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What Is Procrastination?

Putting off tasks we don't enjoy is common, despite the consequences

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Why Do You Procrastinate?

Types of procrastination.

• The Negative Impact
• Strategies to Stop

Procrastination is the act of delaying or putting off tasks until the last minute, or past their deadline. Some researchers define procrastination as a "form of self-regulation failure characterized by the irrational delay of tasks despite potentially negative consequences."

According to Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago and author of "Still Procrastinating: The No Regret Guide to Getting It Done," around 20% of U.S. adults are chronic procrastinators.

No matter how well-organized and committed you are, chances are that you have found yourself frittering away hours on trivial pursuits (watching TV, updating your Facebook status, shopping online) when you should have been spending that time on work or school-related projects.

Whether you're putting off finishing a project for work, avoiding homework assignments, or ignoring household chores, procrastination can have a major impact on your job, your grades, and your life.

In most cases, procrastination is not a sign of a serious problem. It's a common tendency that most people give in to at some point or another.

Remember that time that you thought you had a week left to finish a project that was really due the next day? How about the time you decided not to clean up your apartment because you "didn't feel like doing it right now?"

We often assume that projects won't take as long to finish as they really will, which can lead to a false sense of security when we believe that we still have plenty of time to complete these tasks.

One of the biggest factors contributing to procrastination is the notion that we have to feel inspired or motivated to work on a task at a particular moment.

The reality is that if you wait until you're in the right frame of mind to do certain tasks (especially undesirable ones), you will probably find that the right time simply never comes along and the task never gets completed.

The following are a few other factors that cause procrastination.

Researchers suggest that procrastination can be particularly pronounced among students. A 2007 meta analysis published in the Psychological Bulletin found that a whopping 80% to 95% of college students procrastinated on a regular basis, particularly when it came to completing assignments and coursework.  

According to researchers, there are some major cognitive distortions that lead to academic procrastination.   Students tend to:

• Overestimate how much time they have left to perform tasks
• Overestimate how motivated they will be in the future
• Underestimate how long certain activities will take to complete
• Mistakenly assume that they need to be in the right frame of mind to work on a project

Present Bias

The present bias is a phenomenon observed in human behavior that may result in procrastination. The present bias means that we tend to be motivated more by immediate gratification or rewards than we are by long-term rewards. This is why it feels good in the moment to procrastinate.

For example, the immediate reward of staying in bed and watching TV is more appealing than the long-term reward of publishing a blog post, which would take much longer to accomplish.

Procrastination can also be a result of depression . Feelings of hopelessness , helplessness, and a lack of energy can make it difficult to start (and finish) the simplest task. Depression can also lead to self-doubt . When you can't figure out how to tackle a project or feel insecure about your abilities, you might find it easier to put it off.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Procrastination is also pretty common in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder . One reason is that OCD is often linked with maladaptive perfectionism, which causes fears about making new mistakes, doubts about whether you are doing something correctly, and worry over others' expectations of you.

People with OCD also often have a propensity toward indecision, causing them to procrastinate rather than make a decision.

Many adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) struggle with procrastination. When you're so distracted by outside stimuli, as well as internal thoughts, it can be hard to get started on a task, especially if that task is difficult or not interesting to you.

Is Procrastination a Mental Illness?

Procrastination itself is not a mental illness. But in some cases, it may be symptomatic of an underlying mental health condition such as depression, OCD, or ADHD.

We often come up with a number of excuses or rationalizations to justify our behavior. According to researchers, there are 15 key reasons why people say they procrastinate:

• Not knowing what needs to be done
• Not knowing how to do something
• Not wanting to do something
• Not caring if it gets done or not
• Not caring when something gets done
• Not feeling in the mood to do it
• Being in the habit of waiting until the last minute
• Believing that you work better under pressure
• Thinking that you can finish it at the last minute
• Lacking the initiative to get started
• Blaming sickness or poor health
• Waiting for the right moment
• Needing time to think about the task
• Delaying one task in favor of working on another

Press Play for Advice On Completing Tasks

Hosted by therapist Amy Morin, LCSW, this episode of The Verywell Mind Podcast shares how to get tasks done with a science-backed trick known as 'temptation bundling.' Click below to listen now.

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Some researchers classify two types of procrastinators: passive and active procrastinators.

• Passive procrastinators : Delay the task because they have trouble making decisions and acting on them
• Active procrastinators : Delay the task purposefully because working under pressure allows them to "feel challenged and motivated"

Others define the types of procrastinators based on different behavioral styles of procrastination, including:

• Perfectionist : Puts off tasks out of the fear of not being able to complete a task perfectly
• Dreamer : Puts off tasks because they are not good at paying attention to detail
• Defier : Doesn't believe someone should dictate their time schedule
• Worrier : Puts off tasks out of fear of change or leaving the comfort of "the known"
• Crisis-maker : Puts off tasks because they like working under pressure
• Overdoer : Takes on too much and struggles with finding time to start and complete task

Procrastinators vs. Non-Procrastinators

"Non-procrastinators focus on the task that needs to be done. They have a stronger personal identity and are less concerned about what psychologists call 'social esteem'—how others like us—as opposed to self-esteem which is how we feel about ourselves," explained Dr. Ferrari in an interview with the American Psychological Association (APA).  

According to psychologist Piers Steel, people who don't procrastinate tend to be high in the personality trait known as conscientiousness , one of the broad dispositions identified by the Big Five theory of personality. People who are high in conscientiousness also tend to be high in other areas including self-discipline, persistence, and personal responsibility.

The Negative Impact of Procrastination

It is only in cases where procrastination becomes chronic and begins to have a serious impact on a person's daily life that it becomes a more serious issue. In such instances, it's not just a matter of having poor time management skills, it's a major part of their lifestyle.

Perhaps they pay their bills late, don't start work on big projects until the night before the deadline, delay gift shopping until the day before a birthday, and even file their income tax returns late.

Unfortunately, this procrastination can have a serious impact on a number of life areas, including a person's mental health and social, professional, and financial well-being:

• Higher levels of stress and illness
• Increased burden placed on social relationships
• Resentment from friends, family, co-workers, and fellow students
• Consequences of delinquent bills and income tax returns

How to Overcome Procrastination

You might find yourself wondering, How can I stop procrastinating?

Fortunately, there are a number of different things you can do to fight procrastination and start getting things done on time. Consider these your procrastination exercises:

• Make a to-do list : To help keep you on track, consider placing a due date next to each item.
• Take baby steps : Break down the items on your list into small, manageable steps so that your tasks don’t seem so overwhelming.
• Recognize the warning signs : Pay attention to any thoughts of procrastination and do your best to resist the urge. If you begin to think about procrastinating, force yourself to spend a few minutes working on your task.
• Eliminate distraction : Ask yourself what pulls your attention away the most—whether it's Instagram, Facebook updates, or the local news—and turn off those sources of distraction.
• Pat yourself on the back : When you finish an item on your to-do list on time, congratulate yourself and reward yourself by indulging in something you find fun.    

Prem R, Scheel TE, Weigelt O, Hoffmann K, Korunka C. Procrastination in daily working life: A diary study on within-person processes that link work characteristics to workplace procrastination . Front Psychol . 2018;9:1087. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01087

American Psychological Association. The Psychology of Procrastination: Why People Put Off Important Tasks Until the Last Minute . 2010.

Bisin A, Hyndman K. Present-bias, procrastination and deadlines in a field experiment . Games and Economic Behavior. 2020;119:339-357. doi:10.1016/j.geb.2019.11.010

Steel P. The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure . Psychol Bull . 2007;133(1):65-94. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.133.1.65 

Ferrari, Joseph & Johnson, Judith & McCown, William. (1995). Procrastination and Task Avoidance - Theory, Research and Treatment . doi: 10.1007/978-1-4899-0227-6

Beutel ME, Klein EM, Aufenanger S, et al. Procrastination, distress and life satisfaction across the age range - A German representative community study .  PLoS One . 2016;11(2):e0148054. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0148054

Limburg K, Watson HJ, Hagger MS, Egan SJ.  The relationship between perfectionism and psychopathology: A meta-analysis .  J Clin Psychol.  2017;73(10):1301-1326. doi:10.1002/jclp.22435

Altgassen M, Scheres A, Edel MA.  Prospective memory (partially) mediates the link between ADHD symptoms and procrastination .  Atten Defic Hyperact Disord . 2019;11(1):59-71. doi:10.1007/s12402-018-0273-x

Tuckman BW, Abry DA, Smith DR. (2008). Learning and Motivation Strategies: Your Guide to Success (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Zohar AH, Shimone LP, Hen M. Active and passive procrastination in terms of temperament and character .  PeerJ . 2019;7:e6988. doi:10.7717/peerj.6988

American Psychological Association. The first step to overcoming procrastination: Know thyself .

Svartdal F, Nemtcan E. Past negative consequences of unnecessary delay as a marker of procrastination . Front Psychol. 2022;13. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.787337

Schrager S, Sadowski E. Getting more done: Strategies to increase scholarly productivity .  J Grad Med Educ . 2016;8(1):10-13. doi:10.4300/JGME-D-15-00165.1

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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(VIDEO) Understanding Procrastination, and How to Take Action

Dallas jensen, phd.

• September 26, 2023

A huge barrier to living the way we’d like to see ourselves live, and doing the things we know we need to do, is that we frequently just don’t feel like it when it’s time to take action. Put that together with the story we then tell ourselves about how we’ll feel like it later, and we have a perfect recipe for procrastination. The video and article below discuss the compounding spiral of what usually happens next, and suggest a different way of approaching the challenge of taking action.

What Happens When We Procrastinate Instead of Taking Action

We justify procrastination in all sorts of ways. As humans we’ll provide ourselves with any and all reasons we can think of to avoid actually taking action and doing what we know we need to do. 

Research tells us that procrastination happens for two general reasons: One, we feel like we’re in the wrong mood or internal state to complete a task in the moment, and two, we assume our internal state will change in the future, and then we’ll be productive. 

Of course, the problem here is that it bases our ability to take action entirely on a constantly shifting and often-unpredictable internal state. We get stuck believing we need to feel a certain way before we can do what needs to be done.  And when it’s time to take action and we don’t feel like it, from this paradigm the only option is to put it off for later. To procrastinate.

Related Article: (VIDEO) The Skill of Taking Action When You Don’t Feel Like it

And then it often gets worse. Putting off a task we need to do makes us feel anxious, guilty, ashamed, or more stressed. Subsequently, the next time we approach that task, odds are good we’re going to be met by all that extra stored up stress and anxiety, which makes it even more difficult to get started. And so we put it off again, producing even more stress the next time…and so on and so forth.

Before we know it all our energy is sucked into avoiding and holding off all that built up stuff, instead of being directed toward the actions and behaviors of doing something. 

I want to acknowledge this is all very hard, very normal, very human stuff. Also, sometimes not doing something that needs to be done is in fact the best or healthiest decision, for a variety of reasons. But we’ve all run into times when procrastination takes over where it didn’t have to.

Switching Up the Paradigm is Key to the Skill of Taking Action

The usual paradigm described above is the ‘feel like it’ paradigm–aka motivation. Motivation is fantastic as a resource, especially when it shows up when we need it most. But it’s an unpredictable, fickle, and limited resource. 

An alternative to the motivation paradigm is to break out of the belief that we have to have certain thoughts and feelings show up before we take action. And then to accept whatever feelings are or are not there, save the energy we would typically spend fighting with our thoughts/feelings, and instead direct that energy on actually taking steps. At the very least, we can get started, and avoid the procrastination cycle.

Taking Action by Getting Started

One reason it can be helpful to at least get started on the thing we would otherwise procrastinate? Taking action by initiating a task, even if we stop soon after, produces something that has been called the Zeigarnik Effect , identified by a researcher named Bluma Zeigarnik in the 1920s.

Her research showed that people have better memory for tasks they have not yet completed.  She demonstrated that once we’ve started something that we haven’t yet finished, the brain wants to get back to it. It’s as though we activate an itch that our brain wants to scratch, by finishing the unfinished task.

There are plenty of ways to at least get started on what needs to be done. When setting goals in therapy, especially with people who are weighed down by significant levels of anxiety or depression, we often work to narrow the scope down. We identify the next, most immediately available, concrete task that the person can actually complete, even when that means breaking bigger tasks down into micro-steps.

Or, it may help to select the simplest and fastest parts of a task you might otherwise procrastinate–things that would take only a minute or two at most to do–and get started by tackling those first. 

Sometimes just setting the stage helps. Taking the needed steps or actions to get a thing ready to do is still a form of action. Writing out a list of steps, opening the file on your computer, picking up the clothes from the floor and putting them in the basket, setting out your workout gear and shoes so they’ll be ready to grab later…whatever it looks like. 

Basically, when it comes to avoiding the trap of procrastination, any and all actions taken in the direction of the needed task are going to be far more productive than trying to think yourself into feeling like it. And they’re going to prevent that familiar cycle of dread that happens when the stress and anxiety of continued avoidance stack up to an overwhelming degree.

If this is something you’d like more help with, feel free to reach out to us with questions or to ask about our therapy services.

Photo by Eden Constantino on Unsplash

Latest Articles:

Solving Procrastination

Homework Procrastination: Why You Procrastinate on Homework and How to Stop

Homework procrastination involves unnecessarily postponing working on homework assignments. For example, if a student delays starting a homework assignment until right before its deadline for no good reason, even though it would have been better for them to start earlier, that student is engaging in homework procrastination.

Homework procrastination can take various forms, from wasting hours trying to bring yourself to start writing an essay, to putting off an important project until the end of the semester. This is a problem not only because it can harm your performance at school, and therefore cause you to receive lower grades , but also because it can cause you to suffer from various other issues , such as frustration, anxiety, and stress .

