INTHEBLACK February 2023 - Magazine - Page 52
F E AT U R E
“Some people believe that procrastinators are
lazy or not team players. This can be true, but
for many, procrastination comes from a lack of
direction or confidence to complete the task up
to the required standard.”
GEORGINA PACOR, AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP
Georgina Pacor, senior content writer and
human resource specialist at the Australian
Industry Group, a national employer
organisation, says procrastinators are generally
not trying to do the wrong thing. Research
suggests that not only do procrastinators
intend to do the work, in some cases they may
end up doing more work than they intended
as a deadline looms. Rather, procrastinating
may be an indicator of anxiety, a fear of
failure, or lack of competence in a task.
52 INTHEBLACK February 2023
“In my experience, workplace
procrastination cannot be picked by role
type but rather by the personality type of the
incumbent,” she says.
“Some people believe that procrastinators
are lazy or not team players. This can be true,
but for many, procrastination comes from a
lack of direction or confidence to complete the
task up to the required standard.”
However, avoidance of unwanted tasks is
not the only reason people procrastinate.
“We can also put off doing things that we
enjoy or that are good for us,” says Knowles.
“Life gets in the way. It is not that we do
not want to do the task, we just do not want
to do it right now.”
Knowles says a good example of this is when
people are given restaurant or movie vouchers.
“They have this voucher to use for free for
something they really want to do, but a lot
of people leave it until the voucher is about
to run out. So, they are procrastinating over
something they would actually like to do.”