Procrastination: Time management or emotion control?

That's the reply I got from my friend when I checked in on him over text. Of course, my phone screen suddenly lit up with his response, pulling me away from my half-finished article, due in just two days. Faced with the daunting task ahead, I found myself inexplicably drawn to the fridge, checking if my apple juice and asparagus stayed intact for what felt like the millionth time. Lost in thought, I gazed out the kitchen window, pondering the curious question of whether cats see colour.

Meanwhile, the ticking of the clock served as a constant reminder of my looming deadline.

It was then that I realised I had done everything but tackle the blinking cursor on my laptop screen. Desperate for a distraction and a burst of dopamine to lift my spirits, I decided to delve into the intriguing world of procrastination.

Join me as we explore the mysteries of procrastination through the lens of the W- and How questions. Is procrastination truly the thief of time, or is there more to the story? Let's embark on this journey together and uncover the truth!

What is procrastination?

Research findings shed much-needed light on procrastination, defining it as an

“the primacy of short-term mood repair […] over the longer-term pursuit of intended actions.”

Put otherwise, procrastination is about going after the immediate urgency of easing negative feelings over a task we find boring or overwhelming, shoving any problem under the carpet rather than dealing with it in the present moment.

Who procrastinates?

When confronted with a heap of daunting tasks, procrastination can feel like an unstoppable whirlwind, especially for those of us who tend to act impulsively and get easily side-tracked. You know the feeling — you're trying to handle something important, and then your phone lights up with a notification.

Suddenly, you find yourself mindlessly scrolling through social media instead of focusing on the task at hand. It's like a reflex, right? We tell ourselves we'll just check it quickly, but before we know it, minutes turn into hours, and the important stuff remains untouched. It's a vicious cycle, and let's be honest, we've all been there.

When do we procrastinate?

One of the first studies to excavate the site of procrastination was published in Psychological Science in 1997. APS Fellow Dianne Tice and APS William James Fellow Roy Baumeister rated college students on a scale of procrastination by supervising their academic performance, stress, and overall well-being throughout the semester.

At first, there was a seeming advantage to procrastination, as the students displayed lower degrees of stress, presumably as a result of scheduling their work for a later, indefinite time to pursue more pleasurable activities. Towards the end, however, the burden of procrastination was palpable and far outweighed whatever was initially joyful. Procrastinators received lower grades compared to others and reported higher levels of stress, frustration, worry, and suffering. Therefore, not only did procrastinators complete their undesirable assignments later, but they've also impacted their health.

“Thus, despite its apologists and its short-term benefits, procrastination cannot be regarded as either adaptive or innocuous […] Procrastinators end up suffering more and performing worse than other people.”

Nearly a decade later, scholar Fuschia Sirois confirmed that chronic or “serial” procrastinators are more likely to be afflicted by adverse physical and mental illnesses. This can range from anxiety and depression to colds and flu, and even more severe conditions, such as cardiovascular disease.

Whereas economists are inclined to attribute procrastination to time management issues, psychological surveys have proven that procrastinators present a corresponding sense of guilt, anxiety, and/or shame alongside a tendency to delay. This emotional imbalance implies that there’s much more to task avoidance than the lack of a better grip of time. Timothy Pychyl pointed out the relation of mood and emotions with procrastination in a study published in the Journal of Social Behaviour and Personality.

Unlike Tice and Baumeister's earlier experiment, researchers in this study assigned coursework to 45 students and monitored their performance in the five days leading up to the deadline. Participants were asked to rate their procrastination levels and emotional states each time they heard a beep. As tasks became more challenging, students tended to delay them in favour of more enjoyable activities, leading to feelings of guilt. This suggests that beneath the initial relief of avoidance, there was underlying anxiety about unfinished work.

Pychyl concluded that procrastinators are aware of the consequences and temporal harm of their behaviour but struggle to resist the impulse to seek distractions. Essentially, procrastination serves as a coping mechanism (albeit not the healthiest one) for managing challenging emotions associated with certain tasks.

“Emotional regulation, to me, is the real story around procrastination, because to the extent that I can deal with my emotions, I can stay on task […] When you say task-aversiveness, that’s another word for lack of enjoyment. Those are feeling states — those aren’t states of which [task] has more utility.”

Furthermore, procrastinators tend to prioritise short-term relief from stressors over gaining insight into what caused their distress. Supporting Pychyl's perspective on grappling with a persistent conscience that struggles to maintain focus, Sirois maintains that 

“The mood regulation piece is a huge part of procrastination […] If you’re focused just on trying to get yourself to feel good now, there’s a lot you can miss out on in terms of learning how to correct [attitude] and avoiding similar problems in the future.”

Procrastinators often comfort themselves with the false belief and self-deception that they will be more emotionally prepared to tackle a challenging cognitive task in the future. As Sirois adds,

“The future self becomes the beast of burden for procrastination […] We’re trying to regulate our current mood and thinking our future self will be in a better state. They’ll be better able to handle feelings of insecurity or frustration with the task. That somehow we’ll develop these miraculous coping skills to deal with these emotions that we just can’t deal with right now.”

Why do we procrastinate?

During the lockdown, my friend spent countless hours “cyberloafing,” voluntarily ignoring time constraints, not solely due to social media. Procrastination has been a familiar concept since ancient times. Ancient Greek philosophers coined the term “akrasia,” signifying a lack of self-control and acting against one's better judgment. Even the prolific Greek poet Hesiod, around 800 B.C., cautioned against procrastination.

