Procrastination

What is procrastination? Meaning and definition

Procrastination means putting off something you intend to do, even though you expect the delay to leave you worse off.

Picture the email you've been meaning to send your old landlord about the deposit. You open a reply on Monday, type "Hi", and look at it for a while. Then you wipe down the kitchen, answer three easier messages and pay a bill. By evening you've had a busy day, and the email is still there, a little harder to think about than it was this morning.

Many of us first heard the word as a telling-off, often as children. This page uses it more plainly, as a delay worth getting curious about. Some delay comes from something heavy around the task, and some comes from a task that's simply hard to begin, and each has a different first move.

How to recognise procrastination

• You do other things instead, and some of them are useful. The kitchen is spotless, and the email hasn't moved.
• The same item keeps rolling to tomorrow. It's been on your list for so long that you've stopped reading it.
• You reread it without starting it. The expense report has been open three times this week, and every box is still empty.
• The relief doesn't last. Closing the email feels better for a moment, and then it's back on your mind in the shower.

Is procrastination just laziness?

It rarely looks like it. Laziness would mean you don't much mind whether the thing gets done, and people who put things off often mind a great deal. They think about the email while they clean the kitchen.

Telling yourself off tends not to help. It gives the task one more uncomfortable feeling, and that's one more reason to look away from it tomorrow.

When does procrastination work well?

• When you've chosen to wait. Holding the email until you've found the check-out report is a decision. Strictly speaking, that isn't procrastination at all.
• When the easier work is useful. People call this productive procrastination. The bill gets paid and the kitchen gets cleaned, which is fine if the thing you're avoiding can wait.
• When you arrange it on purpose. Structured procrastination keeps a few important-feeling things at the top of your list, so that avoiding them gets other real work done.

It stops working when the delay costs you something you care about, such as the deposit.

Why do people procrastinate?

Often, the task has a few things going against it. It may be dull, fiddly or something you didn't choose. Its reward may be a long way off, while the kitchen, the phone and the easy reply all pay off right now. That pull towards what's nearest is sometimes called present bias. Being tired, short of sleep or unsure of the first step can make all of this stronger.

It may also be protecting you from something. The email could bring up an argument you'd rather not have, a time you felt small, or a future you keep picturing going badly. High standards can play a part too, since not starting can feel safer than doing it badly. Putting it off brings some relief, which may be one reason it's easy to do again.

So the first move depends on which it is. A better way into the expense report won't do much for a hard history with a landlord, and pages of writing about your feelings won't make the receipts easier to find.

Heavy, or just hard to begin?

This is a working distinction rather than a formal category, and one question usually separates the two. Imagine you're already ten minutes in. How does that feel?

Here's how that plays out. Ten minutes into the expense report, you'd be fine. You don't dread it, and the hard part is getting the receipts on the table. It may only want a lead-in called "Find the receipts".

The email to your landlord is different. Even a half-written draft makes your stomach drop, and you've been moving it around for three weeks. A lead-in may only get you as far as the screen. In that case, it could help to look at what's clouding it, if and when you want to. You could also send a rough version, or ask a friend to read it with you.

If you're not sure which it is, try a way in first. It's quick. If you're still circling after a couple of tries, you've learned something about the task, and not about you.

If it's hard to begin: find a better way in

These two examples use a task called "Expense report". They're shown in Xale, with a version for other apps at the end of each.

Give a task you keep delaying a place in your day

Try this when something keeps rolling to tomorrow, because it has never had a time of its own.

1. Open Day, and start with your daily necessities. Drag Activity from the tray to a slot, pick the closest one, title it "Lunch", and press Add to plan.
2. Drag "Expense report" from the tray to an empty slot soon after lunch, or to another time when you tend to have some energy.
3. Drag the block's bottom edge up until it looks short enough to begin. Half an hour may be plenty for a first stretch.
4. Add a walk straight after it in the same way, so that something pleasant comes next.
5. If the day changes, leave it. Anything that doesn't happen fades, with no red marks, and you can pick another slot when you're ready.

In other apps: add a calendar event with a clear title and an end time. On paper, write "lunch, expense report, walk" on a sticky note.

Ease into a task with a lead-in

Try this when you'd be fine once you got going, and getting going is the hard part.

Once a task has its place in your day, you can add a short block that helps you get to it. That block is a transition. For the task of filing an expense report, two kinds are worth trying:

• Something that's part of the job. Give it your own title, such as "Find the receipts". It asks little of you, and you've already started.
• A break from what came before. Walk, Stretch, Breathe and Drink are all suggested titles, and they can help when the last thing is still with you.

