Summary - The tendency to delay tasks for final hours is called procrastination. It is a common challenge faced by many students and working professionals.... It usually hinders productivity, increases stress, and impedes personal, academic, and professional growth. Precrastination is the opposite word. Also, you can use productivity, which refers to the efficiency of accomplishing tasks within the deadline.


The shocking statistics of a recent survey show that about 80% to 95% of college students and around 88% of working professionals have procrastination tendencies. So, practicing the opposite of procrastination is the utmost essential requirement for them. 

The survey study also shows that most of them don’t know about procrastination’s opposite term, which is called precrastination or productivity. So absent knowledge, they can’t realize the significance of productivity in their studies or careers.

But, before discussing the opposite, knowing the word’s meaning is essential. Most of you might have heard this word but are unaware of its impact and importance in everyday life.

What Is Procrastination?

It is an activity where an individual delays and postpones some action or task. Usually, it is seen in students. If a teacher assigns homework during a vacation, instead of completing the job sooner, they will keep it for the eleventh hour to complete.

You can even observe the behavior of procrastination in people of all ages, but especially college students do it the most. Also, as mentioned, many professionals tend to wit unlit the final hours getting things done. That leads them to stressful and harried lives. 

To avoid procrastination, they must keep a work schedule or to-do list. However, they also feel they have several trivial tasks on the list. They don’t want to do it in a rush. According to them, doing them in a hurry can absorb more energy and affect perfection.

Students need good time management skills to avoid procrastination. For a good practice of time management, take my online class. We will help you to adopt pre-crastination in your daily habits.

What Causes Us To Procrastinate?

When you identify the underlying issues and not only the meaning of procrastination words, you may create remedies and procrastination-busting techniques. Let’s examine the most prevalent problems at the root of persistent procrastination.

Cause No. 1 Of Procrastination: Perfectionism –

Cause No. 1 of Procrastination: Perfectionism

Perfectionism may appear to be a positive trait. The pursuit of excellence and having high standards are traits of perfectionists. For example, new interns tend to work more seriously than older staff. For a clear idea, refer to the characteristics of Fellowship Vs. Internship.

However, aspiring for perfection creates irrational expectations because utmost perfection is pretty tough to attain at first chance. So, they become demoralized and work under a growing fear of failure. 

They delay tasks because they believe they won’t complete them reasonably within the deadline. This tendency affects their academic grades and future career. For example, suppose a student gets an assignment on Mediator vs. Moderator. They will delay if they lack confidence in the topic.

Cause No. 2 Of Procrastination: Avoidance –

Cause No. 2 of Procrastination: Avoidance

It is often observed that even when you’re running late for something crucial, you spend time on social media, the internet, video games, or TV. According to Statista, the average internet user spends at least two hours daily on social media! 

Unpleasant emotions like dread, tension, or inadequacy fall under this category. Unpleasant tasks like completing a challenging project, filing taxes, adding more groceries in a complex account log, or studying for a big exam are complex. 

Generally, our unconscious minds avoid taking on essential tasks and focus on low-priority ones. Even if your conscience warns you to accomplish urgent activities, you still tend to delay. In such a situation, your mind is in the turmoil of arguments and counterarguments on your initial priority. 

For profound ideas, refer to the counterargument definition to use these logics for positive purposes. According to George Loewenstein, an economics professor and psychologist at Carnegie Mellon University, you waste time “lead astray by the ‘visceral’ pleasures of the present” rather than concentrating on a vital task.

Also, it is observed in several other situations. For example, suppose you have pending Cengage assignments on your bucket list. You avoid studying and search for Cengage Answer Key in the final hours as a bucket closer. It is sheer avoidance that will make your life stressful. 

Cause No. 3 of Procrastination: Low Self-Esteem –

Cause No. 3 of Procrastination: Low Self-Esteem

According to a study, procrastinators have worse well-being, higher stress and anxiety levels, lower self-esteem, and a higher risk of depression. So, these are the primary symptoms of the term procrastination.

Compared to non-procrastinators, people who repeatedly put off work have self-deprecating cognitive patterns regarding themselves and others. To understand, consider the following questions that sometimes appear in your mind.