If you often procrastinate when it comes to doing homework, know that you’re not alone. Procrastination is a common problem among students ; in terms of statistics, studies show that approximately 80%–95% of college students engage in procrastination to some degree, approximately 75% consider themselves to be procrastinators, and approximately 50% say that they procrastinate in a consistent and problematic manner.

Fortunately, however, there are some things that you can do to solve this problem, as you will see in the following article. Specifically, you will first see an explanation about why students procrastinate on their homework, so you can understand your own behavior better. Then, you will see what you can do in order to stop procrastinating on your homework, so you can start getting them done on time.

Why you procrastinate on homework

You procrastinate on homework because issues such as exhaustion and anxiety outweigh your self-control and motivation. These issues include personal factors, like fear and perfectionism, and situational factors, like distractions and unclear instructions.

Specifically, when you need to get homework done, you rely primarily on your self-control in order to get yourself to do it. Furthermore, your self-control is sometimes supported by your motivation, which helps you complete your homework on time.

However, in some cases, you suffer from issues that interfere with or oppose your self-control and motivation, such as exhaustion and anxiety . When these issues are stronger than your self-control and motivation, you end up procrastinating, until you reach a point where the balance between them shifts in your favor, or until it’s too late.

This explains why you might end up procrastinating on your homework even when you have the necessary motivation and you truly wish that you could just get started. This also explains why you might end up procrastinating on your homework until right before deadlines , when the increased motivation, often in the form of stressful pressure, finally pushes you to get to work.

Accordingly, common reasons for procrastinating on homework include the following :

• Abstract goals , in terms of being vague about how and when you intend to do the homework.
• Feeling overwhelmed , often while being unsure of how to complete the homework.
• Perfectionism , in the form of refusing to create work that has any flaws.
• Fear of failure , often because of concerns over how such failure might reflect on you.
• Anxiety , often in light of potential negative feedback.
• Task aversion , especially in cases where you find the homework boring or unpleasant.
• Lack of motivation , often as a result of feeling disconnected from your future self or having rewards that are far in the future.
• Physical or mental exhaustion , often due to a combination of reasons, such as a high academic workload and associated stress .
• Resentment , generally toward the homework, toward its source, or toward something related, such as a parent pushing you to do well in a subject that you’re not interested in.
• Sensation seeking , generally in the form of enjoying working on things right before the deadline, when there’s intense time pressure.
• Problematic work environment , generally as a result of having many distractions or temptations around.
• Lack of sufficient communication from instructors, for example when it comes to not having clear directions and due dates for a certain class project.

In addition, other issues can also make you more likely to procrastinate on your homework. For example:

• Problematic behaviors like self-handicapping , which involves procrastinating so that if you fail you can blame your failure on procrastination rather than your abilities, and self-sabotaging , which involves procrastinating as a result of a tendency to sabotage your progress.
• Personality traits like distractibility and impulsivity .
• Underlying issues like lack of sleep , ADHD , and depression .

Finally, note that some of these issues can lead to problematic procrastination cycles . For example, this can happen if you’re anxious about your homework, so you procrastinate on it, which makes you even more anxious about your homework due to the added negative emotions that you now associate with it (e.g., guilt and shame), which in turn makes you more likely to keep procrastinating on your homework in the future.

Understanding why you procrastinate on your homework can help you learn how to overcome your procrastination. However, while understanding why you procrastinate can be helpful, in many cases you can reduce your procrastination even without figuring this out. As such, if you find that you’re struggling with this step, don’t worry, and don’t get stuck; simply move on to the next step, which involves trying out various anti-procrastination techniques, until you find the ones that work best for you.

How to stop procrastinating on homework

To stop procrastinating on your homework right now , you should identify the smallest possible thing you can do to make progress on it, and then modify your environment to make it as likely as possible that you will do it.

For example, if you need to write a paper for a university course, the smallest possible step that you can take toward finishing it might be opening the relevant document on your computer, and writing just a single opening line, even if it’s poorly phrased initially. Once you realize that this is all you need to do, you can start modifying your work environment to help yourself achieve that, for example by going to a room with no distractions, leaving your phone outside, and turning on airplane mode on your laptop to disable your access to online distractions .

There are many other anti-procrastination techniques that can help you stop procrastinating on your homework. You don’t need to use all of these techniques, since some won’t be relevant in your case, and since you will generally need only a few of them in order to make significant progress toward overcoming your procrastination. As such, try skimming through this list, and finding the techniques that you think will work best for you.

Improve your planning:

• Set concrete goals for yourself. For example, instead of a vague goal, such as “finish my psychology paper over the weekend”, set a concrete goal, such as “start writing an outline for the psychology paper on Thursday at 5 pm in the library, right after I finish the last class for the week”).
• Break your homework into small and manageable steps. For example, if you need to write a research paper, you can start with steps such as “(1) brainstorm three potential topics, (2) figure out which topic I like best, and (3) find five relevant sources”. If the project that you’re dealing with is large and will therefore require a large number of steps, don’t worry about outlining the whole thing from the start; simply identify the first few steps that you need to take, and add new ones as you go along, to avoid feeling overwhelmed or getting stuck.
• Set a series of milestones and deadlines for yourself. This will help you be accountable and plan ahead, and can also motivate you and give you a rewarding feeling of continuous progress.
• Identify your productivity cycles. Different people are more productive at different times, based on factors such as whether it’s morning, noon, or evening. To reduce procrastination, you should take your personal productivity patterns into account, and schedule your homework for times when you’re most likely to be able to actually work on it.

Improve your environment:

• Change your environment to make it easier for you to focus. For example, if you know that you work best when there are no distracting noises, go somewhere quiet, or put on some noise-blocking headphones.
• Change your environment to make it easier for yourself to get started. For example, if you know that you will need to write an essay tomorrow after you wake up, then leave the document open on your computer before you go to bed.
• Change your environment to make it harder for yourself to procrastinate. For example, if you tend to procrastinate by browsing apps on your phone , leave your phone outside the room where you plan to work.

Change your approach:

• Start with a tiny step. For example, if you need to write an essay, help yourself get started by committing to only write a single sentence at first. This can help you push yourself to get started on homework, and often, once you do so, you’ll find it easy to keep going.
• Start with the best or worst part first. Some people find that starting with the most enjoyable or easiest part of an assignment helps them get going, while others find that getting the worst part out of the way first helps them avoid procrastinating over time. Use either approach if you feel that it works for you.
• Add a time delay before you procrastinate. If you can’t avoid procrastinating entirely, try committing to having a time delay before you indulge your impulse to do so. For example, this can involve counting to 10 before you’re allowed to open a new tab on the social media website that you usually use to procrastinate.
• Use the Pomodoro technique. This involves alternating between scheduled periods of work and rest. For example, you can work on your homework for 25-minute long stretches, with 5-minute breaks in between, and a longer 30-minute break after every 4 work sets that you complete.

Increase your motivation:

• Make doing the homework feel more rewarding. For example, you can gamify your work, by marking down streaks of days on which you’ve managed to make sufficient progress on your assignments, and potentially also give yourself some reward once you reach a sufficiently long streak.
• Make doing the homework feel more enjoyable. For example, you can do your homework in a pleasant location, while listening to energizing music.
• Visualize your future self. For example, you can visualize yourself being able to relax after you finish working, visualize yourself being rewarded for getting a good grade in a course, or visualize yourself having to handle the issues associated with not finishing your homework on time.
• Focus on your goals instead of your assignments. Instead of focusing on the fact that you have an aversion to your homework, for whatever reason, try focusing on your end goals for completing the homework, such as getting a good grade in an important class so you can have a better application for grad school.

Change your mindset:

• Give yourself permission to make mistakes, and accept the fact that your work won’t be perfect, especially at first. This can be helpful, for example, when it comes to assignments that involve writing, where you can give yourself permission to write a bad first draft, and then edit it afterward.
• Address your fears. If you’re procrastinating because you’re afraid of something, try to identify your fears and resolve them. For example, if you’re afraid that your writing won’t be good enough, you can say to yourself that your goal is to just start by getting something written down, and that you can always improve it later.
• Develop self-compassion.   Self-compassion can help reduce your procrastination, as well as various issues that are associated with it, such as stress. It consists of three components that you should develop: self-kindness , which involves being nice to yourself, common humanity , which involves recognizing that everyone experiences challenges, and mindfulness , which involves accepting your emotions in a non-judgmental manner.
• Develop self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the belief in your ability to carry out the actions that you need to achieve your goals, and it can help you reduce your procrastination. To develop self-efficacy, try to identify the various strategies that you can use to finish your homework, and think about your ability to execute those strategies successfully.

When deciding which approach to use in order to overcome your procrastination , keep in mind that anti-procrastination techniques are especially effective when they’re tailored to the specific causes of your procrastination. For example, if you procrastinate because you set abstract goals for yourself, you should focus on setting concrete goals instead. Similarly, if you procrastinate because of available distractions, you should remove those distractions from your study environment, or go work somewhere else instead.

In addition, note that if you suffer from an underlying issue that leads to procrastination, such as lack of sleep , depression , or ADHD , you will likely need to resolve that issue, using professional help if necessary, if you want to successfully overcome your procrastination.

Finally, keep in mind that most people need more than one technique in order to overcome their procrastination , and that different techniques work better for different people in different circumstances. Accordingly, don’t expect a single technique to solve all your problems, and don’t feel that if some technique works well for others then it will necessarily also work well for you. Instead, try out the various techniques that are available to you, until you figure out which ones work best for you, in your particular situation.

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The science behind procrastination and how to overcome it!

28 May 2021

The saying goes, 'when the going gets tough, the tough get going'. Normally however, when things get tough, we just procrastinate. Natalia gives us her 5 tips to stop this unhelpful habit.

Everyone puts things off every now and again, but for some procrastination can be an everyday battle! Have you ever been guilty of not starting an essay until the night before? Do you want to find out why people procrastinate? And most importantly, are you ready to learn how you can overcome it?

What is procrastination?

It is the routine, habitual responses your brain falls into when you try to do something hard or unpleasant. Procrastination makes you focus solely on making the present moment feel better.

Why do we procrastinate?

Learning a new thing or doing something you would rather not do can be stressful. This can cause anxiety and actually activates the area associated with pain in your brain. Your brain then looks for a way to stop that negative feeling by switching your attention to something else more pleasant.

Although this may seem innocent enough, the long-term effect of procrastination can be dangerous! Putting your studies off leads to studying becoming even more painful. Moreover, procrastination is a habit that affects many areas of your life, so if you improve in this area, many positive changes will unfold.

What's the solution?

OK, there isn't one simple solution that can help you overcome procrastination. However, here are 5 tips (which I've personally used myself to challenge my own procrastination) that should steer you in the right direction:

1. Work on what triggers your habitual responses

Seeing procrastination is a habitual stress response to doing something unpleasant, it is important you look into what triggers this response and adjust accordingly. Is it the location? Is it the time? For example, for a lot of people, it's the ease with which they can access distractions on their phone or computer, and so you should consider eliminating those distractions as much as possible.

2. Put some rewards in place

Habits exist because they reward us. They are powerful because they create neurological cravings. As a result, it helps to add a new reward (e.g. "I will watch a movie guilt-free once I've studied for 4 hours today") if you want to overcome your previous cravings (e.g. "I don't want to do this essay - I'm going to go on Reddit instead"). Only once your brain starts expecting a reward will the important rewiring take place that will allow you to create new habits. If you do end up procrastinating, you should not reward yourself, however this doesn't mean you should beat yourself up about it. It has been shown that self-forgiveness regarding procrastination will help you get going without delay next time around, and so helps you overcome your habit!

3. Try weekly/daily lists

Researchers showed that writing the list of things you did not accomplish at the end of the day  helps you accomplish them the next day and also allows you to unwind more successfully. If you don’t write them down, they will take the valuable slots of memory and can cause you to worry and ruminate. So why not ease up on your brain? Create a list of goals at the end of the day. Then, plan your next work day in such a way that you work on the most important and most disliked tasks first (but also have a backup plan, just in case you procrastinate). Don't forget to be reflective about what kind of lists or planning tactics worked and which ones didn't, and update your notes until you have a personalised guide on how you work best!

4. Focus on the process

Having said that, don't get too caught up with goals, as that can also be detrimental. Instead, you should focus as much as you can on the process. You should realise that it’s perfectly normal to start a learning session with a negative feeling, even if you like the subject. It’s how you handle those feelings that matters. For some, it may be especially beneficial to focus on the process, not the product, as it is the product that triggers the pain causing you to procrastinate.

5. The trick is just to start

This may seem like one of those things that is easier said than done, but it can honestly be a game changer! Researchers have discovered that not long after people start working out (something that they found unpleasant beforehand), their neuro-discomfort disappears and the participants start to find the workout to be intrinsically motivating. So next time you have an essay to write, just do the simplest of steps to get you going, such as creating a word document with the title and jotting down a few ideas about the topic.

Now with a little willpower, a plan, and rewards, you can change your habits! Always remember that habits can be changed and it is never too late to self-improve. For more study tips, check out our other articles .

By Natalia Mladentseva, UCL alumna

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Cover Story

Why wait the science behind procrastination.

• Cognitive Psychology
• Emotional Control
• Personality/Social

Believe it or not, the Internet did not give rise to procrastination. People have struggled with habitual hesitation going back to ancient civilizations. The Greek poet Hesiod, writing around 800 B.C., cautioned not to “put your work off till tomorrow and the day after.” The Roman consul Cicero called procrastination “hateful” in the conduct of affairs. (He was looking at you, Marcus Antonius.) And those are just examples from recorded history. For all we know, the dinosaurs saw the meteorite coming and went back to their game of Angry Pterodactyls.

What’s become quite clear since the days of Cicero is that procrastination isn’t just hateful, it’s downright harmful. In research settings, people who procrastinate have higher levels of stress and lower well-being. In the real world, undesired delay is often associated with inadequate retirement savings and missed medical visits. Considering the season, it would be remiss not to mention past surveys by H&R Block, which found that people cost themselves hundreds of dollars by rushing to prepare income taxes near the April 15 deadline.

