The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem: The Definitive Work

on Self-Esteem By: Nathaniel Branden

Nathaniel Branden's book is the culmination of a lifetime of clinical practice and

study, already hailed in its hardcover edition as a classic and the most significant
work on the topic. Immense in scope and vision and filled with insight into human
motivation and behavior, The Six Pillars Of Self-Esteem is essential reading for
anyone with a personal or professional interest in self-esteem. The book
demonstrates compellingly why self-esteem is basic to psychological health,
achievement, personal happiness, and positive relationships. Branden introduces the
six pillars-six action-based practices for daily living that provide the foundation for
self-esteem-and explores the central importance of self-esteem in five areas: the
workplace, parenting, education, psychotherapy, and the culture at large. The work
provides concrete guidelines for teachers, parents, managers, and therapists who are
responsible for developing the self-esteem of others. And it shows why-in today's
chaotic and competitive world-self-esteem is fundamental to our personal and
professional power.

PART I SELF-ESTEEM: BASIC PRINCIPLES

 1 Self-Esteem: The Immune System of Consciousness
 2 The Meaning of Self-Esteem 
3 The Face of Self-Esteem 
4 The Illusion of Self-Esteem PART II INTERNAL SOURCES OF SELF-ESTEEM
 5 The Focus on Action
 6 The Practice of Living Consciously
 7 The Practice of Self-Acceptance
 8 The Practice of Self-Responsibility 
9 The Practice of Self-Assertiveness
 10 The Practice of Living Purposefully 
11 The Practice of Personal Integrity 
12 The Philosophy of Self-Esteem PART III EXTERNAL INFLUENCES: SELF AND OTHERS 
13 Nurturing a Child’s Self-Esteem 
14 Self-Esteem in the Schools 
15 Self-Esteem and Work 
16 Self-Esteem and Psychotherapy 
17 Self-Esteem and Culture 
18 Conclusion: The Seventh Pillar of Self-Esteem APPENDIX A: Critique of Other Definitions
of Self-Esteem APPENDIX B: A Sentence-Completion Exercise for Building Self-Esteem

Academic Procrastination:
Examples, Consequences,
Causes, and Solutions

Academic procrastination is a phenomenon where people—

particularly students—unnecessarily postpone academic assignments,
such as studying for a test or writing a paper. This phenomenon is
very common, and can lead to serious issues, such as worse
academic outcomes and increased stress.
The following article contains a comprehensive overview of academic
procrastination. Its goal is to help you understand what academic
procrastination looks like, what issues it leads to, what causes it, and
how it can be dealt with successfully, based on relevant research on
the topic.
 

Examples of academic
procrastination
An example of academic procrastination is a student who has a week
to study for an exam, but ends up postponing their studying
 unnecessarily until the night before, even though they keep wanting to
get started. Another example of academic procrastination is a student
who delays working on an important project for an entire semester,
until right before it’s due.
In addition, other examples of academic procrastination include the
following:
 A student who wastes hours browsing social media before they
finally manage to get started on a homework assignment.
 A student who puts off studying for a test by doing unimportant
chores, such as cleaning their room or baking snacks.
 A student who delays for several days each time they need to work
on a part of their thesis.
Furthermore, academic procrastination can involve various other
dilatory behaviors, such as sleeping, watching TV, or playing video
games, and students often report that procrastination occupies over a
third of their daily activities.
Finally, note that the term “academic procrastination” is sometimes
used to refer to procrastination by other people involved in academic
life, and most notably teachers and faculty. Examples of academic
procrastination in this context are a lecturer who unnecessarily delays
when it comes to preparing lesson plans for an upcoming course, and
a professor who keeps unnecessarily putting off writing an important
grant proposal with an approaching deadline. However, the use of the
term “academic procrastination” in this sense is controversial, since
while both students and the professionals who instruct them operate
within the context of academia, they do so in different capacities, and
it is generally more accurate to categorize the procrastination of
academic professional at work as workplace procrastination.

