We’ve all been at a stage in our lives where we have procrastinated. Whether it was a paper due the next day, or planning a surprise party for your best friend, we’ve always put our top priorities to the side when we shouldn’t have. Although not everyone is a procrastinator, people tend to put their work off to the side, and it is not because a certain individual is lazy or unorganized, it is because the limbic system in our brain tends to lose motivation for certain tasks, when faced with workload that is not desirable to you. As a result, you find yourself binge watching your favorite show on Netflix or streaming popular videos on YouTube. While the limbic system may be in charge of your mood and keeping you content, another weaker portion of the brain, the pre-frontal cortex, is responsible for making decisions after receiving information about the situation. It’s primarily where you decide whether or not you’d like to get your work done, or do something that interests you.

This does not entirely mean that you have no desire in completing your assigned task. In fact, you actually tend to keep yourself busy, so you can somewhat assure yourself that there were actually other reasons as to why you aren’t fulfilling what actually needs to be done. Other reasons, besides the fact our brain plays a role in putting things off to the side, includes your surrounding environment, and assuming the task is larger, and difficult than it really is. By having a cluttered and noisy environment around you, doing what is necessary is the last thing that will come to mind. You will be focused on the mess around you and entirely forget what you had to do. Assuming that the assignment is too much work, or just a hassle to complete in that given moment, they tend to have a negative mindset, which leads to leaving it off to the side.

Although procrastination may not be all of your fault, there are certainly ways to work around human nature to get the job done on time. While you cannot control the way your brain works, you can surely influence what happens next. As most know, you cannot control everything and the limbic system just happens to be one of those things. Most of the time you will lose inspiration for completing monotonous tasks such as doing your homework. But there are ways to not let the limbic system take control of your time. To be able to stay focus throughout a task, the weak part of your brain will have to not give into the limbic system and stray. For those who procrastinate a bit too much, it is most likely triggered by stress, and extreme anxiety. The limbic system also tries to push away any negativity that you may be feeling. By being in a mood that you are unhappy with, causes the limbic system to react. Next time you have the urge to procrastinate, remember that there are logical reasons as to why you have the feeling to do so, but there are more than enough ways to overcome that obstacle!