In the past 20 years, the peculiar behavior of procrastination has received a burst of empirical interest. With apologies to Hesiod, psychological researchers now recognize that there’s far more to it than simply putting something off until tomorrow. True procrastination is a complicated failure of self-regulation: experts define it as the voluntary delay of some important task that we intend to do, despite knowing that we’ll suffer as a result. A poor concept of time may exacerbate the problem, but an inability to manage emotions seems to be its very foundation.

“What I’ve found is that while everybody may procrastinate, not everyone is a procrastinator,” says APS Fellow Joseph Ferrari, a professor of psychology at DePaul University. He is a pioneer of modern research on the subject, and his work has found that as many as 20 percent of people may be chronic procrastinators.

“It really has nothing to do with time-management,” he says. “As I tell people, to tell the chronic procrastinator to just do it would be like saying to a clinically depressed person, cheer up .”

Suffering More, Performing Worse

A major misperception about procrastination is that it’s an innocuous habit at worst, and maybe even a helpful one at best. Sympathizers of procrastination often say it doesn’t matter when a task gets done, so long as it’s eventually finished. Some even believe they work best under pressure. Stanford philosopher John Perry, author of the book The Art of Procrastination , has argued that people can dawdle to their advantage by restructuring their to-do lists so that they’re always accomplishing something of value. Psychological scientists have a serious problem with this view. They argue that it conflates beneficial, proactive behaviors like pondering (which attempts to solve a problem) or prioritizing (which organizes a series of problems) with the detrimental, self-defeating habit of genuine procrastination. If progress on a task can take many forms, procrastination is the absence of progress.

“If I have a dozen things to do, obviously #10, #11, and #12 have to wait,” says Ferrari. “The real procrastinator has those  12 things, maybe does one or two of them, then rewrites the list, then shuffles it around, then makes an extra copy of it. That’s procrastinating. That’s different.”

One of the first studies to document the pernicious nature of procrastination was published in Psychological Science back in 1997. APS Fellow Dianne Tice and APS William James Fellow Roy Baumeister, then at Case Western Reserve University, rated college students on an established scale of procrastination, then tracked their academic performance, stress, and general health throughout the semester. Initially there seemed to be a benefit to procrastination, as these students had lower levels of stress compared to others, presumably as a result of putting off their work to pursue more pleasurable activities. In the end, however, the costs of procrastination far outweighed the temporary benefits. Procrastinators earned lower grades than other students and reported higher cumulative amounts of stress and illness. True procrastinators didn’t just finish their work later — the quality of it suffered, as did their own well-being.

“Thus, despite its apologists and its short-term benefits, procrastination cannot be regarded as either adaptive or innocuous,” concluded Tice and Baumeister (now both at Florida State University). “Procrastinators end up suffering more and performing worse than other people.”

A little later, Tice and Ferrari teamed up to do a study that put the ill effects of procrastination into context. They brought students into a lab and told them at the end of the session they’d be engaging in a math puzzle. Some were told the task was a meaningful test of their cognitive abilities, while others were told that it was designed to be meaningless and fun. Before doing the puzzle, the students had an interim period during which they could prepare for the task or mess around with games like Tetris. As it happened, chronic procrastinators only delayed practice on the puzzle when it was described as a cognitive evaluation. When it was described as fun, they behaved no differently from non-procrastinators. In an issue of the Journal of Research in Personality from 2000, Tice and Ferrari concluded that procrastination is really a self-defeating behavior — with procrastinators trying to undermine their own best efforts.

“The chronic procrastinator, the person who does this as a lifestyle, would rather have other people think that they lack effort than lacking ability,” says Ferrari. “It’s a maladaptive lifestyle.”

A Gap Between Intention and Action

There’s no single type of procrastinator, but several general impressions have emerged over years of research. Chronic procrastinators have perpetual problems finishing tasks, while situational ones delay based on the task itself. A perfect storm of procrastination occurs when an unpleasant task meets a person who’s high in impulsivity and low in self-discipline. (The behavior is strongly linked with the Big Five personality trait of conscientiousness.) Most delayers betray a tendency for self-defeat, but they can arrive at this point from either a negative state (fear of failure, for instance, or perfectionism) or a positive one (the joy of temptation). All told, these qualities have led researchers to call procrastination the “quintessential” breakdown of self-control.

“I think the basic notion of procrastination as self-regulation failure is pretty clear,” says Timothy Pychyl of Carleton University, in Canada. “You know what you ought to do and you’re not able to bring yourself to do it. It’s that gap between intention and action.”

Social scientists debate whether the existence of this gap can be better explained by the inability to manage time or the inability to regulate moods and emotions. Generally speaking, economists tend to favor the former theory. Many espouse a formula for procrastination put forth in a paper published by the business scholar Piers Steel, a professor at the University of Calgary, in a 2007 issue of Psychological Bulletin . The idea is that procrastinators calculate the fluctuating utility of certain activities: pleasurable ones have more value early on, and tough tasks become more important as a deadline approaches.

Psychologists like Ferrari and Pychyl, on the other hand, see flaws in such a strictly temporal view of procrastination. For one thing, if delay were really as rational as this utility equation suggests, there would be no need to call the behavior procrastination — on the contrary,  time-management would fit better. Beyond that, studies have found that procrastinators carry accompanying feelings of guilt, shame, or anxiety with their decision to delay. This emotional element suggests there’s much more to the story than time-management alone. Pychyl noticed the role of mood and emotions on procrastination with his very first work on the subject, back in the mid-1990s, and solidified that concept with a study published in the Journal of Social Behavior and Personality in 2000. His research team gave 45 students a pager and tracked them for five days leading up to a school deadline. Eight times a day, when beeped, the test participants reported their level of procrastination as well as their emotional state. As the preparatory tasks became more difficult and stressful, the students put them off for more pleasant activities. When they did so, however, they reported high levels of guilt — a sign that beneath the veneer of relief there was a lingering dread about the work set aside. The result made Pychyl realize that procrastinators recognize the temporal harm in what they’re doing, but can’t overcome the emotional urge toward a diversion.

A subsequent study, led by Tice, reinforced the dominant role played by mood in procrastination. In a 2001 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , Tice and colleagues reported that students didn’t procrastinate before an intelligence test when primed to believe their mood was fixed. In contrast, when they thought their mood could change (and particularly when they were in a bad mood), they delayed practice until about the final minute. The findings suggested that self-control only succumbs to temptation when present emotions can be improved as a result.

“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,” says Pychyl. “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.”

Frustrating the Future Self

In general, people learn from their mistakes and reassess their approach to certain problems. For chronic procrastinators, that feedback loop seems continually out of service. The damage suffered as a result of delay doesn’t teach them to start earlier the next time around. An explanation for this behavioral paradox seems to lie in the emotional component of procrastination. Ironically, the very quest to relieve stress in the moment might prevent procrastinators from figuring out how to relieve it in the long run.

“I think the mood regulation piece is a huge part of procrastination,” says Fuschia Sirois of Bishop’s University, in Canada. “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 behavior and avoiding similar problems in the future.”

A few years ago, Sirois recruited about 80 students and assessed them for procrastination. The participants then read descriptions of stressful events, with some of the anxiety caused by unnecessary delay. In one scenario, a person returned from a sunny vacation to notice a suspicious mole, but put off going to the doctor for a long time, creating a worrisome situation.

Afterward, Sirois asked the test participants what they thought about the scenario. She found that procrastinators tended to say things like, “At least I went to the doctor before it really got worse.” This response, known as a downward counterfactual , reflects a desire to improve mood in the short term. At the same time, the procrastinators rarely made statements like, “If only I had gone to the doctor sooner.” That type of response, known as an upward counterfactual , embraces the tension of the moment in an attempt to learn something for the future. Simply put, procrastinators focused on how to make themselves feel better at the expense of drawing insight from what made them feel bad.

Recently, Sirois and Pychyl tried to unify the emotional side of procrastination with the temporal side that isn’t so satisfying on its own. In the February issue of Social and Personality Psychology Compass , they propose a two-part theory on procrastination that braids short-term, mood-related improvements with long-term, time-related damage. The idea is that procrastinators comfort themselves in the present with the false belief that they’ll be more emotionally equipped to handle a task in the future.

“The future self becomes the beast of burden for procrastination,” says Sirois. “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.”

The Neuropsychology of Procrastination

Recently the behavioral research into procrastination has ventured beyond cognition, emotion, and personality, into the realm of neuropsychology. The frontal systems of the brain are known to be involved in a number of processes that overlap with self-regulation. These behaviors — problem-solving, planning, self-control, and the like — fall under the domain of executive functioning . Oddly enough, no one had ever examined a connection between this part of the brain and procrastination, says Laura Rabin of Brooklyn College.

“Given the role of executive functioning in the initiation and completion of complex behaviors, it was surprising to me that previous research had not systematically examined the relationship between aspects of executive functioning and academic procrastination — a behavior I see regularly in students but have yet to fully understand, and by extension help remediate,” says Rabin.

To address this gap in the literature, Rabin and colleagues gathered a sample of 212 students and assessed them first for procrastination, then on the nine clinical subscales of executive functioning: impulsivity, self-monitoring, planning and organization, activity shifting, task initiation, task monitoring, emotional control, working memory, and general orderliness. The researchers expected to find a link between procrastination and a few of the subscales (namely, the first four in the list above). As it happened, procrastinators showed significant associations with all nine , Rabin’s team reported in a 2011 issue of the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology .

Rabin stresses the limitations of the work. For one thing, the findings were correlative, meaning it’s not quite clear those elements of executive functioning caused procrastination directly. The assessments also relied on self-reports; in the future, functional imaging might be used to confirm or expand the brain’s delay centers in real time. Still, says Rabin, the study suggests that procrastination might be an “expression of subtle executive dysfunction” in people who are otherwise neuropsychologically healthy.

“This has direct implications for how we understand the behavior and possibly intervene,” she says.

Possible Interventions

As the basic understanding of procrastination advances, many researchers hope to see a payoff in better interventions. Rabin’s work on executive functioning suggests a number of remedies for unwanted delay. Procrastinators might chop up tasks into smaller pieces so they can work through a more manageable series of assignments. Counseling might help them recognize that they’re compromising long-term aims for quick bursts of pleasure. The idea of setting personal deadlines harmonizes with previous work done by behavioral researchers Dan Ariely and Klaus Wertenbroch on “precommitment.” In a 2002 issue of Psychological Science , Ariely and Wertenbroch reported that procrastinators were willing to set meaningful deadlines for themselves, and that the deadlines did in fact improve their ability to complete a task. These self-imposed deadlines aren’t as effective as external ones, but they’re better than nothing.

The emotional aspects of procrastination pose a tougher problem. Direct strategies to counter temptation include blocking access to desirable distraction, but to a large extent that effort requires the type of self-regulation procrastinators lack in the first place. Sirois believes the best way to eliminate the need for short-term mood fixes is to find something positive or worthwhile about the task itself. “You’ve got to dig a little deeper and find some personal meaning in that task,” she says. “That’s what our data is suggesting.”

Ferrari, who offers a number of interventions in his 2010 book Still Procrastinating? The No Regrets Guide to Getting It Done , would like to see a general cultural shift from punishing lateness to rewarding the early bird. He’s proposed, among other things, that the federal government incentivize early tax filing by giving people a small break if they file by, say, February or March 15. He also suggests we stop enabling procrastination in our personal relationships.

“Let the dishes pile up, let the fridge go empty, let the car stall out,” says Ferrari. “Don’t bail them out.” (Recent work suggests he’s onto something. In a 2011 paper in Psychological Science , Gráinne Fitzsimons and Eli Finkel report that people who think their relationship partner will help them with a task are more likely to procrastinate on it.)

But while the tough love approach might work for couples, the best personal remedy for procrastination might actually be self-forgiveness. A couple years ago, Pychyl joined two Carleton University colleagues and surveyed 119 students on procrastination before their midterm exams. The research team, led by Michael Wohl, reported in a 2010 issue of Personality and Individual Differences that students who forgave themselves after procrastinating on the first exam were less likely to delay studying for the second one.

Pychyl says he likes to close talks and chapters with that hopeful prospect of forgiveness. He sees the study as a reminder that procrastination is really a self-inflicted wound that gradually chips away at the most valuable resource in the world: time.

“It’s an existentially relevant problem, because it’s not getting on with life itself,” he says. “You only get a certain number of years. What are you doing?”

I am writing my seventh speech for my Toastsmasters meeting and I am speaking about procrastination. This article provided me with great research and information about this subject. Thanks.

I too am writing my 7th speech for Toastmasters on the same subject. Hope yours went well. Mine is due tomorrow!

Me too! 7th ToastMaster Speech. I’ve procrastinated over every speech topic so far, so decided to research into the meaning of my procrastination to overcome the problem. Hence, it has become the topic for my speech!This article has been very informative.

mis hijos lo padecen. Como ayudar a mis hijos esta de pormedio su vida.

this could be a great article to use for one of my classes.

As a counselor, this article is powerful. I don’t think I will ever be stuck with a client who presents procastination as a distress issue.

Thanks Eric for publishing this

I’m currently researching an apt second show topic behind the science of procrastination and this has been quite helpful.

I’ll be sure to send my listeners this way.

People say that procrastination reduces the productivity. But scientifically it actually increases the productivity. People tend to work more and try to be more productive in the last few hours before the deadline. On the other hand, it also increases the internal stress. So it is better to avoid procrastination for a perfect work-life balance. To avoid procrastination, I chose Habiliss virtual assistant services, which really helped me in increasing my productivity.

it helped me so much to write my essay and it has so many information, thanks.

