This question came to me while I was writing yesterday’s post. So can procrastination become an addiction? If so, why and what can we do about it?
Even though we all know that procrastination is a problem, I don’t we think about it as something very severe. However, procrastination is a big blocker in our evolution because time passes by and time is cruel and heartless.
The Biological component
When we think about postponing something and not doing it in the moment, we feel a little relieved. This is because our brain releases some dopamine (the reward hormone), which makes us feel better. Getting dopamine over and over again in short periods of time will make us addicted to it and, indirectly, of procrastination.
The Behavioral component
If we often procrastinate, we’ll create a habit out of it. For example, I used to wake up at 4 AM every day when I was writing my book, but now, when I’m working at my second book, I cannot do that anymore and my procrastination delays my evolution. Basically, I made a habit of snoozing that damn alarm when it goes off at 4 AM. I keep telling myself that I’ll wake up tomorrow, but I don’t do it. I know what I have to do to get out of this, but I made a habit of snoozing the alarm. I made a procrastination habit, which I need to break.
Moreover, the problem it isn’t with one habit, but with the idea that you can postpone things. Once you procrastinate one time and it worked, you’ll tend to do it over and over again and one habit regarding some particular behavior (like in my case), can extend to a behavioral pattern we would use with every situation we encounter that we don’t like that much.
These two components combined can make out of procrastination one of the biggest dragons we have to face and overcome so we can continue our evolution.
What do you think? Can procrastination become an addiction?