Is Time Management Really the Problem?
Let me guess, you’ve spent your whole life thinking procrastination is a time management problem? You’ve been told that this new planner or this new course will solve all of your problems.
The truth is that time management is only half of the story. The rest of the puzzle is related to your emotions and how you regulate them (Rahimi et al., 2023).
Time management and organizational skills matter a lot when it comes to procrastination. Having these skills is essential for organizing your calendar, planning your tasks, and keeping track of your work. However, all of the planning in the world isn’t necessarily going to help you accomplish your goals if you are running away from uncomfortable emotions.
What Are You Really Avoiding?
A growing body of research suggests that your emotions play an important role in your procrastination behaviors.
In their classic research paper, Solomon and Rothblum (1984) found that two of the most commonly reported reasons for procrastination were: 1) task aversiveness (they don’t like the task), and 2) fear of failure (they are scared that they will fail). Both of these experiences can involve negative emotions. If you don’t like the task you’re doing, you may be experiencing boredom, and if you’re scared of failing, you may be experiencing anxiety.
In other words, we are not always avoiding the task, but rather how the task makes us feel. Different situations may produce different negative emotions, but at its core, the task becomes emotionally uncomfortable.
Avoidance Makes Us Feel Better… At First
What is the fastest way to reduce that discomfort? Avoid the task.
Imagine that you sit down to start working on your project. You open the textbook and suddenly feel uncomfortable. The anxiety starts rushing in, so you close the textbook and instead do something more enjoyable, like watching television. You try to replace the negative emotions with positive ones and suddenly you feel better.
You also tell yourself that you’ll work on the project tomorrow, which also makes you feel better because tomorrow represents hope, another day with endless possibilities.
However, tomorrow often becomes the next tomorrow and eventually, all those tomorrows collapse into the night before the deadline, when the pressure is high, the adrenaline is flowing, and suddenly there is no choice but to get started.
This cycle looks like this:
Task → uncomfortable emotion → avoidance → short-term relief
What Can You Do?
If procrastination is partly about how we respond to uncomfortable emotions, then learning to recognize and tolerate those emotions may be just as important as learning how to manage our time.
The next time you find yourself procrastinating, pause before buying a new planner or downloading another productivity app and ask yourself:
What am I feeling right now?
Is it boredom?
Is it anxiety?
Is it a fear of failure?
Are you overwhelmed?
Sometimes the most useful thing you can do is understand what you’re trying to escape.
And that may be the missing piece in the procrastination puzzle: we don’t just need better ways to manage our time; we may also need better ways to manage our emotions.
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References
Rahimi, S., Hall, N. C., & Sticca, F. (2023). Understanding academic procrastination: A longitudinal analysis of procrastination and emotions in undergraduate and graduate students. Motivation and Emotion, 47, 554-574. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-023-10010-9
Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31(4), 503–509. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.31.4.503
This post is a simplified breakdown of concepts from my own dissertation and published research. For the full data, methodology, and academic discussion, see:
Rahimi, S., Hall, N. C., & Sticca, F. (2023). Understanding academic procrastination: A longitudinal analysis of procrastination and emotions in undergraduate and graduate students. Motivation and Emotion, 47, 554-574. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-023-10010-9
Rahimi, S. (2019). Understanding academic procrastination: A longitudinal analysis of procrastination and emotions in undergraduate and graduate students. Doctoral dissertation, McGill University.
Rahimi, S., & Hall, N. C. (2021). Why are you waiting? Procrastination on academic tasks among undergraduate and graduate students. Innovative Higher Education, 46, 759–776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-021-09563-9
