5 types of procrastinators and ways to help them beat their laziness

Procrastination is something that all of us do; the degree of it keeps differing. Procrastination is basically an act of sluggishness that prevents us from breaking bad habits and developing new, good habits. For an individual's overall well-being, being active is extremely important and procrastination leads to extreme cases of lethargy.

There are different kinds of procrastinators and each kind reacts differently to do away with their laziness. We spoke to Dr Ajay Phadke, CEO & Founder, Type a Thought, and learnt about the different kinds of procrastinators who are categorised into various profiles based on the following dimensions.

" Whether quality of task is important to one
" Whether one likes to take decisions
" Whether one crumbles under pressure
" Whether what people say is important to one
" Whether one can take the heat of failure
" If one has a problem with getting started or getting done

Phadke told us, "According to Piers Steel, a professor at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business in Canada, who spent more than a decade studying the science of dilly-dallying--Procrastination affects 95% of the global population some time or the other, while a quarter of are chronic procrastinators."

Here are the different types of procrastinators and the ways in which they beat their laziness.

The daring kind: This type of procrastinator starts working at the last minute and thinks that he/she works well under pressure. Their laziness makes them push work till the end and they tend to make errors due to haste. This group is more than happy, making important decisions about the project, and are fine by whatever quality of work, as long as it gets done.

Solution: People belonging to this type must get more organised by setting tighter deadlines. They could self-regulate their work performance by using reward-penalty method.

The hurdle kind: The hurdle kind also feels that they are good at handling pressure when working at the last minute. Individuals delay their work by putting obstacles in their own path which helps them get away from the task and its unpleasantness. When questioned about the delay of work, they easily get rid of the blame burden and pass it on to others. They do not worry a lot about what others say about them. These kind of procrastinators are happy letting other people take important decisions. Even with the hurdles, they like their work quality to be impeccable.

Solution: If you belong to this type, the only way to get out of this is to plan for obstacles. For example, you know that each time you take a break from work to browse Facebook, you lose 15 minutes of work time. Taking that into account, you must include the break time in your lunch hour so that you are prepared to finish the task in time.

The avoidant kind: The avoidant kind will try and avoid making any kind of decision. The main issue is that their fear does not let them get started. Also by avoiding, they need not fear failure or being judged by others. At the same time, they do not like to cut corners in their task, and so, deadlines become panic stations. They would want the quality of the task to be very good, but are not very good at handling stress and last minute pressure. They are usually happy with their work but are worried about what others will say.

Solution: These individuals need to change or modify their self-talk. Talks like "I know some people will judge me no matter what and I will fail also sometimes, but that's fine. It won't be the end of the world as I will just learn from it."

The passing-the-buck kind: This type is very confused about choices so it would rather let others take decisions and the delay happens due to the confusion. They usually let other people take the heat for failure too. They are generally happy with their output but worry about what others say about them. Typically not cutting corners, this kind of procrastinators are prone to distraction and can't get started.

Solution: There are two ways to work around this problem of choice--one way one is to do the biggest task first and then get to smaller ones and the second way is to divide the bigger job into smaller tasks and get on with them.

The perfectionist kind: This type wants their work to be perfect, which is not possible all the time. The delay happens as they try to make work more and more perfect so that they can save it from criticism. At the root of perfectionism, is anxiety. While these people don't have a problem getting started, the to-do list is just too long and unrealistic, therefore making them crumble under pressure. If you are a perfectionist, you could also be bothered by what others have to say. In order to make up for your perfectionist traits, you may let others take important decisions and keep yourself distracted in the meantime to keep anxiety at bay.

Solution: To beat procrastination, people belonging to this kind must develop SMART--Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound goals. It is not possible to avoid all mistakes, but it is definitely possible to learn from your mistakes and make yourself better at what you do.

To overcome the lethargy and inculcate these habits into one's lives, one must be mentally strong and determined. Beating procrastination at the right time becomes crucial to maintain the much-needed mental wellness that you need to lead a healthy and happy life.