The sleep procrastination cycle
In most cases, this type of cycle occurs when you procrastinate on going to sleep, which makes you go to sleep later than intended. This alters your biological clock and causes you to procrastinate on going to sleep [4] again in the future. These cycles may be complex, and involve several factors. This is a detailed example of one such cycle, in the context of academia:
Students who feel increases in levels of anxiety are more likely to delay performing statistical activities and assignments (e.g. writing term papers, studying for examinations, and keeping up with the weekly readings) because of task aversiveness.
Difficulties in understanding the course material may make you anxious about asking for help from either your instructors or peers, for fear of revealing their procrastinatory tendencies and other inadequacies. This increase in anxiety linked with fear of asking for help and fear of the instructor may be accompanied by test and class anxiety and interpretation anxiety caused by fear of failure-based procrastination.
These aspects may lead to further procrastination about reading for examinations and writing term papers, which, in turn, increases levels of anxiety. In any case, this cycle of procrastination and statistics anxiety may persist until levels of both are maximized.
Finally, these are examples of a different type of procrastination cycle, which explains common stages that people go through when they procrastinate, regardless of whether or not the cycle perpetuates the very issue that caused it:
- “I’ll start early this time.” At this stage, the procrastinator is hopeful, because there is the possibility that they’ll manage to start working without any delay.
- “I’ve got to start soon.” At this stage, the time for starting early has passed, and the procrastinator is starting to become less hopeful that this time they’ll manage to complete their task without procrastinating too much, though there’s still enough time until the deadline.
- “What if I don’t start?” At this stage, there’s no possibility of starting on time, and the procrastinator becomes pessimistic, as the procrastinator is worried about the negative consequences of their delay. The procrastinator may be filled with thoughts such as “I should have started sooner”, “I’m doing everything but what I should be doing”, “I can’t enjoy anything”, and “I hope no one finds out”.
- “There’s still time.” At this stage, even though the procrastinator may experience guilt and disappointment, they continue to hold on to the hope that they’ll manage to start their work.
- “There’s something wrong with me.” At this stage, the procrastinator is desperate when it comes to the task at hand, and feels several negative emotions with regard to their personal inability to get started on time.
- The final choice: to do or not to do. At this stage, the procrastinator decides whether to leave the task or to finally get started. If they choose to abandon the task, they may be filled with thoughts such as “I can’t stand this!” or “why bother?” Conversely, if the procrastinator chooses to keep going, they may think things like “I can’t wait any longer” or “just get it done!” Furthermore, once they get started they may think things such as “This isn’t so bad, so why didn’t I start sooner?”
- “I’ll never procrastinate again!” Once the task is either fully abandoned or completed, the procrastinator usually feels a mix of emotions, which include relief and shame. Because the process was stressful, they tell themselves that next time will be different—they’ll start early, stay on schedule, and be in charge. However, in spite of these intentions, and in spite of any hopes and optimism that the procrastinator may have, they often end up repeating the same cycle again and again.