We’ve all been there. You have an important deadline looming, but suddenly you decide that right now is the perfect moment to learn how to bake sourdough from scratch.
We often call procrastination laziness, but as a researcher fascinated by human behavior, I look at it a bit differently. If you are asking yourself, “why do I procrastinate?” here is what is actually happening according to the psychology of procrastination.
1. The “Should” vs. “Want” Conflict in Your Brain
At its core, researchers describe procrastination as a classic “should-want” conflict (Bazerman, Tenbrunsel, & Wade-Benzoni, 1998). You know you should be writing that paper, studying for that exam, or finishing that work project. It is the rational, long-term, productive choice.
But your brain doesn’t always care about long-term rewards. Instead, it pulls you toward what you want to do right now such as appealing, low-effort activities like eating, sleeping, scrolling through social media, or playing video games (Klassen et al., 2010).
2. Understanding the Intention-Action Gap
Have you ever gone to sleep fully intending to wake up early and conquer the world, only to hit snooze five times? In psychology, this disconnect is known as the intention-action gap.
This disconnect between intention and action is exactly what first drew me to the study of procrastination. We say we’re going to do something, but our intentions fail to translate into actual behavior. Understanding why this bridge collapses is the first step to rebuilding it.
3. Why It’s a Weakness of Will (Not Lack of Skill)
It is easy to beat yourself up and think you just aren’t smart or capable enough to get things done. But philosophers and psychologists note that procrastination is actually a form of akrasia, an ancient Greek term meaning a “weakness of will” (Pychyl, 2011; Searle, 2001).
When you procrastinate, you are actively acting against your own better judgment. You are fully aware that delaying the task will hurt you later, cause you stress, or ruin your weekend and yet, you do it anyway. It’s not a lack of talent or intelligence; it’s a temporary breakdown in self-regulation.
4. Procrastination Is More Than Just Putting Things Off
Procrastination isn’t simply a matter of delaying a task. Theoretically, it has been proposed to involve a multifaceted interaction between cognitive, behavioural, and affective mechanisms (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984).
- Cognitive (your thoughts): The beliefs and assumptions that shape how you view a task, such as “I need to be in the perfect mood to start,” “I work better under pressure,” or “If I can’t do it perfectly, there’s no point in trying.” These irrational or unhelpful beliefs can make a task feel much more daunting than it actually is.
- Behavioural (your actions): The observable behaviours that delay progress, such as checking your phone, reorganizing your workspace, running unnecessary errands, or finding other “productive” tasks to avoid the one that you should be doing.
- Affective (your emotions): The emotional experiences that often drive procrastination, including anxiety, fear of failure, frustration, overwhelm, or self-doubt. In many cases, we aren’t avoiding the task itself—we’re avoiding the uncomfortable emotions we associate with it.
5. The Dangerous Illusion of “Tomorrow”
The ultimate trap of this cycle is our deeply flawed relationship with the future. We treat our “Future Self” like some sort of superhero who will have twice as much energy, infinite focus, and zero anxiety. We tell ourselves, “I’ll just do it tomorrow.”
But as the old saying goes: tomorrow never comes (Plaut, 2008). When tomorrow arrives, it is just another “today,” packed with the exact same anxieties and distractions you are facing right now. If you want to learn how to stop procrastinating, you have to stop waiting for a magical future version of yourself to save the day, and simply take the first, smallest step right now.
References
Bazerman, M. H., Tenbrunsel, A. E., & Wade-Benzoni, K. A. (1998). Negotiating with yourself and losing: Making decisions with competing internal preferences. Academy of Management Review, 23(2), 225–241. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1998.533224
Klassen, R. M., Ang, R. P., Chong, W. H., Krawchuk, L. L., Huan, V. S., Wong, I. Y., & Yeo, L. S. (2010). Academic procrastination in two settings: Motivation and situational predictors of procrastination in Canada and Singapore. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology.
Plaut, S. M. (2008). Tomorrow never comes. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 34(4), 285–287.
Pychyl, T. A. (2011). The Procrastinator’s Digest: A Concise Guide to Solving the Procrastination Puzzle. New York, NY: Tarcher Perigee.
Searle, J. R. (2001). Rationality in Action. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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