My daughter belongs to the type of people who will procrastinate or avoid anything that implies making an effort. Or she will start something and leave it unfinished to do something else. I don’t know what to do, rowing just makes things worse.

tell her this steps: 1. Chop the whole task in small pieces. 2. Observe the small task very deeply. 4. make a mind map of how you are going to do it. 3. make an expected and meaningful deadline’ 4. and most importantly try to visualize the small tasks you are completing before the deadline.

Interesting that no procrastinators have posted. Does that demonstrate the guilt and shame they feel for wasting their lives?

Hello Christina, I’ve been waiting a year to reply to you comment in order to maximize my creativity in doing so. Uhm wait, Catfish just came on and it’s a really good episode! I’ll get back to you about the gilt and shame another day, hope you understand.

Comments from a procrastinator; I don’t know what to say. It is so stressful to always feel like you are behind the eight ball. I have always taken on a little more than most sensible people would. So, I set myself up from the get go. I have a long history of depression, so when I get depressed, my chores, projects, whatever seem to be too heavy to deal with. I have a totally unrealistic sense of time. I am chronically late. As I have gotten older, this has gotten worse.My career was mostly in nursing management, which worked out for me because I didn’t have an exact time to be at work unless I had meetings. I often stayed late to finish projects when everyone was gone for the day and I could focus in total peace and quiet. Of course, when I worked late, I felt the inner guilt of neglecting my family. I am almost 70, raising 2 grandchildren and unable to find the peace and quiet or the time to work on the projects I saved for retirement. This was voluntary and I really felt I could give them the best environment for their special needs. So, maybe I have given myself an acceptable, selfless reason to procrastinate. But, it only makes me feel more stressed. I really want to be relaxed, happy and unstressed.

I’m right there with you, Elyse. I wonder if anyone has ever studied procrastination from the perspective of someone who just perpetually takes on more than they can handle. I’m so sick of it. I’m a PhD student and I see peers turning things in early and I’m always last. It’s a horrible feeling. My work is usually very good, but almost always late. I empathize with you and hope that we can both beat this problem soon.

Well…Sometimes thing come into my life to make my nightmares a bit more manageable. This article showed me the STRONG effect that emotions have on procrastination. I identified with every single thing in it and I am grateful I came across it.

Finally, I begin to understand the psychology behind my chronic procrastination. My levels of distraction are such that I rarely get through an article without feeling like I must be doing something else. Not this one. Words and phrases that leaped off the page (screen) to me were “self-defeating behavior”, “intention” vs. “action”, “self-regulating”. True. True. True. Now I must delve into my belief system to pull out the reasons why these negative behaviors take precedence over those that are far more positive. Clearly, I feel I am getting some benefit out of my self-defeating behavior or else why repeat it? I’ll have to be careful when attempting to reason this out though. I AM a ponder-er by nature which means I tend to over-think to the degree that by the time I believe I understand my ‘whys’, the opportunity for action has already passed. The irony in this is that my pondering IS procrastinating.

Countless times I have wanted desperately to attach my inability to move forward in my tasks, projects, etc. to the fact that I’m just lousy at managing my time. And then I read this:

“It really has nothing to do with time-management,” he says. “As I tell people, to tell the chronic procrastinator to just do it would be like saying to a clinically depressed person, cheer up.”

THANK YOU! This explains why every single Day Planner I’ve ever attempted to use failed so miserably. Bullet Journals? Ha! Nope. Productivity Apps? Not for me. I confess to being inadequate at anything that requires planning. Planning, then, requires taking the time to sit quietly and write out some kind of an action plan. Action plans require lists. Lists become my number one enemy. It’s at times like this that I feel It’s an almost physical reaction that comes over me when I force myself to think through to the natural end of an action. This snowballs into an overwhelming sense of confusion. My thoughts begin to scramble which triggers my impulse to get up and distract myself with something that will return an immediate sense of accomplishment. “I need to water my plants”.

Has anyone else experienced this? Does all this mean I am now officially becoming OCD? ADD?

I work full-time in a position that requires intense focus (which I love) but also requires that I am organized enough to prioritize my daily workload. It’s as though I recognize the importance of this but I feel I constantly fall short due to that sense of confusion that distracts me (remember that list thing?) and I end up just ‘winging’ it in order to complete the task. I’ve been known to work overtime (w/o pay) just to feel I’ve accomplished what I should have done all day. I have been known to work 10-12 hour workdays which, I realize, is simply ridiculous. And then begins that cycle of negative feelings: unproductive, inadequate, guilt, shame…etc. To say it is exhausting on all levels would be a gross understatement.

Perhaps you can point me (us) to articles that will help me begin to better understand — and help to end — such cycles of negative patterns.

Thank you for addressing the psychology of procrastination. It’s as though my name was written all over it.

I’m similar, I think, since I’ve wanted to only get things done perfectly or I’d see myself as a total failure. Avoiding trying to take care of this test, etc., means my not wanting to face seeing myself as a failure. I never expected to do anything as good as it should be. I’ve always suffered from a strong fear of rejection… I have been linked with AvPD, DPD, OCD, GAD, depression, bulimia, perf ectionism, agoraphobia… According to a psychiatrist, I saw things only in extremes, i.e. all or nothing, good or bad, black or white… I now have to believe, that according to tests run by this current psychiatrist that I suffer from Asperger’s Syndrome… I have been put under the 1% of the population with memory but I do not remember any of my growing up years… Only faced accepting someone as a friend at the age of 28. I saw her as a guardian angel…

Ditto. I wrote a post I aim to publish on the subject. I was the worst procrastinator. When I ceased depriving myself of all the things I love to do. It made it easier to tackle any task I dreaded. Try to strike a balance between work and play. Familiarise yourself with prioritizing important and urgent tasks. And getting them done. Focus a little more on the future, of where you’d like to see yourself. It’ll help you get past the immediate feeling of anxiety. The emotion that underlies the prolonged periods of procrastination the chronic procrastinator is prone to feeling.

Wow this was great how they took this one concept that sometimes cripples most of us, and turned it into a science! Wonderful and highly informative reading! I even posted this to Facebook!

Amazing article, lot of research and efforts, thanks for sharing this abundance of information

WOW!! This was an extremely helpful AND educational article! And I think I can speak for many! And I thank all the contributors to this piece who offered there insight along with case studies that actually break down this human nemesis that has plagued the human race since man learned to walk upright! But there is one thing that I do that most other people do and maybe you could do an article on this subject also. And that is impulsivity. Before I finish one task I jump to do something else! I am just now learning to recognize mine, and am making a strong effort to an alias and correct it.

WOW! This was quite an article! Never before have I read anything so descriptive about a long time human nemesis such as this, what it actually is and how it can be dealt with. I certainly did not know that this is an issue that dates back hundred of years before Jesus Christ was born! But not until now has this problem been looked at and broken down. I will definitely apply these principles! Thank you!

This article is more helpful than others I have read, but my own reasons for procrastination are still elusive to me. Sometimes I will work on a project for a little while, which relieves anxiety. Then I set it aside, saying that I want to see it with fresh eyes a day or two later. Other times I have had the experience of doing something too early, like prepping a presentation, and when I go to make it, I have lost the train of thought. Some tasks are just boring, like many household chores, or present a knotty problem which I just don’t feel like dealing with. Oddly enough, I have no trouble downloading bank and credit card statements and balancing the checkbook. I think it’s the short term pleasure of knowing my finances are in order, even if I still owe money on something, at least the numbers are going down.

Very interesting and educating article with so much research. Thanks for putting this together

I really liked this article. I’ve been going thru a mid life crisis because of a battle I have with chronic procrastination. Like many of the others I read above it’s not one thing it’s many different emotions one has to deal with while h in turn leads one to live one very stressful life. I have a deadline at midnight tonight for something I’ve been wanting/needing to do for a couple months now. Just by reading this article and seeing that I am not alone in this fight has given me the desire to get it done! I pray that everyone that struggles with this nemesis gets closer to defeating our life long enemy. Never give up!

Whoa. I’m writing a speech for school on procrastination, since I have been a chronic procrastinator for pretty much as long as I can remember. I hit an all time low at one point, where I basically never did my homework. For many years, I tried and failed to come up with a reason for that. I very much enjoyed school and my work, I was more than capable of completing the work, and I did have enough time on my hands. I have concluded that the only plausible reason is that, like now, there is something in my brain that simply cannot get work done. When I read the comparison between telling a chronic procrastinator to “get it done” and a clinically depressed person to “cheer up” I was shocked. People never seemed to understand how much I desperately want to be able to just get it done. Even the act of procrastinating is not enjoyable in the slightest – I feel too guilty and self-loathing. I have looked at a number of resources for my speech regarding why we procrastinate, and have disagreed with every one, knowing that I did not fall under those reasons. I agreed with Every. Single. Thing. mentioned in this article. Whoa. Where has this been all my life.

P.S. – if you, like me, are a chronic procrastinator I would very much recommend a brief TedTalk entitled “Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator”. Blew me away.

Thank you so so much for your work. Reading this article helps me feel that I’m not alone. Procrastination is a thief, a liar, a destroyer. I’m in midlife now and I’m seeing how much procrastination has stolen from me, I’ve let it and now I live with the consequences of dreams unfulfilled and shattered. My quilt literally leaves me in a state of numbness and it’s like I’m frozen and not moving forward. Slowly, through prayer and acceptance through my faith, I’m realizing that, and this is key: that forgiving myself and knowing that God loves me unconditionally that I can move forward. I thank God for people like you that are able to gather info and better help all of us.

Everything is coming together now, I now know why I am the way that I am. Thank you so much for this article

I just turned 60. Since my 30s I’ve not been able to keep table surfaces clean of piled up mail, papers, etc. I clean it off and slowly over time it magically piles up again. I want my home to be clutter free but can’t keep up with it, or am I putting off cleaning? I’m always too busy and find activities to do that keep me from taking care of my home. Setting aside time, marking days on the calendar don’t always work either. Am I just lazy? I work better at keeping my home cleaned up when someone is there helping me. Anyone else feel this way?

its a wakeup call for me,such an eye opener

It’s really frustrating, this procrastination thing. My procrastination started to get worse from the day I began doing my practical research. I am unsure but it felt overwhelming (because researches are usually long, I think that is why) and because of that, I.. procrastinated. I watched youtube most of the time when I get home even though I’m aware that I should be doing my research. I tried to fight it off for several months. I’ve won over my procrastination stuff but it keeps coming back. It’s been a little over a year now and getting worse. I try to find my way out of this because it severely affects my academic performance and my social life. I am still finding my way out of this by doing research on procrastination.. (kind of ironic considering that my procrastination habits kicked off due to practical research).. Anyway, I wish the very best for anyone who is struggling with procrastination.. I wish the best for myself too…

Mind-blowing! I am finally able to understand a big part of why I procrastinate and I now feel there is hope. For example, I felt immensely relieved when I read the comparison between a chronic procrastinator and a depressed person; a heavy weight was lifted off my chest -which is pretty much always in agony because of all the tasks and projects postponed. So there is hope.

Dianne, I feel you. Your pain is my pain. Let’s hope this insightful article will help us get better. In my case, the positive emotions clearly help me stay on task, so, when I catch myself procrastinating out of control, I engage in a lifting and energizing short activity to change my mood. At the end of it, and without stopping for anything, I’ll get started on the task/project. I find myself immersed in the task (I am doing it, yeay!), and I feel happy for what I accomplished. That positive loop can keep me going for a little while….until I see a fly on the wall and my mind gets lost on something else. Thanks to this ‘technique’ I have accomplished diminishing the paralysing effects of the guilt. I have accomplished accepting the reality of the time lost and the work not done. I am accepting that whatever feeling I am feeling about procrastinating, THAT WILL ALSO PASS. I am accepting that I can change my emotional apporach to the task and that allows me to start on the positive loop all over. Slowly, yes, I am learning that I am not exactly repeating the same behaviour over and over. It’s taken me 30 years of adult life to get here but I’m improving and now I’m understanding more. Id say this is good.

Thank you for this article. I’ll read it later.

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Chapter 3: Managing Time & Study Space

Procrastination, procrastination self-check.

Think about the tasks and activities you are currently putting off. Think about tasks you have typically put off in the past.

• What activities do you tend to put off until the last minute?
• What do you typically find yourself doing instead of the activities that will help you reach your goals?
• What are the patterns?

Are you a procrastinator? Take this self-assessment to find out more.

“Do or do not. There is no try.”  – Yoda

Procrastination is the act of putting something off. It’s doing something that’s a low priority instead of doing something that is a high priority. We all procrastinate sometimes. But when we procrastinate on an assignment or studying for an exam until there is little or no time left, our grades suffer and our stress level increases.

Think about this: If someone were to give you $500 to complete a homework assignment on time, would you complete it sooner than you ordinarily would have? What level is your internal motivation? How important is the assignment to you? How important is your grade? How important is your class?

Procrastination checklist

Do any of the following descriptions apply to you?

• My paper is due in two days, and I haven’t really started writing it yet.
• I’ve had to pull an all-nighter to get an assignment done on time.
• I’ve turned in an assignment late or asked for an extension when I really didn’t have a good excuse not to get it done on time.
• I’ve worked right up to the minute an assignment was due.
• I’ve underestimated how long a reading assignment would take and didn’t finish it in time for class.
• I’ve relied on the Internet for information (like a summary of a concept or a book) because I didn’t finish the reading on time.

If these sound like issues you’ve struggled with in the past, you might want to consider whether you have the tendency to procrastinate and how you want to deal with it in your future classes.

Reasons We Procrastinate

Learning about why we procrastinate can help us overcome it. The following are some of the more common reasons people put off doing something followed by thoughts to help combat that type of procrastination:

I don’t feel like it . I would rather play a video game, watch TV, hang out with friends, sleep, or do anything else other than start my assignment. (The problem is – you might never feel like starting it.)