  • Can I maintain the deadline for my assignment?
  • What if I’m misdiagnosing the issue?
  • What happens if I mess up?
  • What if I don’t measure up the task correctly?

Such low confidence and lack of self-esteem ignite cheating tendencies among students. As a result, they search for cheats and hacks to complete their assignments. For example, Can Moodle Detect Cheating has more searches than for solutions.

What is the Opposite of Procrastination Or Procrastination Antonyms?

Procrastination is the opposite word of procrastination. Do you think that pre-crastination is a good character trait? One of the groups of researchers says the practice is not favorable. The individual has certain personality traits that force their mind to complete the task at any cost within the timeline. 

Here the individual becomes anxious to complete the task at jet speed. But, they don’t care whether the job has quality input. As a result, the result will be an exact disaster. So pre-crastination is also not good behavior. 

College students and working professionals must know the proper procrastination meaning and their adverse effects. 

Top 3 Behaviors Opposite Of Procrastination:

The following three actions can be viewed as the inverse of procrastination:

Pre-Crastination:

Precrastination is the practice of starting or finishing tasks sooner in a hurry. But, doing so is known to have adverse effects. It decreases effectiveness and causes subpar results.

Precrastination is the polar opposite of procrastination. There is a reason behind it. Although both behaviors are maladaptive (i.e., typically result in adverse outcomes), precrastination entails doing things too soon. 

At the same time, procrastination will do things too late. Thus, the behavioral patterns are opposite for both, but they both can cause anxiety and stress. So, if you are looking for How to Overcome Speech Anxiety, you must learn to keep your nerves stress-free and calm.

Purposeful delay in the to-do list:

In this situation, the individual delays things by applying strategies. It can be either any decision or action. But, here, cognitive demand is observed, bringing a positive outcome. 

You might think that purposeful delay and procrastination are the same. But, no, it is different as a positive outcome is observed in the latter. 

Precisely, here the person is either overconfident or fears failure. And lack of time for preparation is the apparent outcome of that. For example, if you start your assignments early, you won’t need to search, ‘How to get WebAssign answers?‘ You will be confident to answer all questions before the deadline. 

The promptness with trivial tasks:

It should be an ideal characteristic of an individual. According to a psychology professor at Pennsylvania state university, the brain shape is designed with competition and cooperation with one another.

Now, promptness is a requirement without rushing. Completing essential tasks on time is vital. Completing important tasks on time is critical. It is why promptness is a great need. 

But procrastination is the exact opposite of it. The educational read on nodal analysis and network theory will help your academics and professional career. 

Characteristics Of procrastination:

People put off doing various things, including completing homework and chores at work or school. Procrastination also exists in multiple forms. Each has its origins, behavioral patterns, and results. These are the characteristics of procrastination.

Suppose you have an assignment on the RPI acceptance rate. You must gather all relevant information and complete the task at the earliest possible. So you have enough time for proofreading. 

Some people avoid tasks because they feel worried when they think about them. After all, doing so will protect their emotions in the short term, even though doing so will make them feel worse in the long run because they will have to deal with the work later. 

Alternatively, some people put off tasks until the very last minute because they are sidetracked by digital temptations (such as social media and video games) in their immediate environment. 

As a result, they try to cheat on tests. Educators and institutions utilize online proctoring software like Honorlock Extension and others to prevent them from cheating.

What Is An Urgency Effect?

Procrastination may have negative repercussions on a person, according to additional studies.

Meng Zhu and Dr. Christopher Hsee, behavior scientists, first described the Urgency Effect in their research.

The urgency effect shows that people prioritize one task over others. That could be more vital or required when they think they have limited time to do even the most trivial tasks.

Pre-Crastinator Characteristics:

Dr. Rosenbaum’s colleague Kyle Sauerberger researched. It linked specific personality factors to precrastination. The precrastinator might be diligent, energetic, and agreeable. They tend to acquire their own reward, which makes them anxious. 

A precrastinator typically works quickly. Even then, they feel pressure to finish a task. However, they know that waiting a little longer can yield better results. 