The dangers of academic

procrastination
 Academic procrastination is associated with various negative effects,
such as worse academic performance, worse emotional wellbeing,
and worse mental and physical health. Accordingly, academic
procrastination is often detrimental to those who engage in it.
Specifically, the following are the key issues that are associated with
academic procrastination:
 Worse academic performance. For example, procrastination is
associated with a wide range of academic issues, such as lower
quality work, worse exam scores, worse grades, increased
academic misconduct, increased course failures, increased course
withdrawals, and an increased likelihood of dropping out.
 Worse emotional wellbeing. For example, procrastination
can lead to various negative emotions, such as guilt, shame, and
sadness.
 Worse mental and physical health. For example, procrastination
can lead to various mental health issues, such as stress, as well
as physical health issues, such as lack of sleep and exhaustion.
Many of these issues are interrelated. For example, when academic
procrastination leads to increased negative emotions, it can also lead
to increased stress at the same time. Similarly, when academic
procrastination leads to increased stress, this can, in turn, lead to
issues such as exhaustion, which increases the likelihood that people
will procrastinate on academic tasks, and consequently suffer from
worse academic performance.
In addition, the tendency to engage in procrastination is
associated with a variety of issues from a career perspective,
including lower salaries, shorter periods of employment, and a higher
likelihood of unemployment. This can affect students who are
employed while engaging in academic studies, as well as students
who enter the job market after graduation.
Finally, many of the issues of academic procrastination can extend to
people in academia other than students, such as teachers and faculty.
For example, for these professionals, procrastination can lead to
various similar issues, such as increased stress, worse emotional
wellbeing, worse job performance, and lower job satisfaction.
What causes academic
procrastination
Academic procrastination occurs when issues such as anxiety
and perfectionism outweigh people’s self-control and
motivation. This is why students often procrastinate on academic
tasks even when they want to get them done, and why they only
manage to get started shortly before the deadline, when the
increasing pressure finally pushes them to do their work.
Accordingly, there are various common internal and
external causes of academic procrastination.
Specifically, internal causes for academic
procrastination include the following:
 Anxiety, for example when it comes to being anxious about
studying in general.
 Fear of failure, for example when it comes to worrying about failing
an upcoming exam.
 Perfectionism, for example when it comes to wanting to write an
essay draft without any flaws.
 Task aversion, for example when it comes to wanting to avoid
dealing with a boring assignment.
 Sensation seeking, for example when it comes to finding
assignments more exciting to work on assignments when there’s
intense time pressure.
 Feeling overwhelmed, for example when it comes to being unsure
about how to handle a large research project.
 Physical or mental exhaustion, for example when it comes to
being tired due to a demanding academic workload.
 Lack of study or organizational skills, for example when it comes
to not knowing how to set an effective study schedule.
Many of these issues can be attributed to negative past experiences.
For example, if someone does badly in a number of course
assignments, they might feel anxious when it comes to future
assignments or exams in that course, which can cause them to
procrastinate.
However, these issues can also arise in cases where people have no
relevant prior experience, and in some cases this lack of experience
can itself be the cause of procrastination. For example, someone who
has no prior experience with group projects might feel anxious when it
comes to doing one for the first time, and consequently end up putting
it off.
In addition, various personal traits can influence the likelihood that
people will engage in academic procrastination, as well as the ways in
which they do so. For example,
increased conscientiousness is associated with reduced
procrastination in general. On the other hand, extraversion can lead to
academic procrastination when students prioritize spending time with
their friends over doing schoolwork, while neuroticism can lead to
academic procrastination when it causes students to stress over an
upcoming project that will have a significant effect on their grades.
Finally, certain underlying issues can also lead to or exacerbate
academic procrastination. For example, general anxiety and
depression can make students more likely to engage in rumination, in
the form of repetitive negative thoughts, which can in turn increase
their tendency to engage in procrastination. Similarly, issues such as
low self-esteem or low self-efficacy may also lead to increased
academic procrastination in some cases.
In addition to the internal causes listed above, external causes of
academic procrastination include the following:
 Poor study environment, for example because this environment is
overly loud or filled with distractions.
 Uninteresting assignments, for example because the assignments
Fare monotonous or require students to use a limited range of skills.
 Lack of clear directions or expectations, for example because
the explanation of how a paper will be graded is incomplete, vague,
or ambiguous.
 Lack of clear due dates, for example in terms of when the first draft
of an essay should be submitted.
 Lack of communication, for example in the case of an instructor
not responding to a student’s requests for clarificati0n.
 The instructor being too lax, for example by never enforcing any
deadlines in their course.
 The instructor being too harsh, for example by providing
unnecessarily unpleasant feedback on assignments.
Note that external issues can sometimes lead to or exacerbate
internal ones. For example, an instructor being too harsh can lead to
fear of failure in a student who wouldn’t have it otherwise, or it can
increase anxiety in an already anxious student.
Overall, academic procrastination occurs when issues such as
anxiety and perfectionism outweigh people’s self-control and
motivation. Common causes of academic procrastination include
both internal causes, such as fear of failure, as well as external
causes, such as a poor study environment.

How to deal with academic

procrastination
Academic procrastination can be reduced by analyzing the situation,
in terms of factors such as the number of students involved and the
causes of their procrastination, and then implementing an appropriate
solution, which consists of interventions such as intermediate
deadlines, automated reminders, and self-regulation training.
The sub-sections below contain more information on the topic.
Specifically, they first outline the general types of approaches that can
be used to deal with academic procrastination, and then provide
examples of specific interventions and techniques that can be used as
part of these approaches.
Note that the information here focuses on resolving academic
procrastination in students. Some of this is also relevant when it
comes to solving procrastination among academic professionals, such
as teachers and professors, but in some cases, it will be more
effective to view their behavior as workplace procrastination instead,
and to deal with it accordingly.
 Summary
 Academic procrastination is a prevalent problem, that leads to a
variety of issues, such as reduced productivity, worse performance,
worse career prospects, increased negative emotions, and worse
mental and physical health.
 Academic procrastination occurs when issues such as anxiety and
perfectionism outweigh people’s self-control and motivation;
common causes of it include fear of failure, task aversion,
exhaustion, and lack of clear directions.
 Academic procrastination can be reduced by analyzing the situation,
in terms of factors such as the number of students involved and the
causes of their procrastination, and then implementing an
appropriate solution, which consists of interventions such as
intermediate deadlines, automated reminders, and self-regulation
training.
 Specific techniques for dealing with academic procrastination
include helping students understand their procrastination and why
it’s problematic, giving clear directions, rewarding progress, and
promoting self-efficacy.
 It’s beneficial to understand what causes academic procrastination
in the first place, because this can help you identify common issues
to avoid, and because it can help you identify the optimal anti-
procrastination techniques to use.