Procrastinating While Working From Home? You¡¯re Not Alone, Say Psychologists

Its been a few months since we¡¯ve been locked into our homes due to COVID-19 lockdown. and this feeling of staying locked in is truly getting to us.

Especially for people who are working from home, we initially thought we¡¯d get more time to spend with our family, or just for ourselves -- time that we¡¯d either lose while commuting or working late hours.

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However, now this lockdown is truly getting to us. Most of us are dealing with a ton of work stress, where the lines that separated work from home have almost rubbed off. Many have to suck this up since its either this or saying goodbye to the job they love. And at times like this, good luck finding a job.

But this has been affecting our work too, our performance, where most of us are seen procrastinating -- pushing work away -- with our brain literally shouting ¡®I need a break.¡¯

Sarah Greenberg, a licensed psychotherapist in a conversation with Fast Company reveals why we¡¯re feeling this. She explains, ¡°People are realising no, this isn¡¯t the abundance of time and space we originally believed. Most of us are holding more than we¡¯ve ever had before.¡±

She laid out five reasons why even small tasks that you¡¯d do daily seem like a tough ordeal now.

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Work from home stress

She states that many of us are experiencing a high degree of stress right now -- either due to work, staying alone, unemployment among other things. People with work are fighting with anxiety while understating how productive they can be. At times they¡¯re known to overestimate only to realise they no longer have enough bandwidth to execute it.

Another expert, Katie Yang assistant professor of psychology at Stockton University in a conversation with Fast Company feels that there is also more distraction now with kids or other people at home.

No more buffer from work

Most of us think working from home is a cool alternative as you no longer have to commute for long periods of time every day, and yes till some extent it is true.

However, according to Greenberg, this commute actually acts as a buffer between work and personal life. While commuting to work your mind is getting prepared for the day ahead and think of the things that need to be executed. On the other hand, commuting back helps in making the disconnection from work feel more tangible.

Moreover, she states that elements in a workplace whether the habits we take part in or the environment we are in -- they help us to not procrastinate. At home, these elements are missing and that is a crucial elimination that makes us go off.

Other things going on in life

People are working from home at a time when not only so many people are dying, but there is a considerable civic unrest -- whether it is surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement, or the death of a beloved actor, or even COVID-19 claiming so many lives in our vicinity.

All this is amounting to a ton of anxiety that is shifting our focus from work, according to Greenberg.

We¡¯re meeting fewer people

Humans are social animals. We love being around people regardless of being an introvert or an extrovert. Most of us enjoy going to work because of our colleagues. When you¡¯re connected physically with people, you get a more tangible sense of response -- whether work-related or personal.

Yang explains how receiving feedback on your work from colleagues helps you feel satisfied and motivated. And this doesn¡¯t quite cut it when interacting digitally through video conferencing or texting.

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Burnout

Undeniably one of the most important factors. Burnout releases feelings of exhaustion, detachment and cynicism, making workers feel the most demotivated forcing them to just scrape the surface as opposed to doing their best. And procrastination, according to Greenberg is the first sign of burnout.

She explains that procrastinating is a human¡¯s way of avoiding something negative or unwelcomed. This is also the time when most employees feel burnt out and decide to quit or avoid going to work entirely, calling in sick.