved through avoiding procrastination? I would also be curious as to what age groups and
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types of people (professions, race, economic status etc.) are most and least affected by

procrastination and mental health issues as well as their correlation.