Perfectionism. I want to do it perfectly, and since there is not enough time to do it perfectly, I am not going to do it at all. (Remember that no one is perfect and done is better than perfect.)

Fear of success. If I study my tail off and I earn an A on an exam, people will start to expect that I will get A’s all of the time. (The important thing to remember is to set high expectations for yourself.)

Fear of failure. Without confidence, I can’t do the assignment well, no matter how much time or effort I put into it. (Putting in time leads to good results which lead to increased confidence and competence.)

“Procrastination makes easy things hard and hard things harder.” – Mason Cooley

These and other reasons keep some students from completing assignments and studying for exams. Do you procrastinate? Why?

Whatever the reason may be, procrastination is not a good idea. It can be stressful trying to complete something if we have left it to the last minute. It can be stressful to know that we didn’t submit work that was our best. And stress can take a toll on the health of our bodies.

There are many examples of how Americans procrastinate. FedEx is built on the fact that people need something immediately, and in many cases, they have procrastinated past when regular mail would have gotten it there on time. Post offices stay open later on tax day because they know people procrastinated getting their taxes done. Stores offer sales days before Christmas because they know people have procrastinated their Christmas shopping.

Tim Urban’s Ted Talk shines a light on procrastination.

Video: Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator, Tim Urban TED Talk

Let’s get started with some immediate solutions as well as some perspectives that might, in time, help you adjust your thoughts and feelings and gain a sense of self-efficacy to help you overcome procrastination.

Create a list of your top five challenges when it comes to procrastinating. Create a chart, such as the one below, but leave yourself ample space to fill in the solutions you find as you read more about strategies for overcoming procrastination.

Strategies to Combat Procrastination

Because procrastination is so common, there are many suggestions for helping us avoid it. Below are some effective strategies for overcoming procrastination:

• Keep your studying “bite-sized”: When confronted with 150 pages of reading or 50 problems to solve, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed. Try breaking it down: What if you decide that you will read for 45 minutes or that you will solve 10 problems? That sounds much more manageable.
• Turn off your phone, close your chat windows, and block distracting websites. Treat your studying as if you’re in a movie theater, and just turn it off.
• Set up a reward system: If you read for 40 minutes, you can check your phone for 5 minutes. But keep in mind that reward-based systems only work if you stick to an honor system.
• Study in a place reserved for studying ONLY. Your bedroom may have too many distractions (or temptations, such as taking a nap), so it may be best to avoid it when you’re working on school assignments.
• Use checklists: Make your incremental accomplishments visible. Some people take great satisfaction and motivation from checking items off a to-do list. Be very specific when creating this list, and clearly describe each task one step at a time.
• Create a new association with a current habit. For example, if you drink coffee in the morning, that’s a great time to write down your to-do list. New associations create new neural connections and form new habits.

In the following video, Joseph Clough shares key strategies for conquering procrastination once and for all.

A few strategies additional strategies to combat procrastination are discussed below:

Tell yourself to do your best all of the time. Ask yourself what is important right now.   Other peoples’ expectations of you shouldn’t matter. Be confident in yourself and in your abilities. Make your goal to do your best and to realize that you’re not perfect. Do the best you can and be satisfied with your effort.

Get started. It is the hardest part to do and will have the biggest effect on defeating procrastination. It can be simple: skim the chapter you have to read, think of a title for your paper, or schedule an hour of study time. The rest of it will be easier once you get started.

Establish and rely on a process. Figure out what works best for you. Take some time to make a plan, list, or outline that allows you to see what you will do and when to complete your assignment or goal. It might be setting aside time early in the morning or postponing a movie until after you’ve finished an assignment. Set your priorities and stick to them.

Set imaginary deadlines. If the paper is due in six days, tell yourself it is due in two days. Knock it out early and then enjoy not having it over your head. Soft, or fake, deadlines are less stressful. And if you do end up needing more time, you have a cushion.

Don’t break the chain. Jerry Seinfeld wanted to be a better comedian and believed that writing better jokes every day would help, so he developed a system to help prevent procrastination. He used his system, called Don’t Break the Chain, to motivate himself. Each day he wrote, he would place a big red X on that day on a big wall calendar. After a few consecutive days, he had a chain, and the task became not breaking the chain. If there is something you want to practice every day, try it.

“If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of your day will be wonderful.”  – Mark Twain

Eat a frog . Twain wasn’t suggesting you go out and eat a frog; rather, he meant that if you have to do something you don’t want to, the best thing to do is do it right away: get it over with as soon as possible so you can then move on to enjoy the things you want to do.

Let’s Start Now

On a sheet of paper write down three important items you need to do this week and prioritize them. Write down the date and time you will do each item. Write down the name of a person who will help hold you accountable for completing the task. Ask the person to help hold you accountable. Start with the most important item. Write down what you will do to reward yourself when the three items are complete.

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How to Turn Homework Procrastination Into Productivity

How can parents help their children turn homework procrastination into productivity? Everyone puts things off from time to time, but those who procrastinate chronically tend to avoid difficult tasks. There is a tendency to delay complicated tasks at school, home, work, and relationships, which can affect the quality of life and overall well-being.

Overcoming homework procrastination begins with the realization that it is happening. 

Procrastination at school can negatively impact students, leading to poor school performance, lower grades, and higher school stress. It can also create a cycle of poor grades and low self-confidence that can be hard for students to break.

Beating the urge to procrastinate is possible.

Homework Procrastination Causes

Contrary to popular belief, a lack of self-control does not cause procrastination.

People procrastinate for different reasons. Sometimes it results from too much pressure at school, or it might be from growing up in a strict household. For example, expectations for high performance from parents can make students put off projects out of fear of failure. 

Students may procrastinate to avoid stressful experiences. Some of the most common reasons for what causes procrastination include the following.

• Perfectionism
• Fear of failure
• Fear of criticism
• Low self-esteem
• Trouble focusing
• Task aversion
• Resisting challenges
• Decision fatigue
• Difficulty defining goals
• Lack of energy

Find out why students procrastinate in this article: Why Do Students Procrastinate? Or Watch our latest YouTube video below.

Consequences of Procrastination

Students are more likely to put off a project if they don’t understand how to start. 

Putting off work has a price. People who procrastinate are usually rushing their school work, which leads to sloppiness, missed details, and lower grades. These problems arise because procrastination usually takes up more than a third of students’ daily activities. Procrastination usually appears in behaviours such as napping, watching television, or playing video games when students should be working.

Other effects of procrastination include higher levels of stress, anxiety, and fatigue.

Keep reading: Getting homework help to overcome procrastination.

Turning Procrastination into Productivity

How can students overcome procrastination and transform procrastination into productivity? The first step is to acknowledge that procrastination is happening. 

Getting started can be challenging, but it’s important to remember that motivation doesn’t come before action; action triggers motivation. In other words, getting started even when you don’t want to can jumpstart motivation. Let’s dig into some helpful tips to overcome procrastination!

• Start Small . Don’t tackle everything at once. Break projects into smaller tasks.
• Remove distractions. Create a dedicated space where work happens.
• Create an action plan based on relevant anti-procrastination techniques while accounting for goals and the nature of procrastination problems.
• Implement a plan . Figure out which techniques work best and how to implement them most effectively.

Looking for some more anti-procrastination techniques? Try breaking tasks into manageable steps. Making subtasks helps make a big task seem small by creating tasks to complete one by one. Once a task is broken down tasks into smaller bits, try to commit to the tiny first step, e.g. working for 5 mins, then taking a break and returning to it. Don’t forget to set a deadline for when it all needs to be completed. 

Keep working at it! Overcoming the urge to procrastinate is not easy, but with dedication and practice, students can learn to dig into a task and keep at it, even when they feel like putting it off.

Need Help with Turning Homework Procrastination into Productivity?  

Once you’ve identified your procrastination pattern, get resources to overcome it at Oxford Learning. Students can stop feeling bad about putting off school work and start getting it done with the help of our tutors at Oxford Learning centre.

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Procrastination Explained: Why Do We Procrastinate?

Elyza Tuan '23 , Co-Assistant Editor-in-Chief | September 26, 2021

Elyza Tuan '23

A Montrose student, Ava Ryan ’23, in distress

Procrastination. Oh, how we all hate it. Many a night, I’ve sat at my desk waiting for inspiration to strike while I scroll meaninglessly through Instagram, or click on video after video on YouTube. And since the internet is infinite, I could be scrolling… well… infinitely! That’s not comforting!

So, after a while, I realize how much time has gone by and I jostle out of my trance-like state and– oh! It’s ten o’clock already?

What do we do about this endless mind-numbing cycle? It is so important now more than ever to re-establish our routines and start off the year strong. A new school year means another chance to set ourselves up for success, another chance to challenge adversity and conquer it.

But first, we need to understand why we procrastinate. Consider what your thoughts and feelings are when anticipating a hard homework assignment. Are you allowing them to take free reign of your system? By letting feelings like fear of failure, dread of doing a hard task, or sadness in not doing something more fun take the steering wheel, we put our responsibilities in the hands of the erratic mess of spontaneity that is our emotions.

From this article , “Why procrastination is about managing emotions not time,” I learned that it all has to do with costs and rewards. Tasks cost us effort, effort that seems so daunting and laborious when anticipated. In completing a task, we get rewards which involve a bunch of brain science that I don’t quite understand, that is to say, we feel good after. The problem with procrastination is that we want the rewards but are truly frightened by the effort it will take to get the result we want, and something in our minds exacerbates the negative, blowing the entire situation out of proportion. 

And this is where the perfectionists become procrastinators. Speaking from experience, I used to associate the brain rewards with perfection, so I thought anything less than that wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of completing a task. I used to get so scared, not only of the effort it would take, but also the life altering sequence of events that would butterfly from this one imperfect homework assignment. 

If I didn’t get a 100% on this homework assignment, that means I would fail the upcoming test, which means I’d fail the class, which means I won’t graduate, which means I won’t go to college, which means I won’t get a job, and then I’ll be poor and sad and lonely. So obviously that kind of daily spiral isn’t ideal.

Social media is a big culprit in allowing for this kind of procrastination as well. It is a method of escapism from reality, from the homework you’re dreading, and from the all-consuming downward spiral. I’ve found that when scrolling on TikTok, there is an unlimited source of things to laugh at. However, your laugh when you encounter the first funny video will be different from your laugh when you get to a funny video one hour later. You can see how the brain rewards decrease rapidly in that short interval of time. And although we know it will never replace the hard earned rewards of work, it is enough in the moment to obstruct reality and give you fake brain rewards that actually do more harm than good.

Another mindset is the ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ mindset. Suddenly, tomorrow seems like the perfect length of time away: not too far that it seems like you are avoiding the task, and not so close that you actually have to take action. 

After doing some research, I stumbled upon a system called structured procrastination, a method explained by John Perry in his article “On Procrastination . ” Basically, there is some big task at the top of the list that you are avoiding, and to take your attention off that task, you complete smaller tasks to fill up the time. For example, I’m writing this article right now because I have homework I’m avoiding. The pitfall to this technique is that eventually, the things at the top of the list have to be completed at some point, so that is when you replace those with a ‘big task’ like answering that important email. This method really fails when you run out of the smaller tasks and the only ones left are the actual hard ones. Also, sorry to whomever’s important email I’m not responding to.

In my opinion, this method isn’t the best way, but it is a step in the right direction because at least you’re being some form of productive, however menial it feels. It isn’t easy jumping right into productive thinking, so if you’re really in the deep of procrastination, this might be a good start.

So how do we fight it? For me, it’s an ongoing cycle. Since it’s my junior year, I’m leaning into my productive side and really organizing my time, but like it said in the first article I mentioned, it’s not just about time management. It’s about emotional management too. There are days when I get through all my homework before 9:30 and there are days where I’m finishing the assignments due that day in the study hall, lunch, or student life block right before (and yes, there are days when I have to use all three). And that’s fine. It’s exhausting sometimes and we can’t be homework machines. The important thing is seeking to improve, find a better way, and take action.

So I encourage you to start thinking about what makes you a procrastinator. Is it perfectionism, laziness, fear, or something else? Let’s become procras-TODAY-ers. Yup. I made that pun.

Shout out to Chaitanya Aurora ’23 and Mrs. Whitlock for sharing this Ted Talk with me that inspired this article.

by Elyza Tuan ’23, Assistant Co-Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

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Procrastination

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

Everyone puts things off sometimes, but procrastinators chronically avoid difficult tasks and may deliberately look for distractions. Procrastination tends to reflect a person’s struggles with self-control . For habitual procrastinators, who represent approximately 20 percent of the population, "I don't feel like it" comes to take precedence over their goals or responsibilities, and can set them on a downward spiral of negative emotions that further deter future effort.

Procrastination also involves a degree of self-deception : At some level, procrastinators are aware of their actions and the consequences, but changing their habits requires even greater effort than completing the task in front of them.

• Understanding Procrastination
• The Consequences of Procrastination
• How to Beat Procrastination

Procrastinators are often perfectionists , for whom it may be psychologically more acceptable to never tackle a job than to face the possibility of not doing it well. They may be so highly concerned about what others will think of them that they put their futures at risk to avoid judgment.

Some procrastinators contend that they perform better under pressure, but while they may be able to convince themselves of that, research shows it is generally not the case; instead, they may make a habit of last-minute work to experience the rush of euphoria at seemingly having overcome the odds.

Procrastination is driven by a variety of thoughts and habits but fundamentally, we avoid tasks or put them off because we do not believe we’ll enjoy doing them , and want to avoid making ourselves unhappy, or we fear that we won’t do them well. People may also procrastinate when they are confused by the complexity of a task (such as filing one’s taxes) or when they’re overly distracted or fatigued.

Psychologists have identified various drivers of procrastination, from low self-confidence to anxiety , a lack of structure, and, simply, an inability to motivate oneself to complete unpleasant tasks. Research has also shown that procrastination is closely linked to rumination , or becoming fixated on negative thoughts.

