Never Procrastinate Again
Nature or nurture? Are procrastinators made, or are they born? Turns out, it’s a little bit of both. On the one hand, some chalk procrastination up to a response from an authoritarian parenting style. So, if your parents were overly strict, you might not have been able to develop good self-regulation skills on your own. Turns out, maybe you really can blame Mom and Dad. Not only that, but procrastination can even be a form of rebellion at a younger age, and it’s unfortunately an easy habit to carry into adulthood. On the flipside, our tendency to procrastinate could be partly genetic. Studies show that procrastination is heritable, and is linked with the frontal systems of our brain that regulate our so-called “executive functioning,” which includes things like self-control, planning, and problem solving. The research shows that procrastinators may have “subtle executive dysfunction,” or a lessened ability to regulate themselves and plan well. However, while there is a...