Pretty much everyone has, at some point, made excuses to avoid working on a task they fear. But some people do this more often than others, which can result in disastrous consequences. Regularly putting off difficult or unpleasant tasks can lead to low grades at school, poor performance at work and financial consequences, such as late fees. Procrastination can also harm relationships and even affect your health, as it increases stress levels, sometimes resulting in illness.
It's possible to procrastinate by binge-watching (大量观看) your favorite show or doing other mindless activities, but procrastination doesn't always look like laziness. Some people procrastinate to avoid difficult tasks by working on easier but less important tasks. This can make them feel productive even as they neglect the most important items on their to-do lists.
In order to overcome procrastination, you must first understand why you procrastinate. Perhaps you are a perfectionist, so you find not completing a task less upsetting than doing it badly. Perhaps the task is complicated or confusing, and you don't know where to begin. Or perhaps you are waiting to feel inspired to complete the task or believe that you become better under pressure.
Correcting your thinking can aid you in overcoming procrastination. You probably tend to overestimate how quickly you can finish tasks and how motivated you will feel later. Most work does not need to wait until you feel inspired, and if you begin the task, feelings of inspiration may follow. Further, research shows that despite some people's perceptions (感知), most individuals do not actually produce better work under pressure.
If you are procrastinating because a task seems too overwhelming or too complicated, break it up into smaller pieces that feel more manageable. This can mean doing a part of the task, or dedicating a set amount of time - say, 15 minutes - to working on it.
It may help to think about why the task is important. How will it contribute to your goals? How will it affect other people? What negative consequences could come from not doing it in a timely manner?
Scheduling when you will work on tasks can be helpful as well, and so can ruthlessly eliminating distractions. You may need to put away your phone or go to a quiet room.
Overcoming procrastination is a challenge, but doing so leads to benefits in many areas of life.
63. The word
procrastinate in the second paragraph most probably means ______.
A.keep off | B.get off | C.put off | D.take off |
64. According to the passage, how many kinds of consequences may result from procrastination?
65. What can we conclude from the passage?
A.Nobody can entirely avoid procrastination in his personal life. |
B.Doing easier or unimportant tasks can make us more productive. |
C.The more pressure we have, the more productive we will become. |
D.It's generally more subjective than objective to procrastinate in life. |
66. The best title for the passage may be ______.
A.The challenges of procrastination and strategies to solve it |
B.The reasons of procrastination and the ways of avoiding it |
C.The advantages and disadvantages of procrastination in life |
D.The causes and process of procrastination in communication |