Are You A Professional Procrastinator?

This quiz follows on from several other recent articles we’ve posted on procrastination and serves as a way for you to find out how much of a problem your procrastination is for you right now. The previous articles are:

• What is Procrastination?
• Why People Procrastinate

Give yourself a score for each question.   Choose 1 to indicate “never or rarely”, 2 to indicate “sometimes”, or 3 to denote “often or always”. Write your scores down on a piece of paper so you can tallly them up at the end.

1. I wait until the last minute to do things.
2. I deceive myself into believing that a mediocre performance or lesser standards are acceptable.  “Near enough is good enough”.
3. I often underestimate the work involved in a task.
4. Sometimes I overestimate my abilities or how long it will take me to do something (I tell myself it “will only take an hour”, when really it needs six).
5. I feel sick when faced with an unpleasant job.
6. I avoid confrontations.
7. I worry that I won’t live up to other people’s expectations, or my own.
8. I avoid making difficult decisions.  I become paralysed when deciding between alternative choices.
9. I focus on one portion of a project (for example, writing and rewriting the introductory paragraph to a paper) to the detriment of all else.
10. I am reluctant to take risks or try something new.
11. I blame others or the situation to avoid doing something.
12. I make big plans but rarely carry them out.
13. I tell myself that repeated minor delays are harmless.  Deadlines are just guidelines, right?
14. My social calendar is so busy that it is hard to get important work done.
15. I distract myself from the urgent, important task with less urgent tasks (for example, cleaning the office rather than writing the report).
16. I act as though ignoring a task will make it go away.
17. I dramatise my commitment to a task or project rather than actually doing (for example, I take work home, but leave it in the briefcase).
18. I find myself making excuses not to do something I know I need to do.
19. If a task is boring, I’ll never get motivated to start.
20. I strive for perfection.  If a task can’t be completed perfectly, I won’t start.

Tally up your scores now.

A score of between 30 and 45 indicates a tendency towards procrastination (but you’re really still an amateur). A of score of more than 45 indicates a serious procrastination problem!

If you feel like procrastination is a challenge facing you then you should read about the different Types of Procrastinators.

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