Precrastination also makes it possible to have a reduced mental load, similar to the urgency effect. Due to their eagerness to learn, they quickly become drawn into things and occasionally do someone else’s work.

The latter gets things done quickly. But, procrastinators find it difficult to let their creative side begin to flow. 

How Procrastination Affects Us?

Procrastination can result in several problems. It can start from a practical standpoint. Following are some examples:

poorer academic achievement,

worse task and

unfavorable financial circumstances,

worse emotional well-being,

negative mental health,

worse physical health,

and a delay in receiving treatment for one’s problems.

As a result, if you struggle with procrastination, you should educate yourself on its causes. By doing so, you may pinpoint them in the context of your circumstance.

You can learn how to stop procrastinating when you have a solid action plan. Also, implement anti-procrastination tactics that are effective for your specific procrastination issue. You can also read the tips for writing a Spatial Order to organize things properly

Does Pre-Crastination Help You?

Most of the time, completing quick activities may cause you to feel good, or were you able to finish that task, and have you given it any thought? It may not be as beneficial despite how satisfying it is to complete work immediately.

Dr. Rosenbaum adds that you might exert needless effort if you enter too rapidly. You might need to redo the task if it is not completed correctly or fully. You would have saved time and effort if you had done a little forethought.

For instance, you check your emails every morning when you log in at work. A pre-crastinator reads and responds to emails as quickly as possible.

Benefits of procrastination:

Although it may seem strange, delaying can have several advantages. There is a distinction between chronic procrastination and moderate one. The first one is experienced by 20% of individuals. The latter being the “sweet spot,” has 80 percent of people on the list.

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant described it. According to Grant, a little bit of mild procrastination can help allow your brain time to reflect on a task or problem and make room for more original thinking. He thinks this is where innovators and creative thinkers spend most of their time.

The Pomodoro Technique :

You can convince your brain to complete tasks promptly. Making upcoming events seem more immediate, smaller units of time, such as ten days in place of 1 month or 48 hours in the area of 2 days, might lessen procrastination.

Participants in a study with 162 people were asked to picture themselves getting ready for a future event, such as working on a project at work or studying for a test. When the event was thought of in terms of months, those who broke the period down into smaller units (in this case, days) completed the task seamlessly before the deadline. 

Key Takeaways:

So, pre-crastination has both positive and negative effects. Getting things done earliest is beneficial because you can utilize your working memory and don’t need time to study the topic repeatedly. It helps you research properly and eradicate the stress of mass pending tasks.

At the same time, precrastination can cause anxiety and mistakes due to excessive hurry. So it is better to focus on productivity and create an appropriate time schedule for the best outcome. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the opposite of procrastination by nature?

The word pre-crastination is just the opposite of procrastination. The individual with opposite character has opposite habits. One wishes to delay, and the other becomes anxious to complete the task at the earliest possible. 

How to Overcome Procrastination?

You can follow some steps to stop the delay of the task. The following are the steps:

  • Create a schedule.
  • Strictly follow the timetable regularly no matter what happens
  • Stay away from distractions
  • Prioritize your work
  • Take periodic breaks in between your work.
  • Reward yourself for accomplishing your tasks within the time limit. 

What leads to pre-crastination?

The anxiety to complete tasks promptly or a push from a different source can lead to pre-crastination. It is just a symptom of our harried lives. For example, someone gets a task from the office or school. The working memory of people with pre-crastinative nature always wishes to complete it immediately. They always fear the job won’t be completed on time, so they hurry.

What’s the opposite of a procrastinator?

The opposite of a procrastinator is a pre-procrastinator or productive. It refers to persons who remind to finish their tasks as quickly as possible.

Are there non-procrastinators?

People who don’t procrastinate are known as conscientious. But their numbers are much lower than procrastinators like 5% become anxious to finish their tasks early. 

What is the idiom for procrastination?

Procrastination refers to delay, so the appropriate idiom is “fish or cut bait.” It means delay due to overthinking and directs for a prompt decision.

Is procrastination the opposite of motivation?

Usually, a lack of motivation causes procrastination. So they are opposite, as a motivated person never procrastinates in their job.

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