Is procrastination the lack of discipline? Nope. Procrastination as we know it is a very complex emotional response to stress and unhelpful emotional states like anxiety, boredom, or self-doubt. Why? Because, believe it or not, it’s your body’s attempt to protect you from danger.
So, before you label yourself ‘unproductive,’ let’s see what procrastination actually means and why understanding its psychology might just change the way you work, plan, and forgive yourself.
What does procrastination mean?
Procrastination is an irrational delay of action despite knowing it will have negative consequences for the delayer. You’d find the meaning right in the word itself: from Latin, pro means “forward,” and crastinus means “of tomorrow.”
Procrastination doesn’t come from poor time management and it’s not a rational delay when life happens and, suddenly, you have to reprioritize. On the contrary, the answer to what is procrastination is simple: it’s when you’ve got time on your hands but can’t initiate the task. Even the slightest thought about it ruins your day, and you decide not to proceed.
Once procrastination takes the lead, your brain starts looking for the immediate relief from procrastination-related emotions like anxiety or boredom and you end up binging shows or scrolling TikTok.
The number of people looking online for mental health apps like Liven only proves that procrastination is universal. For those wanting to improve their mental health, here is the answer to what is Liven: an app designed to help you manage emotions, build focus, and develop healthier habits — all crucial in breaking the procrastination loop.
But first, let’s discuss things which form this loop.
#1: Time discounting problem
Your brain values immediate gratification more than future rewards, even if the latter are far better than what you can get in the moment. Simply put, the further the reward is in time, the less appealing it feels to your brain.
Why does this happen?
Biologically, this bias comes from how your limbic system and prefrontal cortex interact.
The limbic system is a brain structure responsible for pleasure, emotions, and survival, while the prefrontal cortex is the newest brain structure that governs reasoning and long-term planning.
The limbic system reacts 5 times faster than the prefrontal cortex. Naturally, the limbic system will try to keep you tucked in and cozy so you don’t have to do unpleasant things like cleaning the house or doing taxes.
🌱 Tip for improvement: Bring the future closer. Visualize how it will feel to finish, what you’ll gain, and how proud you’ll be.
#2: Distorted beliefs
Many procrastinators believe they perform better under pressure or that they’ll be somehow more organized and disciplined later. So, they intentionally postpone the task for the sake of the last-minute adrenaline rush.
Another example of a cognitive distortion is when a person miscalculates the amount of time required to complete a task (psychologists call this planning fallacy).
All these distortions are your brain’s way to justify the delay and help you feel better temporarily.
🌱 Tip for improvement: Catch your self-talk. If you hear “I’ll do it later,” replace it with “I’ll start for just five minutes.” This might help you cut the distortion in the moment and gently nudge yourself to do the task.
#3: Low self-efficacy
This is when you don’t believe in your intellectual, physical, or emotional abilities to execute a particular task. You might say, “I’m not smart enough,” or “I’ll mess this up anyway.” You believe your skills aren’t enough to achieve a good result, though there is no evidence for this belief. In turn, you avoid challenges and hold a pessimistic look on the future.
Let’s say you have to prepare a presentation for work. Instead of actually doing the task, you postpone it: you overthink the performance and believe that everyone will judge you.
🌱 Tip for improvement: Pair a long-term goal with a small, instant reward like listening to your favorite instrumental list while working. This will make your brain associate the task with something pleasant and rewarding.
#4: Self-handicapping
This is a coping strategy similar to self-sabotage, according to which a person creates an obstacle that won’t allow them to start or complete tasks. Such behavior often comes from a fear of failure when one is afraid they won’t succeed, so they make excuses beforehand subconsciously or intentionally.
Psychologists also note that this behavior is far more common among the high-achievers who fear others will perceive them as incompetent.
One might:
- Start a big task the night before it’s due (“I didn’t have time!”);
- Say yes to too many commitments to justify poor performance;
- Purposely not try hard enough — “If I fail, at least it’s not because I’m incapable.”
🌱 Tip for improvement: Re-label your procrastination moments with compassion. Every time you catch yourself thinking “‘I’m failing again,” try “Oh, it’s just my brain looking for comfort.”
#5: Decision fatigue
This happens when one is not necessarily scared of a particular task but rather the number of decisions required to start the task.
Let’s say you have to plan a complex project. You must pick a design, write content, send emails, and choose tools.
Your brain falls into a freeze mode and decides (pun intended) that it’s easier to postpone the task than make all these necessary decisions.
🌱 Tip for improvement: Try to be less vague with your plans because it’s more difficult to start something that has no clear steps or deadlines. Instead of vague goals like “I’ll start my report later,” be specific: “I’ll open the file right after lunch at 1:30.”
Final Thoughts
Procrastination is your brain’s way to keep you safe from discomfort with unhelpful patterns like time discounting, cognitive distortions, and self-handicapping among others.
But when you recognize these patterns, you can react timely, add structure and organization, and replace avoidance with action and confidence.
Start small and be compassionate to yourself.
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