Procrastination is a self-defeating behavior pattern, but it can be seen as serving a psychological purpose, especially for people with perfectionist tendencies , by protecting the individual against fear of failure, judgment by others, and self-condemnation. Avoiding unpleasant work by devoting energy to other tasks, like organizing or cleaning, also helps procrastinators avoid feeling unproductive, although they will have to pay the price for it later.

Predicting how we’ll feel in the future is known as affective forecasting , and people tend be fairly bad at it. For example, procrastinators may feel bad about not having exercised today, but they may raise their mood by predicting they will do it tomorrow . Thus, they avoid feeling negative emotions in the moment, but make the cycle more likely to repeat.

People who procrastinate, research finds, may hold different values than people who do not. In studies, procrastinators report valuing personal enjoyment more highly than others do, and valuing a strong work ethic less, and are more likely to complete tasks they feel are important to them personally than those that are assigned to them.

It’s somewhat developmentally appropriate for teens to procrastinate. The passive resistance of delay is one way adolescents may pull away from parental authority. But increased independence and decreased supervision also bring less structure and greater opportunity for distraction. And like adults who procrastinate, teens may come to overestimate their ability to work under pressure and their need to feel pressure to do their best work.

Procrastination may relieve pressure in the moment, but it can have steep emotional, physical, and practical costs. Students who routinely procrastinate tend to get lower grades, workers who procrastinate produce lower-quality work, and in general, habitual procrastinators can experience reduced well-being in the form of insomnia or immune system and gastrointestinal disturbance. Procrastination can also jeopardize both personal and professional relationships.

Procrastinating when it comes to one’s health—putting off exercise and checkups, and failing to commit to healthy eating—can lead to a higher risk of hypertension and cardiovascular disease . Procrastinators are also more likely to engage in self-blame and disengage from wellness advice, suggesting that cultivating greater self-compassion could help such individuals begin taking better care of themselves.

Procrastination, avoidance, and rumination are all common symptoms of depression. People with depression may struggle to plan ahead, lose confidence in their ability to follow through, and adopt “what’s the point” thinking . The treatment approach known as behavioral activation, in which one schedules enjoyable activities that provide a sense of mastery or accomplishment, may help alleviate some of these effects.

When a procrastinator enters a relationship with a non-procrastinator, conflict is almost inevitable : Each places a very different value on their time, believes their approach is superior, and struggles to understand the other’s motivations. As with any other conflict, though, stepping back, considering the other’s perspective, and finding a way to accept it, and one’s own reaction to it, can help keep a couple together.

It's possible to overcome procrastination but it takes considerable effort. Changing a habitual behavior consumes a lot of psychic energy, but engaging in highly structured regimen of cognitive behavioral therapy is one approach that has worked for many. In the short term, some cognitive tricks can help people complete discrete tasks.

Studies based on The Procrastination at Work Scale, which identifies 12 common forms of workplace procrastination, have highlighted some potential solutions, such as adopting timelines that build in time for delay, but not too much ; making a personal challenge out of mundane tasks; breaking large jobs into achievable chunks you can celebrate completing; and limiting your access to online news and social media .

When people procrastinate, their present self benefits by avoiding unpleasant work, but their future self pays the price in stress or punishment . Developing empathy for one’s future self as one would for a close friend, then, can be an important first step to ending the habit, because we’re less willing to put a good friend in such a disadvantaged position.

Many procrastinators struggle to make important decisions, in part because not making a choice absolves them of responsibility for the outcome. But sometimes people simply become so exhausted from making decisions that it seems impossible to make even relatively unimportant ones. Research suggests that sticking to a personal set of decision-making rules, or outsourcing some decisions to a partner, friend, or co-worker may help overcome decision fatigue.

We’ve all avoided things because we were “too busy” or “too tired.” But have our excuses become too convenient?

Sometimes when you can't concentrate it's because something else really needs your attention.

There are good reasons to procrastinate, at least when it comes to our brains. We can use those mental defaults to our advantage to check off your to-do list faster every day.

Mindfulness and self-exploration through a humanistic lens can help us overcome some of the hurdles that procrastination throws in our way, leading us to a more fulfilling life.

Time is an invaluable resource. Here's how to make the most of it.

The secret to getting started is surprisingly small.

Ready to conquer procrastination once and for all? Try this simple trick and reclaim your productivity.

So often, we look for the personality traits that come to mind from a person's appearance in a dream; instead, try staying open to a specific "time in your life" they link you to.

It is tempting to put off dealing with certain tasks, but there are costs associated with procrastinating—and benefits associated with resisting procrastination.

Neglecting our New Year's resolutions may have less to do with us and more to do with the time of year when they are set.

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Daniel Wong

30 Tips to Stop Procrastinating and Find Motivation to Do Homework

Updated on June 6, 2023 By Daniel Wong 44 Comments

To stop procrastinating on homework, you need to find motivation to do the homework in the first place.

But first, you have to overcome feeling too overwhelmed to even start.

You know what it feels like when everything hits you at once, right?

You have three tests to study for and a math assignment due tomorrow.

And you’ve got a history report due the day after.

You tell yourself to get down to work. But with so much to do, you feel overwhelmed.

So you procrastinate.

You check your social media feed, watch a few videos, and get yourself a drink. But you know that none of this is bringing you closer to getting the work done.

Does this sound familiar?

Don’t worry – you are not alone. Procrastination is a problem that everyone faces, but there are ways around it.

By following the tips in this article, you’ll be able to overcome procrastination and consistently find the motivation to do the homework .

So read on to discover 30 powerful tips to help you stop procrastinating on your homework.

Enter your email below to download a PDF summary of this article. The PDF contains all the tips found here, plus  3 exclusive bonus tips that you’ll only find in the PDF.

How to stop procrastinating and motivate yourself to do your homework.

Procrastination when it comes to homework isn’t just an issue of laziness or a lack of motivation .

The following tips will help you to first address the root cause of your procrastination and then implement strategies to keep your motivation levels high.

1. Take a quiz to see how much you procrastinate.

The first step to changing your behavior is to become more self-aware.

How often do you procrastinate? What kinds of tasks do you tend to put off? Is procrastination a small or big problem for you?

To answer these questions, I suggest that you take this online quiz designed by Psychology Today .

2. Figure out why you’re procrastinating.

Procrastination is a complex issue that involves multiple factors.

Stop thinking of excuses for not doing your homework , and figure out what’s keeping you from getting started.

Are you procrastinating because:

• You’re not sure you’ll be able to solve all the homework problems?
• You’re subconsciously rebelling against your teachers or parents?
• You’re not interested in the subject or topic?
• You’re physically or mentally tired?
• You’re waiting for the perfect time to start?
• You don’t know where to start?

Once you’ve identified exactly why you’re procrastinating, you can pick out the tips in this article that will get to the root of the problem.

3. Write down what you’re procrastinating on.

Students tend to procrastinate when they’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed.

But you might be surprised to discover that simply by writing down the specific tasks you’re putting off, the situation will feel more manageable.

It’s a quick solution, and it makes a real difference.

Give it a try and you’ll be less likely to procrastinate.

4. Put your homework on your desk.

Here’s an even simpler idea.

Many times, the hardest part of getting your homework done is getting started.

It doesn’t require a lot of willpower to take out your homework and put it on your desk.

But once it’s sitting there in front of you, you’ll be much closer to actually getting down to work.

5. Break down the task into smaller steps.

This one trick will make any task seem more manageable.

For example, if you have a history report to write, you could break it down into the following steps:

• Read the history textbook
• Do online research
• Organize the information
• Create an outline
• Write the introduction
• Write the body paragraphs
• Write the conclusion
• Edit and proofread the report

Focus on just one step at a time. This way, you won’t need to motivate yourself to write the whole report at one go.

This is an important technique to use if you want to study smart and get more done .

6. Create a detailed timeline with specific deadlines.

As a follow-up to Point #5, you can further combat procrastination by creating a timeline with specific deadlines.

Using the same example above, I’ve added deadlines to each of the steps:

• Jan 30 th : Read the history textbook
• Feb 2 nd : Do online research
• Feb 3 rd : Organize the information
• Feb 5 th : Create an outline
• Feb 8 th : Write the introduction
• Feb 12 th : Write the body paragraphs
• Feb 14 th : Write the conclusion
• Feb 16 th : Edit and proofread the report

Assigning specific dates creates a sense of urgency, which makes it more likely that you’ll keep to the deadlines.

7. Spend time with people who are focused and hardworking.

Jim Rohn famously said that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

If you hang out with people who are motivated and hardworking, you’ll become more like them.

Likewise, if you hang out with people who continually procrastinate, you’ll become more like them too.

Motivation to do homework naturally increases when you surround yourself with the right people.

So choose your friends wisely. Find homework buddies who will influence you positively to become a straight-A student who leads a balanced life.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have any fun! It just means that you and your friends know when it’s time to get down to work and when it’s time to enjoy yourselves.

8. Tell at least two or three people about the tasks you plan to complete.

When you tell others about the tasks you intend to finish, you’ll be more likely to follow through with your plans.

This is called “accountability,” and it kicks in because you want to be seen as someone who keeps your word.

So if you know about this principle, why not use it to your advantage?

You could even ask a friend to be your accountability buddy. At the beginning of each day, you could text each other what you plan to work on that day.

Then at the end of the day, you could check in with each other to see if things went according to plan.

9. Change your environment .

Maybe it’s your environment that’s making you feel sluggish.

When you’re doing your homework, is your super-comfortable bed just two steps away? Or is your distracting computer within easy reach?

If your environment is part of your procrastination problem, then change it.

Sometimes all you need is a simple change of scenery. Bring your work to the dining room table and get it done there. Or head to a nearby café to complete your report.

10. Talk to people who have overcome their procrastination problem.

If you have friends who consistently win the battle with procrastination, learn from their experience.

What was the turning point for them? What tips and strategies do they use? What keeps them motivated?

Find all this out, and then apply the information to your own situation.

11. Decide on a reward to give yourself after you complete your task.

“Planned” rewards are a great way to motivate yourself to do your homework.

The reward doesn’t have to be something huge.

For instance, you might decide that after you finish 10 questions of your math homework, you get to watch your favorite TV show.

Or you might decide that after reading one chapter of your history textbook, you get to spend 10 minutes on Facebook.

By giving yourself a reward, you’ll feel more motivated to get through the task at hand.

12. Decide on a consequence you’ll impose on yourself if you don’t meet the deadline.

It’s important that you decide on what the consequence will be before you start working toward your goal.

As an example, you could tell your younger brother that you’ll give him $1 for every deadline you don’t meet (see Point #6).

Or you could decide that you’ll delete one game from your phone for every late homework submission.

Those consequences would probably be painful enough to help you get down to work, right?

13. Visualize success.

Take 30 seconds and imagine how you’ll feel when you finish your work.

What positive emotions will you experience?

Will you feel a sense of satisfaction from getting all your work done?

Will you relish the extra time on your hands when you get your homework done fast and ahead of time?

This simple exercise of visualizing success may be enough to inspire you to start doing your assignment.

14. Visualize the process it will take to achieve that success.

Even more important than visualizing the outcome is visualizing the process it will take to achieve that outcome.

Research shows that focusing on the process is critical to success. If you’re procrastinating on a task, take a few moments to think about what you’ll need to do to complete it.

Visualize the following:

• What resources you’ll need
• Who you can turn to for help
• How long the task will take
• Where you’ll work on the task
• The joy you’ll experience as you make progress

This kind of visualization is like practice for your mind.

Once you understand what’s necessary to achieve your goal, you’ll find that it’s much easier to get down to work with real focus. This is key to doing well in school .

15. Write down why you want to complete the task.

You’ll be more motivated when you’re clear about why you want to accomplish something.

To motivate yourself to do your homework, think about all the ways in which it’s a meaningful task.

So take a couple of minutes to write down the reasons. Here are some possible ones:

• Learn useful information
• Master the topic
• Enjoy a sense of accomplishment when you’ve completed the task
• Become a more focused student
• Learn to embrace challenges
• Fulfill your responsibility as a student
• Get a good grade on the assignment

16. Write down the negative feelings you’ll have if you don’t complete the task.

If you don’t complete the assignment, you might feel disappointed or discouraged. You might even feel as if you’ve let your parents or your teacher – or even yourself – down.

It isn’t wise to dwell on these negative emotions for too long. But by imagining how you’ll feel if you don’t finish the task, you’ll realize how important it is that you get to work.

17. Do the hardest task first.

Most students will choose to do the easiest task first, rather than the hardest one. But this approach isn’t effective because it leaves the worst for last.

It’s more difficult to find motivation to do homework in less enjoyable subjects.

As Brian Tracy says , “Eat that frog!” By this, he means that you should always get your most difficult task out of the way at the beginning of the day.

If math is your least favorite subject, force yourself to complete your math homework first.

After doing so, you’ll feel a surge of motivation from knowing it’s finished. And you won’t procrastinate on your other homework because it will seem easier in comparison.

(On a separate note, check out these tips on how to get better at math if you’re struggling.)

18. Set a timer when doing your homework.

I recommend that you use a stopwatch for every homework session. (If you prefer, you could also use this online stopwatch or the Tomato Timer .)

Start the timer at the beginning of the session, and work in 30- to 45-minute blocks.

Using a timer creates a sense of urgency, which will help you fight off your urge to procrastinate.

When you know you only have to work for a short session, it will be easier to find motivation to complete your homework.

Tell yourself that you need to work hard until the timer goes off, and then you can take a break. (And then be sure to take that break!)