“put your work off till tomorrow and the day after.”

The pervasive tendency to overlook our better judgment and postpone necessary action has permeated modern societies. But what's behind it all? Is procrastination rooted in laziness, or is it driven by an overwhelming fear of failure, flawed outcomes, change, disappointing others, or choosing the wrong path in life?

It's likely a mix of everything...

My friend might feel overwhelmed by where to start.

He might anticipate or assume failure.

He might lack the inner drive to follow through on his tasks and enjoy the rewards of his efforts, such as a promotion or higher salary.

He might fall into perfectionist traps while trying to compensate for the above.

The reasons behind our struggle to tackle tasks and projects, especially those that don't particularly excite us as much (yes, the meh stuff), are diverse and intricate. However, the root cause of these issues with task initiation often stems from executive dysfunction. This dysfunction affects our ability to prioritise, leads to time blindness, and makes it challenging to manage multiple tasks simultaneously — all essential skills for maintaining a healthy and productive daily routine.

Present bias

Procrastination is a prime example of present bias.

Present bias refers to the tendency for our present selves to prioritise short-term pleasures over long-term goals, even though we may set ambitious objectives for our future selves. Our brains are wired to crave instant gratification, often at the expense of our future well-being.

One common sign of procrastination is the belief that we should wait for inspiration to strike or for the perfect mindset to tackle a task. However, this is a trap. When we delay tasks until some unspecified future time, we temporarily alleviate the tension and discomfort associated with them. We convince ourselves that we've allotted time to complete the task, even if that timeframe is vague or distant. This tendency to procrastinate and make excuses to ourselves effectively shifts the burden of responsibility onto our future selves.

Despite knowing that procrastination can have detrimental effects on our productivity and well-being, we continue to postpone tasks. It's a paradoxical behaviour that can ultimately catch up with us, particularly when tasks are time-sensitive or carry significant consequences.

How to overcome procrastination?

In an effort to uncover the psychological origins and triggers of procrastination, Laura Rabin and other advocates of procrastination management advocate for a range of interventions aimed at addressing this issue.

Start small, but just start!

If facing a daunting line-up of tasks feels overwhelming, start by taking just one micro step today. Congratulations, you've already made progress! Repeat this process tomorrow with another small step.

By consistently taking these baby steps, you'll find yourself moving steadily towards completion. To avoid last-minute stress and anxiety before a looming deadline, lower the threshold for procrastination by breaking down the workload into smaller, more manageable increments. This approach allows for a smoother workflow and reduces the likelihood of feeling overwhelmed.

Start strong: Tackle trivial tasks first

John Perry, a philosophy professor at Stanford University, suggests including minor tasks like “make tea” or “brush teeth” on your to-do list. These small wins can provide a sense of accomplishment and momentum, motivating you to tackle more challenging tasks throughout the day.

He wrote in his original essay:

“Procrastinators often follow exactly the wrong tack. They try to minimi[s]e their commitments, assuming that if they have only a few things to do, they will quit procrastinating and get them done. But this approach ignores the basic nature of the procrastinator and destroys his most important source of motivation. The few tasks on his list will be, by definition, the most important. And the only way to avoid doing them will be to do nothing. This is the way to become a couch potato, not an effective human being.”

Embrace support: Your path to progress

Isn't that what adulthood entails? As children, we often feel invincible, like real-life superheroes! Seeking counselling under the guidance of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) offers a promising path for addressing procrastination. By exploring how procrastination may sacrifice long-term goals for momentary gratification, CBT helps individuals develop healthier coping strategies. An alternative approach, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), complements CBT by promoting psychological flexibility. This involves acknowledging uncomfortable thoughts and emotions, staying present despite them, and aligning actions with personal values.

As Sirois writes,

“You’ve got to dig a little deeper and find some personal meaning in that task […] That’s what our data is suggesting.”

Do some inner work with yourself and stop relying on uncritical, knee-jerk reactions that don't take you anywhere in life.

Don't beat your procrastinating self down!

Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago, prompts us to reframe the way we perceive a situation and normalise past mistakes. (Let's face it, we're all default to self-critical, aren't we?).

Albeit counterintuitive, Ferrari goes as far as to voice a different opinion from that which condemns lateness to the one that forgives or even praises the early starter in his book, Still Procrastinating? The No Regrets Guide to Getting It Done. Among a series of hacks, he suggests that the federal government incentivised early tax filing by giving citizens a small break if they file by, say, February or March 15th.

Conclusion: Don't over-analyse paralyse

Remember that most decisions don't entail hours of painstaking research, as your trusted escape (procrastination) has convinced you. The majority of them lie at the top of your head awaiting you to turn the switch and kick your brain in motion, even if you have to steel yourself to start a challenging project for 15 minutes. An unexpected yet positive turn of events may astound you during that stretch of time!

I say, time travel to your future self and think: the fleeting pain of avoidance versus the limitless, durable satisfaction of a job well done; the sight of your book on the airplane seat as you make your way back from the loo; you getting in shaping by opting for the stairs to work; the quality time you spare for leisure or a hobby; your own money in the savings bank account... the list of benefits is truly endless. So, isn't it worth it?