Procrastination: why important things wait longest

The document is open, the cursor is blinking – and a moment later the phone is in hand. Then it suddenly seems important to tidy the desk, reply to a few messages, clean the kitchen. The day goes by, the task has not moved, and all that time a heavy feeling sits in the background: it needs doing. In the end everything gets done at night, in a rush, the day before the deadline. Or not at all, like the letter from the bank that has been lying unopened for three weeks.

This is called procrastination: putting off something a person intends to do, even though they know the delay will only make things worse. It is not the same as laziness. A lazy person does not particularly care about the task. Someone who procrastinates often cares a great deal, and suffers because of it.

How it shows up

Procrastination rarely looks like doing nothing. More often it looks like being busy with something else: planning, sorting files, doing easier tasks. These activities feel almost useful, which makes them especially convincing, but the feeling of guilt does not go away.

Often everything is postponed until the last moment, and then comes a burst of work under pressure. Many people say they “work best under pressure”, although often it is simply the moment when the fear of not making it becomes stronger than the reluctance to start.

What gets put off is not always unpleasant. People delay things they actually want to do: a creative project, a course, a change of job, a conversation that matters. Bureaucracy is another typical case: forms, letters, calls to official bodies.

Why people put things off

For a long time procrastination was seen as a problem of willpower or time management. Today it is seen differently. The psychologists Fuschia Sirois of Durham University and Tim Pychyl of Carleton University in Canada describe procrastination as a way of getting away from unpleasant feelings. A task can bring up boredom, anxiety, uncertainty, self-doubt or fear of not coping. Putting it off brings quick relief, and that relief makes it more likely the task will be put off again next time.

The tasks that get put off most tend to be boring, unpleasant or frustrating, and vague tasks without an obvious first step are especially hard to start. “Sort out the taxes” is hard to begin; “find last year’s letter from HMRC” is not.

There is one more reason. The consequences of delay arrive later, which makes them a problem for “future me”. Feeling better right now wins over a future that seems to belong to someone else.

Who is prone to it

Procrastination is more common in people who are impulsive and easily distracted, and it can often be one of the ways ADHD shows itself. It is linked to perfectionism, but not to striving for high standards as such. What matters is the fear of mistakes and of other people’s judgement: when the result has to be perfect, it is safer not to start.

People who are harsh and unforgiving towards themselves tend to procrastinate more too. Procrastination is most common when people are young, especially as students, and it tends to decrease with age. Procrastination often goes hand in hand with stress and low mood, and they can feed each other.

What it leads to

Putting things off really does help in the short term, and that is the trap. In a well-known US study by Dianne Tice and Roy Baumeister, students who procrastinated felt less stressed and were ill less often at the start of term. By the end of term the picture had reversed: they had more stress and more illness, and lower grades for all their work.

In a study of several thousand Swedish students, those who procrastinated more were more likely nine months later to report symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, poor sleep, loneliness and money worries. Health suffers in another way too: visits to the doctor, check-ups and healthy routines get put off just like everything else.

What helps

Forgiving oneself for last time. It sounds paradoxical, but self-reproach does not help. In a study at Carleton University in Canada, students who forgave themselves for putting off revision for their first midterm exam procrastinated less before the second one. Guilt makes the task feel heavier, and the urge to avoid it grows.

Naming the feeling rather than the task: not “I don’t want to write the report”, but “I’m afraid it won’t be good enough” or “I don’t know where to begin”. When the feeling is named, it is easier to see what exactly needs help.

Making the first step tiny and concrete: not “write the application”, but “open the file and write the title”.

Deciding when and where: a plan like “on Tuesday at 10, at the kitchen table, I’ll fill in the first page” tends to work better than a general intention to “do it this week”.

Starting for a short time: agreeing to do just fifteen minutes is much easier than taking on the whole task. Often the hardest part is the first few minutes, and after that it gets easier.

When it is more than a habit

If procrastination covers almost everything, including things that used to be enjoyable, and comes with constant tiredness and loss of interest, it may be a sign of depression. If difficulties with attention, focus and finishing things have been there since childhood, it may be worth considering an assessment for ADHD. In other cases, psychotherapy can help a person understand which feelings their tasks stir up and find other ways of coping with them.