19. Eliminate distractions.

Here are some suggestions on how you can do this:

• Delete all the games and social media apps on your phone
• Turn off all notifications on your phone
• Mute your group chats
• Archive your inactive chats
• Turn off your phone, or put it on airplane mode
• Put your phone at least 10 feet away from you
• Turn off the Internet access on your computer
• Use an app like Freedom to restrict your Internet usage
• Put any other distractions (like food, magazines and books unrelated to your homework) at the other end of the room
• Unplug the TV
• Use earplugs if your surroundings are noisy

20. At the start of each day, write down the two to three Most Important Tasks (MITs) you want to accomplish.

This will enable you to prioritize your tasks. As Josh Kaufman explains , a Most Important Task (MIT) is a critical task that will help you to get significant results down the road.

Not all tasks are equally important. That’s why it’s vital that you identify your MITs, so that you can complete those as early in the day as possible.

What do you most need to get done today? That’s an MIT.

Get to work on it, then feel the satisfaction that comes from knowing it’s out of the way.

21. Focus on progress instead of perfection.

Perfectionism can destroy your motivation to do homework and keep you from starting important assignments.

Some students procrastinate because they’re waiting for the perfect time to start.

Others do so because they want to get their homework done perfectly. But they know this isn’t really possible – so they put off even getting started.

What’s the solution?

To focus on progress instead of perfection.

There’s never a perfect time for anything. Nor will you ever be able to complete your homework perfectly. But you can do your best, and that’s enough.

So concentrate on learning and improving, and turn this into a habit that you implement whenever you study .

22. Get organized.

Procrastination is common among students who are disorganized.

When you can’t remember which assignment is due when or which tests you have coming up, you’ll naturally feel confused. You’ll experience school- and test-related stress .

This, in turn, will lead to procrastination.

That’s why it’s crucial that you get organized. Here are some tips for doing this:

• Don’t rely on your memory ; write everything down
• Keep a to-do list
• Use a student planner
• Use a calendar and take note of important dates like exams, project due dates, school holidays , birthdays, and family events
• At the end of each day, plan for the following day
• Use one binder or folder for each subject or course
• Do weekly filing of your loose papers, notes, and old homework
• Throw away all the papers and notes you no longer need

23. Stop saying “I have to” and start saying “I choose to.”

When you say things like “I have to write my essay” or “I have to finish my science assignment,” you’ll probably feel annoyed. You might be tempted to complain about your teachers or your school .

What’s the alternative?

To use the phrase “I choose to.”

The truth is, you don’t “have” to do anything.

You can choose not to write your essay; you’ll just run the risk of failing the class.

You can choose not to do your science assignment; you’ll just need to deal with your angry teacher.

When you say “I choose to do my homework,” you’ll feel empowered. This means you’ll be more motivated to study and to do what you ought to.

24. Clear your desk once a week.

Clutter can be demotivating. It also causes stress , which is often at the root of procrastination.

Hard to believe? Give it a try and see for yourself.

By clearing your desk, you’ll reduce stress and make your workspace more organized.

So set a recurring appointment to organize your workspace once a week for just 10 minutes. You’ll receive huge benefits in the long run!

25. If a task takes two minutes or less to complete, do it now.

This is a principle from David Allen’s bestselling book, Getting Things Done .

You may notice that you tend to procrastinate when many tasks pile up. The way to prevent this from happening is to take care of the small but important tasks as soon as you have time.

Here are some examples of small two-minute tasks that you should do once you have a chance:

• Replying to your project group member’s email
• Picking up anything on the floor that doesn’t belong there
• Asking your parents to sign a consent form
• Filing a graded assignment
• Making a quick phone call
• Writing a checklist
• Sending a text to schedule a meeting
• Making an online purchase that doesn’t require further research

26. Finish one task before starting on the next.

You aren’t being productive when you switch between working on your literature essay, social studies report, and physics problem set – while also intermittently checking your phone.

Research shows that multitasking is less effective than doing one thing at a time. Multitasking may even damage your brain !

When it comes to overcoming procrastination, it’s better to stick with one task all the way through before starting on the next one.

You’ll get a sense of accomplishment when you finish the first assignment, which will give you a boost of inspiration as you move on to the next one.

27. Build your focus gradually.

You can’t win the battle against procrastination overnight; it takes time. This means that you need to build your focus progressively.

If you can only focus for 10 minutes at once, that’s fine. Start with three sessions of 10 minutes a day. After a week, increase it to three sessions of 15 minutes a day, and so on.

As the weeks go by, you’ll become far more focused than when you first started. And you’ll soon see how great that makes you feel.

28. Before you start work, write down three things you’re thankful for.

Gratitude improves your psychological health and increases your mental strength .

These factors are linked to motivation. The more you practice gratitude, the easier it will be to find motivation to do your homework. As such, it’s less likely that you’ll be a serial procrastinator.

Before you get down to work for the day, write down three things you’re thankful for. These could be simple things like good health, fine weather, or a loving family.

You could even do this in a “gratitude journal,” which you can then look back on whenever you need a shot of fresh appreciation for the good things in your life.

Either way, this short exercise will get you in the right mindset to be productive.

29. Get enough sleep.

For most people, this means getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night. And teenagers need 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night to function optimally.

What does sleep have to do with procrastination?

More than you might realize.

It’s almost impossible to feel motivated when you’re tired. And when you’re low on energy, your willpower is depleted too.

That’s why you give in to the temptation of Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube videos more easily when you’re sleep-deprived.

Here are ways to get more sleep , and sleep better too:

• Create a bedtime routine
• Go to sleep at around the same time every night
• Set a daily alarm as a reminder to go to bed
• Exercise regularly (but not within a few hours of bedtime)
• Make your bedroom as dark as possible
• Remove or switch off all electronic devices before bedtime
• Avoid caffeine at least six hours before bedtime
• Use an eye mask and earplugs

30. Schedule appointments with yourself to complete your homework.

These appointments are specific blocks of time reserved for working on a report, assignment, or project. Scheduling appointments is effective because it makes the task more “official,” so you’re more likely to keep the appointment.

For example, you could schedule appointments such as:

• Jan 25 th , 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm: Math assignment
• Jan 27 th , 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: Online research for social studies project
• Jan 28 th , 4:30 pm – 5:00 pm: Write introduction for English essay

Transform homework procrastination into homework motivation

Procrastination is a problem we all face.

But given that you’ve read all the way to here, I know you’re committed to overcoming this problem.

And now that you’re armed with these tips, you have all the tools you need to become more disciplined and focused .

By the way, please don’t feel as if you need to implement all the tips at once, because that would be too overwhelming.

Instead, I recommend that you focus on just a couple of tips a week, and make gradual progress. No rush!

Over time, you’ll realize that your habit of procrastination has been replaced by the habit of getting things done.

Now’s the time to get started on that process of transformation. 🙂

Like this article? Please share it with your friends.

Images: Student and books , Homework , Group of students , Consequences , Why , Writing a list , Organized desk , Gratitude

January 19, 2016 at 11:53 am

Ur tips are rlly helpful. Thnkyou ! 🙂

January 19, 2016 at 1:43 pm

You’re welcome 🙂

August 29, 2018 at 11:21 am

Thanks very much

February 19, 2019 at 1:38 pm

The funny thing is while I was reading the first few steps of this article I was procrastinating on my homework….

November 12, 2019 at 12:44 pm

same here! but now I actually want to get my stuff done… huh

December 4, 2022 at 11:35 pm

May 30, 2023 at 6:26 am

October 25, 2023 at 11:35 am

fr tho i totally was but now I’m actually going to get started haha

June 6, 2020 at 6:04 am

I love your articles

January 21, 2016 at 7:07 pm

Thanks soo much. It’s almost like you could read my mind- when I felt so overwhelmed with the workload heap I had created for myself by procrastination, I know feel very motivated to tackle it out completely and replace that bad habit with the wonderful tips mentioned here! 🙂

January 21, 2016 at 8:04 pm

I’m glad to help 🙂

January 25, 2016 at 3:09 pm

You have shared great tips here. I especially like the point “Write down why you want to complete the task” because it is helpful to make us more motivated when we are clear about our goals

January 25, 2016 at 4:51 pm

Glad that you found the tips useful, John!

January 29, 2016 at 1:22 am

Thank you very much for your wonderful tips!!! ☺☺☺

January 29, 2016 at 10:41 am

It’s my joy to help, Kabir 🙂

February 3, 2016 at 12:57 pm

Always love your articles. Keep them up 🙂

February 3, 2016 at 1:21 pm

Thanks, Matthew 🙂

February 4, 2016 at 1:40 pm

There are quite a lot of things that you need to do in order to come out with flying colors while studying in a university away from your homeland. Procrastinating on homework is one of the major mistakes committed by students and these tips will help you to avoid them all and make yourself more efficient during your student life.

February 4, 2016 at 1:58 pm

Completely agreed, Leong Siew.

October 5, 2018 at 12:52 am

Wow! thank you very much, I love it .

November 2, 2018 at 10:45 am

You are helping me a lot.. thank you very much….😊

November 6, 2018 at 5:19 pm

I’m procrastinating by reading this

November 29, 2018 at 10:21 am

January 8, 2021 at 3:38 am

March 3, 2019 at 9:12 am

Daniel, your amazing information and advice, has been very useful! Please keep up your excellent work!

April 12, 2019 at 11:12 am

We should stop procrastinating.

September 28, 2019 at 5:19 pm

Thank you so much for the tips:) i’ve been procrastinating since i started high schools and my grades were really bad “F” but the tips have made me a straight A student again.

January 23, 2020 at 7:43 pm

Thanks for the tips, Daniel! They’re really useful! 😁

April 10, 2020 at 2:15 pm

I have always stood first in my class. But procrastination has always been a very bad habit of mine which is why I lost marks for late submission .As an excuse for finding motivation for studying I would spend hours on the phone and I would eventually procrastinate. So I tried your tips and tricks today and they really worked.i am so glad and thankful for your help. 🇮🇳Love from India🇮🇳

April 15, 2020 at 11:16 am

Well I’m gonna give this a shot it looks and sounds very helpful thank you guys I really needed this

April 16, 2020 at 9:48 pm

Daniel, your amazing information and advice, has been very useful! keep up your excellent work! May you give more useful content to us.

May 6, 2020 at 5:03 pm

nice article thanks for your sharing.

May 20, 2020 at 4:49 am

Thank you so much this helped me so much but I was wondering about like what if you just like being lazy and stuff and don’t feel like doing anything and you don’t want to tell anyone because you might annoy them and you just don’t want to add your problems and put another burden on theirs

July 12, 2020 at 1:55 am

I’ve read many short procrastination tip articles and always thought they were stupid or overlooking the actual problem. ‘do this and this’ or that and that, and I sit there thinking I CAN’T. This article had some nice original tips that I actually followed and really did make me feel a bit better. Cheers, diving into what will probably be a 3 hour case study.

August 22, 2020 at 10:14 pm

Nicely explain each tips and those are practical thanks for sharing. Dr.Achyut More

November 11, 2020 at 12:34 pm

Thanks a lot! It was very helpful!

November 15, 2020 at 9:11 am

I keep catching myself procrastinating today. I started reading this yesterday, but then I realized I was procrastinating, so I stopped to finish it today. Thank you for all the great tips.

November 30, 2020 at 5:15 pm

Woow this is so great. Thanks so much Daniel

December 3, 2020 at 3:13 am

These tips were very helpful!

December 18, 2020 at 11:54 am

Procrastination is a major problem of mine, and this, this is very helpful. It is very motivational, now I think I can complete my work.

December 28, 2020 at 2:44 pm

Daniel Wong: When you’re doing your homework, is your super-comfortable bed just two steps away? Me: Nope, my super-comfortable bed is one step away. (But I seriously can’t study anywhere else. If I go to the dining table, my mum would be right in front of me talking loudly on the phone with colleagues and other rooms is an absolute no. My mum doesn’t allow me to go outside. Please give me some suggestions. )

September 19, 2022 at 12:14 pm

I would try and find some noise cancelling headphones to play some classical music or get some earbuds to ignore you mum lol

March 1, 2021 at 5:46 pm

Thank you very much. I highly appreciate it.

May 12, 2023 at 3:38 am

This is great advice. My little niece is now six years old and I like to use those nice cheap child friendly workbooks with her. This is done in order to help her to learn things completely on her own. I however prefer to test her on her own knowledge however. After a rather quick demonstration in the lesson I then tend to give her two simple questions to start off with. And it works a treat. Seriously. I love it. She loves it. The exam questions are for her to answer on her own on a notepad. If she can, she will receive a gold medal and a box of sweets. If not she only gets a plastic toy. We do this all the time to help her understand. Once a week we spend up to thirty minutes in a math lesson on this technique for recalling the basic facts. I have had a lot of great success with this new age technique. So I’m going to carry on with it for now.

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Home / Expert Articles / Child Behavior Problems / Laziness & Motivation

5 Ways to Help Kids Who Procrastinate

By michael kramer, phd.

Not now. Later. Tomorrow. That’s when many teenagers say they plan to complete their household chores or tackle their homework. To a certain extent, this is normal—many of us have a tendency to delay, to put off until tomorrow what we don’t want to do today.

There is a difference, however, between the occasional delayer and someone who has an established, disabling pattern of procrastination fueled by an underlying issue. For parents, dealing with either can be a frustrating challenge. Discerning between the two can be even more difficult.

Defining Procrastination

Procrastination comes in a few different forms:

• Not starting a task until the last minute.
• Failing to complete an assigned task in a predetermined time frame.
• Putting off a task in order to complete a more preferable, lower priority task.

For children, procrastination usually results in a negative consequence such as poor or failing grades, the inability to participate in extracurricular activities, or family consequences like loss of driving rights, screen time, or increased parental supervision.

If your child is encountering these negative consequences on a regular basis, then they likely suffer from procrastination. But, there are steps you can take to help break the behavior. In order to effectively parent a child who procrastinates, it’s first important to understand why your child puts off tasks.

