Psychologists Explain
Why You Procrastinate—
And How to Stop
Identifying why you procrastinate can help you form
strategies to overcome this habit. | By Jamie Ducharme
From time to time, everybody
leaves a task lingering on their to-do
list for a few hours—or days, or
weeks—too long. Procrastination is a
normal, near-universal phenomenon,
which makes it all the more important
to understand why we do it and what
to do about it.
“Procrastination is not just avoiding
or delaying a task,” says David Ballard,
former head of the American Psycho-
logical Association’s Center for Orga-
nizational Excellence. “It also has to
include an aspect that’s counterpro-
ductive, irrational or unnecessary.”
Those triggers typically fall into one
of four camps: expectancy, value,
time or impulsivity, says Alexander
Rozental, a procrastination researcher
and a clinical psychologist at the Kar-
olinska Institute in Sweden. In other
words, “People procrastinate because
of a lack of value [associated with the
task]; because they expect that they’re
not going to achieve the value they’re
trying to achieve; because the value
is too far from you in terms of time;
or because you’re very impulsive as a
person,” Rozental says.
Strategies for overcoming procrasti-
nation will vary depending on why it
6 TIME FOR HEALTH
happens in the first place. “The first
step is stepping back and figuring out
what’s going on. Identify your own
habits,” Ballard says. “Is there one
kind of thing you always put off to
last? What is it that you tend to put
off, and what are your thought pat-
terns around that?”
Once you have a clearer picture
of your own work or study habits,
Ballard says, you stand a better
chance of fixing them. Here are some
common reasons you may be procras-
tinating, as well as strategies to help
fight those urges.
If timing is the issue
Many people are inherently more
productive at certain times of day.
Ballard recommends working around
these natural productivity ebbs and
flows when you schedule your days.
“If you know you work better in the
mornings on certain kinds of tasks,
schedule it for then,” he says. “Don’t
try to do it at a time when you’re tired
and it’s harder for you to do.”
If you get overwhelmed
by big tasks
Many people procrastinate because
they’re anxious about the outcome of
a project, don’t think they can com-
plete it well or fear failure, Rozental
says. If that’s the case, it may help to
break it into smaller sub-tasks.
“If you don’t believe in yourself
enough to actually conduct a par-
ticular task, you can try to do it in
smaller and more manageable parts
to increase your self-efficacy,” Rozen-
tal recommends.
If you struggle with
delayed gratification
Some people have a hard time think-
ing of a project as important or
rewarding unless they’re squeezing it
in just before a deadline. In this case,
too, breaking a long-term assignment
into multiple smaller ones may help,
Ballard says. “Find ways to reward
yourself along the way,” he recom-
mends. You can even schedule your
most frequent diversions—think
checking social media or complet-
ing non-urgent chores and errands—
for the gaps between these smaller
chunks to get a quick hit of an enjoy-
able activity, Ballard adds. “You get
those activities done, you get a break
and you can shift your mindset for a
few minutes,” he says.
It may also help to pause long enough
to really think about why you’re doing
 MANY PEOPLE PROCRASTINATE BECAUSE
THEY’RE ANXIOUS ABOUT THE OUTCOME OF
A PROJECT, DON’T THINK THEY CAN COMPLETE
IT WELL OR FEAR FAILURE.
a certain task, Rozental says. “Clar-
ify why this task or commitment is
important to you,” he says. “Ask, ‘Why
am I doing this?’”
If you’re easily distracted
First, Ballard recommends optimiz-
ing your environment. “Put your cell-
phone away, turn off notifications on
your computer and don’t have 10 tabs
open at the same time,” he says.
Ballard also suggests minimizing dis-
traction’s cousin: multitasking. Many
MALTE MUELLER/GETTY
of us fall into the trap of “juggling
two or three tasks at the same time,
so you finish one, but you’re still in
the middle of the other,” Ballard says.
That “never-ending stream of tasks”
may make it feel like you’re never
actually completing anything, which
deprives you of the satisfaction of
being done. “Take the time to wrap
one thing up, put it away, take a
breath, walk around for a minute and
stretch before you step into the next
thing so can move on having refreshed
yourself,” Ballard says.
If you’re struggling with
something larger
Sometimes, what looks like procras-
tination may actually be a symptom
of something more serious, such as
depression, anxiety or attention prob-
lems, Ballard says. If your behavior is
causing you distress or significantly
affecting your performance at work,
school or home, don’t be afraid to
consult a professional. “Get some
additional support and help from a
professional who can help you manage
those so it’s not getting in the way of
your job performance or functioning,”
he says.
If you’re simply hitting a wall
Even the most efficient workers
have days when it’s harder to finish
tasks. With any luck, these lulls will
strike when you don’t have a dead-
line looming and you can “cut your
losses and take a break” to focus
on taking care of yourself with
sleep, exercise, proper nutrition and
enjoyable, non-work-related activi-
ties, Ballard says.
You can emulate that same strategy,
albeit to a lesser extent, even if you’re
facing down a task that absolutely has
to happen today. “Maybe take five
minutes to get outside, take a walk, get
some sunlight,” Ballard says. “What
we don’t often feel at the time is that
those breaks will actually increase
your productivity and make up for the
lost time. If you’re doing small breaks
like that, you’ll actually get things
done more efficiently afterward.” ■