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Did you know that the Latin origin of the word procrastination is pro (forward) plus crastinus (belonging to tomorrow)?

Procrastination is a habit that doesn’t know any geographical boundaries.

When I lived in the Gulf, I remember many times my Arab friends would use the word ‘Bukra’ which means tomorrow. Over time I learned that when they said Bukra, it was either their way saying that they would not heed a requested or they planned to postpone it.

I figured out that when my Belorussian colleagues would use the phrase ‘patum zaftra’ (later tomorrow) they held a similar intention.

Interestingly that too is procrastination.

Even though Wimpy of Popeye fame whose famous line “I’ll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today” is mentioned in the context of securing a free meal without any plan to repay the loan, it still reflects the intention to procrastinate when it comes to honoring his part of the deal.

Do you procrastinate? Or maybe sometimes?

I’ll be honest and admit that I have a tendency to procrastinate, especially when there is a change of weather and my body is adjusting.

Admittedly, when the temperature is too high or too low, we become lazy and tend to reassess the concept of priorities and importance of tasks. Some of us start to procrastinate.

But what if you always procrastinate?

There’s 1 way to find out. Try my fun quiz to figure out where you stand and whether you need to make overcoming procrastination a priority!

The key to the scoring is given below. Then read on for some good old fashioned self-help information.

Key to Quiz

1. Yes : 2 points  Maybe:  0   No: -1 point
2. Yes : 2 points  Maybe:  0   No: -1 point
3. Yes: -1 points  Maybe:  0   No: 2 points
4. Yes : 2 points  Maybe:  0   No: -1 point
5. Yes: -1 point   Maybe:  0   No: 2 points
6. Yes : 2 points  Maybe:  0   No: -1 point
7. Yes: -1 point   Maybe:  0   No: 2 points
8. Yes: -1 point   Maybe:  0   No: 2 points
9. Yes : 2 points  Maybe:  0   No: -1 point
10. Yes : 2 points  Maybe:  0   No: -1 point

Score Interpretation

You scored 16-20

Well done, you are not a habitual procrastinator! There may be times when you do procrastinate. You may find yourself procrastinating sometimes, we all do. Just ask yourself, is there a reason? Is it justified? If not, just do it.

You scored 9-15

You have a tendency to procrastinate and need to be aware of your reasons for procrastinating. You need to understand better why you procrastinate – there can be many reasons and more than 1 may apply in your case. Book a Change Catalyst Session with me and learn more about yourself with tips to change your habit.

You scored (10)-8

If you scored in this section, then I’m afraid, you are a procrastinator, but then you know it already, don’t you? You miss deadlines, you pay penalties for unpaid bills and are in a perpetual state of overwhelm. You look busy and keep busy but don’t seem to achieve much. Try the solutions listed below.

2 Anti-Procrastination Suggested Solutions 

If you love books, then I recommend reading the book Eat That Frog! by Brian Tracy.

If you are serious about overcoming your multifaceted delay tactic habit, then check out my self-study course How to Stop Procrastinating right now.  Click the image below or the preceding link highlighted in bold blue to get the full details or here.

So how did it go? Are you a Procrastinator? Game to share your results in the comments box below?

For readers who want to learn more about procrastination behavior please read Professor Clarry Lay’s paper whose work inspired this quiz.

Lay, C. (1986). At last, my research article on procrastination. Journal of Research in Personality, 20, 474-495

Written by: Vatsala Shukla

This post was originally written in June 2013 and has been rewritten for relevance in July 2023.