Why People Procrastinate Reason Six
"You Can't Make Me"
Rebellion and resistance constitute the final set of issues
which can underlie procrastinating behavior. Delaying tactics can
be a form of rebellion against imposed schedules, standards, and
expectations. The expectations are often those of a power struggle,
usually not on a conscious level. As an example, your father has
an accounting business and has always planned on having you become
his partner after college. You are enrolled in the College of Business
and like accounting, but since you started college you have been
wanting to explore some other careers unrelated to business. Your
father says, "No, you'll stick to accounting and like it."
As a result, you don't turn in work on time, "forget"
to do assignments, and earn low grades, sometimes flunking a course.
Rebellion against external evaluation is another facet of
this sort of procrastination. For example, if a teacher has offended
or angered you in some way, you may retaliate by turning something
in late or procrastinating indefinitely. Sometimes these same tactics
are used on classmates in a group project setting or with parents.
The thing to remember is that you ultimately lose (i.e., getting
the bad grade, loss of self-respect, etc.).
Rebellion and resistance are re-actions not actions, thus,
the control of your behavior rests with whatever or whomever you are
rebelling or resisting. If you are rebelling against your parents,
then they have a great deal of power in your life--probably more than
you really want. Decide what you want for your life--don't just react
to someone else's decisions for your life.