Then add one to your day:

1. In Day, drag "Expense report" from the tray to an empty slot, if it isn't on your day yet.
2. Drag Transition from the tray to the time just before it.
3. Choose lead-in, then pick a suggested title or write your own, such as "Find the receipts".
4. Set how long it runs. It starts at ten minutes, and can run from five to sixty.
5. If you'd like a break first as well, drag another Transition in front of it, and pick Stretch.
6. When the lead-in ends, see how the expense report feels.

In other apps: add a short calendar event before the task, and name it after the first small action. On paper, write "receipts, then expense report".

If it's heavy: look at what's around it, if you'd like to

Some tasks wait a long time for a reason. If you're curious about yours, these two examples follow the email to your landlord. They're optional, and you may only want one.

Write out what's clouding a task you keep avoiding

Try this if it's mostly a feeling, and you'd like to see what's there.

1. Open a new Note, and give it a plain title, such as "The email".
2. Try finishing these one at a time: "When I think about it, I feel", "The last time something like this happened" and "What I keep picturing is".
3. Follow anything else that comes up, even if it has nothing to do with the email.
4. Read it back, and mark for yourself what's a fact, what's an old memory and what's a guess about the future.
5. If a next step has appeared, select the words and press Make task on the toolbar.
6. Stop there if you like. Some people feel lighter and readier to act after this, and some don't.

If the weight is a conversation, the Hard Conversation Prep template (Pro) gives you headings for what you want, what they probably need and your opening line. Without Pro, type those as lines of your own.

In other apps: use any page in Apple Notes, Evernote or OneNote, or a sheet of paper.

Map what's weighing on a task you've been delaying

Try this if it's more of a tangle, with several things connected, and you'd like to see them side by side.

1. Start a new Mindmap, and name the middle "The email".
2. Press Tab to add a branch and Enter to add another beside it. Make three: "Can change", "Can't change" and "Need help with".
3. Add what belongs under each one.
4. Look for anything you've been carrying on the wrong branch. You can't change how the last reply sounded, and you can change what you send next.
5. Right-click the smallest thing on "Can change" or "Need help with", and choose Make task.

With Pro, the What's Weighing on Me template starts a map with these three branches. Without Pro, type them as above.

In other apps: MindMeister, XMind or Miro all work, and so does a sheet of paper with three columns.

How to get better at handling procrastination

• Let a task's third trip to tomorrow be your signal. That's a good moment for the ten-minute question, long before it's been three weeks.
• Keep what got you started. If "Find the receipts" worked last month, use it again. You may collect a few ways in for the work you tend to delay.
• Look at what keeps coming up. Maybe it's always forms, or always conversations with one person.
• Practise on something small. Try a lead-in on a task that doesn't matter much, so you know how it feels before you try it on one that does.
• Ask who it's for. If someone's waiting, a short "I haven't forgotten" may take some of the pressure off. If nobody's waiting and nothing will go wrong, you might decide not to do it at all.

Prompts to try with an AI assistant

Paste these into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, and fill in the brackets.

Work out whether it's heavy or hard to begin

I keep putting off [task]. Here's what happens when I go near it: [what you do or feel]. Ask me up to three short questions, one at a time, including how I'd feel if I were already ten minutes in. Then tell me whether it seems mostly heavy or mostly hard to begin, and suggest one small thing to try first.

Find a better way in

I find it hard to begin [task], though I'm usually fine once I've started. Just before it, I'll be doing [what comes before]. If you don't know enough about the task, ask me one question and wait. Otherwise, suggest five lead-ins of ten minutes or less: three small actions that are part of the task, and two that help me leave what I was doing behind.

Procrastination: common questions

What's the difference between procrastination and task paralysis? With procrastination, you put something off and usually do something easier instead. With task paralysis, you want to start and can't seem to begin much of anything.

Is procrastination a sign of ADHD? On its own, it doesn't tell you much, because nearly everyone puts things off sometimes. Many people with ADHD describe it, and so do people who are anxious, low or worn out. If it's happening often or affecting your work or relationships, it's worth talking to a doctor or mental health professional.

What is revenge bedtime procrastination? It's staying up later than you meant to, because late evening is the only time that feels like your own. It may be asking for some of that time earlier, so try giving something you enjoy a real place in the day.

What is precrastination? It's roughly the opposite: rushing to start or finish something as soon as you can, even when that takes more effort or gives a worse result. Replying to a tricky message at once, just to get it off your list, is a familiar version.

Related topics

• Compare with Task paralysis: wanting to start, and being unable to begin much of anything.
• Get going with Task initiation, and split up large work with Task decomposition.
• Look at Perfectionism if high standards are part of the weight.
• Be easier on yourself with Self-compassion.