Understanding the Behavior

There’s a common misconception that kids procrastinate because they are lazy or have low motivation. While low motivation can be a contributing factor, there are many others, including:

• Lack of Relevance : Your child may not see the task as relevant to his or her current or future goals.
• Boredom: Some tasks just aren’t compelling. For instance, most kids don’t find cleaning their room to be a fun or engaging activity.
• Lack of Self-Discipline: Knowing you need to do something isn’t the same as being able to get started. Kids are faced with an increasing number of distractions, which can make it hard to prioritize and stick to plans.
• Poor Time Management: Many kids underestimate how long it takes to do something, and do it well. They put off getting started, assuming there’s enough time to complete the task.
• Anxiety and/or Fear of Failure: Some children are unable to start tasks because they are afraid that their performance won’t meet personal expectations, or the expectations of significant others. Taken to the extreme, this anxiety becomes perfectionism—the paralyzing belief that anything less than perfect is unacceptable.

To understand your child’s procrastinating behavior, you need to talk openly and hear his or her perspective. Typically, kids are willing to share if they feel like you’re being supportive—they need to believe that you genuinely want to understand their fear so you can help them, not issue a series of consequences that may exacerbate feelings of disappointment.

As you listen, try to identify which of the underlying causes may be at play. Just as a physician can’t effectively treat a headache without knowing the underlying cause—dehydration, allergies, concussion, or tumor—you can’t effectively help your child stop procrastinating unless you understand what’s prompting the behavior. For instance, offering or withholding a reward for completing a task won’t help a child who is delaying because they don’t see why the task is relevant.

So what can a parent do? When your child’s anxiety prevents her from tackling necessary tasks, you need to intervene. These five steps can help:

• Ask Your Child Questions: Get to know how your child views their self, the expectations placed on them, and the reality of the situation. Ask questions like, “What standards do you set for yourself?” “What do you think we expect of you?” “What will really happen if you don’t accomplish the task based on the standards you’ve set for yourself?”Understanding how your child is currently interpreting the situation will help you develop appropriate parental responses.

This may be realistic for kids who are consistently high-achievers, but for children who struggle with just turning in their homework, such expectations may be too much. In this case, lean toward setting specific, achievable expectations such as structured time to do homework, study, or do chores.

Is that scenario reasonable or likely? No. But kids who fear failure often spiral into a series of unrealistic, irrational, worst-case consequences. It’s called catastrophic thinking. In addition to contributing to anxiety and procrastination, this kind of thinking can lead to outbursts of bad behavior. A child may act out because they don’t know how to solve the problem appropriately.

• Point Out Positive Qualities: Ask your child to identify the attributes they think lead to happiness and success in life—integrity, creativity, people skills, passion, for instance. Getting your child to focus on personality traits they already possess, or will likely develop, will boost their self-esteem and shine light on unrealistically high standards.
• Use Your Experience to Relate: Self-disclose some of your own fears and describe how you’ve managed them. By acknowledging your imperfections and struggles, you may prevent your child from feeling defective—like s/he is the only one who can’t effectively manage tasks.

Attempting Success

Because anxiety can be paralyzing, you may have to help your child get started. Consider giving her a defined start time. For instance, “ After dinner at 6:00, let’s get started .” You can also try setting some rules around the process, like working for a certain amount of time without interruption, or completing a specific body of work before taking a break. This type of structure can help children (and adults!) manage anxiety and generate a sense of momentum and confidence.

Ultimately, your goal is to help your child learn to set reasonable expectations. Anxiety and fear are better managed by attempting to succeed at the task at hand rather than avoiding it . Said another way, fear doesn’t simply dissipate with the passage of time—it is only reduced through continuous effort, which leads to success. With parental support, a plan to tackle problems and a willingness to try, your child will be armed with tools to manage tasks effectively.

About Michael Kramer, PhD

Michael Kramer, PhD is a Licensed Psychologist in the State of Maine. He received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kentucky. His Portland practice is quite varied, providing psychotherapy to children, adolescents, couples, and families. In addition, he is an Organizational Consultant and provides multiple services to a wide variety of for-profit and non-profit businesses. A final area of specialization is Sports Psychology.

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Carolann Your tools for working with procrastination are helpful,would like some information for adults and other distraction i.e. Video games!!!!

Greetings and thank you for the article. I myself am receiving therapy on accepting my own procrastination not as a negative but rather as my style. This style -- extensive mental analysis of a problem followed by actual pen to paper near deadline -- has actually led me to be successful according to my standards. Sure it could be made more efficient with some milestones and better use of a deadline buffer. Can you suggest any readings that focus not on changing a person's style but rather making this kind of style more efficient and less stressful?

There doesn't seem to be much reading that accepts this -- they mostly focus on trying to change you into someone you aren't, i.e. someone who is capable of breaking tasks into smaller pieces and working on them according to a timeline.

We have a procrastinator at home and he have tried different things , we know that he gets really upset when he loses his privilege to go out during the weekend but he rather miss it that actual do the work, Right now he has a pile of homework that he has missed we have gave him this last change to finish it but he just resist to do it, we even have a plan to go with him and his girlfriend to a show in a couple of weeks and he just told me to cancel because he won't be able to finish . He doesn't want to do a thing no motivation, is really frustrating

Maybe we can sit down and help him finish all his work but with me (mom) he fights constantly , he is better with dad now but my husband disagree with the idea because he feels that is my boy responsibility

ForConsideration There is a great line in Mary Poppins that I have found to be "oh so true". The two children are whining about having to clean up a messy playroom. Mary Poppins quips "Well begun, is half done." Truer words were never spoken. The hurdle for many kids (and adults!) More is simply getting started. Taking that one step to begin a task. Once started, things get easier. I have 4 kids and 3 of them are terrible procrastinators. This bit of wisdom from Mary Poppins has proved itself invaluable in our home. Perhaps it will help others as well.

Since School is about to start I will be posting an Article a week to help all our families in the process of Developing Outstanding Children..

These articles come from Empowering Parents web site. if you have any questions about the material do not hesitate to give me a call to help explain or clarify any thoughts or questions you might have.  At Hope Family Services we are here to serve.

Theagarajan Excellent ,real-time and useful tips sir thanks a lot at least I made understand what could be the problem

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Why do we procrastinate? Researchers finally did their homework to find out

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Procrastination, the art of delaying tasks we’d rather not tackle, is a familiar foe for many. However, an innovative new study sheds light on why some people are more prone to procrastination than others, linking this tendency to a psychological concept known as valence weighting bias . This bias influences whether individuals are more guided by positive or negative attitudes when facing new situations or decisions.

Scientists at The Ohio State University found a fascinating interplay between our attitudes and our actions, particularly when approaching tasks we find unpleasant .

Valence weighting bias, as explained by the team, is a mental process where individuals lean more heavily on either positive or negative attitudes or “signals” when encountering something new or deciding whether to engage in an activity.

“And the question is, which wins that battle — if, indeed, there are elements of both positivity and negativity?” says study senior author Russell Fazio, professor of psychology at Ohio State, in a university release .

Through a series of studies, researchers discovered that individuals with a tendency to focus on the negative aspects of a situation are more likely to procrastinate. Intriguingly, their research also suggests that it’s possible to adjust this bias towards a more neutral stance, potentially reducing the inclination to delay tasks.

The first study involved 232 participants and focused on a relatable scenario: filing federal tax returns . Researchers found that those who tend to file their returns late in the tax season also exhibited a stronger negative weighting bias. This connection suggests that people’s general attitudes can significantly influence their propensity to procrastinate on specific tasks.

A second study with 147 college students further explored this concept by examining how valence weighting bias and self-control affected students’ participation in a research program for course credit. The findings indicated that students with a negative bias and low motivation or self-control were more likely to delay their participation.

“The first study established the basic effect of negative weighting bias, but study two provides some nuance,” explains study first author Javier Granados Samayoa, a former Ohio state graduate student and now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.

“For people who don’t think about it too much or can’t think about it too much, their valence weighting tendencies guide their behavior in a straightforward manner. But if somebody is more motivated and able to think more about it, that might bring other considerations that dampen the influence of the valence weighting bias.”

The third study targeted self-identified procrastinators with a high negative weighting bias, attempting to alter their bias to make positive and negative signals more balanced. This intervention led to a significant change in behavior , with students earning credit hours more quickly than those who did not undergo the manipulation.

Researchers also found that a negative weighting bias isn’t always detrimental. It can encourage individuals to be more realistic in their self-assessment , such as when questioning if they’ve studied enough for a test. A positive bias, on the other hand, might lead to overconfidence .

“It’s better to be more objectively balanced than to be at either extreme,” notes Fazio. “But the situation where a particular valence weighting bias is likely to be problematic is going to vary.”

The implications of their research extend beyond academic curiosity, offering potential strategies for addressing procrastination by understanding and possibly altering our inherent biases. This study not only provides insight into why we procrastinate but also suggests a path towards more effective management of our tendencies to delay, which could have broad applications in educational settings and personal productivity strategies.

The study, supported by the John Templeton Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, is published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences .

You might also be interested in:

• Are you a ‘Precrastinator’? Study finds it may be worse than procrastinating
• Why We Hate Waiting: Science Solves Puzzle Behind Impatience
• Why do we still procrastinate despite it causing so much stress? Blame cognitive biases

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Evidence-based parenting tips and resources

Why your kid procrastinates and what to do about it

October 19, 2019 by Sanya Pelini, Ph.D. Leave a Comment

Almost everyone procrastinates at one point or another: we spend more time on things we appreciate and ignore those we know we should be doing; we totally ignore doing some things and put them off until the last minute; we get “caught up” doing stuff and have to let other things accumulate.

Procrastinating is normal human behavior, but it can be a terribly hard thing to get rid of. It is even harder when the procrastinator is your child because children, it seems, have mastered the art of putting off things. This could look anything like:

• Having to be nagged to do homework
• Having to be nagged to brush their teeth
• Having to be nagged to tidy up
• Having to be nagged to do chores

Trying to establish how to effectively put an end to your child’s procrastination can be treacherous terrain, and you have to tread carefully to avoid coming across as a “nag”. But it is not something you can get around. Procrastination studies have linked the habit to poor academic performance and poor saving practices that span beyond the childhood years.

The good news is that procrastination is not innate! In other words, our children are not born, but rather become procrastinators, meaning that it is possible to unlearn procrastinating habits. Making your child know that he alone is responsible for doing what needs to be done is pivotal if success is to be achieved. Much of the available research on procrastination points in this direction. Here is what it says about establishing “habits that actually work”.

Six proven tips to raise a procrastinator

• Let your child be an active participant in the decision-making process

Parents consciously or unconsciously single-handedly make the decisions involving their child. That’s just the way it is. They alone decide when snacks will be eaten, showers taken, and homework done. But what if you were told that this actually sparks your child’s procrastination?

According to several researchers, encouraging your child to participate in the decision-making process is a powerful tool that can help deal with procrastination more effectively. The researchers have found that the more your child feels responsible for the decisions taken, the more likely she is to respect those decisions. They suggest that using parent-controlled processes to transfer autonomy to your child as she grows older can make it easier to control her behavior.

Concretely, this means setting limits or providing a broad structure then letting your child act within those limits/structure. Let’s take the example of homework – a parent-controlled process can look like specifying by what time homework should be done – “before 6p.m”, or “before watching TV” or “before your videogame”, then letting your child decide by herself when to do the homework.

• Give younger kids limited options

Limited options work particularly well with younger kids because they allow them to feel like they have control over their actions. You could say something like “homework now or immediately after your shower?” “shower now or in five minutes?” You could use an alarm to increase your chances of success “I’m setting the alarm to ring after five minutes – as soon as does, it’s shower time”.

• Ensure your child is aware of what is expected of him

When I’m working on a complicated or new project and I’m not quite sure how or where to begin, I often find myself procrastinating. The same is true for kids. Many children procrastinate when they are unable to clearly determine what is expected of them. One way to get around this is to make sure your child is aware of and understands the objectives of whatever he is expected to do. You can do this by asking him to tell you, in brief terms, what he is expected to do,

• “What’s the objective ?”
• “What three things can you do to get there?”
• “What will you start with?”
• “What will you do next?”
• Reduce distractions

Kids are not the only ones who find it hard to resist distractions, but distractions lead to procrastination. Reducing distractions can help your child focus on what she is expected to do. For instance, a clear desk or avoiding homework in front of the TV will increase her focus and attention.

• Positive reinforcement works!

Reinforcement is often wrongly associated with material gains. Positive reinforcement can be a hug, a high-five, a kind word, privileged time spent together with your child or privileges such as TV or video game time. Positive reinforcement can help you get the behavior you want. For instance, telling your child that she can play video games or watch TV as soon as her homework is finished might reduce procrastinating. Remember, though, to be specific about how much TV/video time she gets once the homework is done.

Positive reinforcement also works with younger children, but only if the reinforcement occurs immediately after the desired behavior. Among younger kids, delayed reinforcement loses value. Proposing smaller immediate rewards to younger children is thus more likely to be successful than expecting them to wait for larger but delayed rewards.  The Positive Behavior Kit gives you the resources you need to deal with your child’s indesirable behavior.

• Reinforce your child’s self-management skills

Reinforcing your child’s self-management skills is related to the tip we saw earlier about encouraging him to participate in the decision-making process. This means allowing your child to make independent decisions about what he wants to do and what he has to do, and it can work with kids age 8/9 upwards.

Using a daily planner and asking him to plan his day/week by himself helps him practice his decision-making skills and increases his autonomy. Remember, though, that he needs to know that choices have consequences. What happens if he doesn’t do what is expected of him? What privileges does he lose?

When dealing with the procrastination challenge, remember that patience, and being willing to “let go of the driver’s seat”, is one of the key conditions that will determine your success.

About Sanya Pelini, Ph.D.

Sanya Pelini holds a Ph.D. in Education. Her work has been published on Motherly, ParentMap, The Goffman Institute and Psych Central, among others. She lives in the south of France with her husband and three children.

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