Having trouble starting a task can be a common situation. Sometimes someone can feel lost or, all of a sudden, extremely tired and find ways to delay the task over and over. Like a project. Day one, there is not enough information. Also, on day two, you need to put your space in order and maybe form a work plan. Day three, you remembered that you needed to go to a place, and like that, the task keeps being pushed over. At that moment is where the word procrastination appears. But what does it look like? Why do we procrastinate? And more importantly, what can you do when facing an important task and you are procrastinating?
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Why Starting Is Hard: How Procrastination Works
Procrastination can be defined as a voluntary delay in an intended course of action despite expecting the worst outcome as a result of the delay (Steel, 2007). So, it’s not only delaying things to do, but also knowing the possible outcome of them and still choosing to do that. So there remains the question. Why would someone choose to do that?
- Characteristics of the task: Some people suggest that they procrastinate because of the timing of the reward or punishment after finishing the task (the further away, the less urgent it seems) and how unpleasant the task looks (Steel, 2007).
- Individual differences: There were related factors such as irrational beliefs and depression; also, extraversion was considered, along with impulsiveness and sensation seeking (Steel, 2007).
- Other factors are: distractibility, ability to organise, achievement motivation, intention-action gap and mood (evading anxiety) (Steel, 2007).
Procrastination is not always a way to avoid work. It can also be a way to avoid negative feelings, going into a bad mood, feelings of boredom and can be seen in people who reported feeling tired (Sirois & Pychyl, 2013). Another factor that can be taken into the procrastination motives is perfectionism. Specifically, if a person perceives oneself as not capable enough to complete the task, thinks that doesn’t have enough resources to complete the task or has thoughts that the person won’t be able to reach a desired outcome, there is a higher chance of procrastination (Sirois et al., 2017).
Read More: Perfectionism, Procrastination and Paralysis
What Comes First: Action or Motivation?
Usually it is thought that motivation is the only fuel to tease an action. But Orbell & Sheeran (2000) studied another mechanism called implementation intentions. In it, what matters is to increase the chance of a person actually doing what someone says: mentally rehearsing where and when someone will initiate the implementation intention, then there is a memory forming that eventually leads to an action plan (Orbell & Sheeran, 2000). Do they replace motivation? No, in Orbell and Sheeran (2000), research actually complements that a part of implementation intentions are actually motivations. But they don’t work alone in the case of leading someone towards an action. In that case, the action had a bigger chance of not being done by the person.
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Science of Taking the First Step
Before the action, what comes first is a research question. To talk about procrastination, there needs to be a discussion about what the factor or factors are that lead a person to act towards something. One theory says that actions are supported by goals, and that leads to the behaviour. Goals are defined as mental representations of desired end states. But goals don’t work alone. They are maintained in time by the consideration of how successful the person can be, the desirability of the outcome, commitment and beliefs (Wieber et al., 2015).
Owens et al. (2008) proved in an experiment that students who reported having high levels of procrastination could improve with planning. And the result was positive. According to the study, the participants who mentioned having high levels of procrastination and did implementation intentions (dividing a goal into doable actions and reframing it like that instead of just trying to pursue a bigger goal) were more likely to finish the task given.
However, another study asked college students to use implementation intentions to reduce procrastination. But, in that research, students improved, and the hypothesis changed because they reduced the aversiveness to the task after engaging with it. So, emotional avoidance preceded procrastination and decreased when participants faced the task directly (Zhou et al., 2026).
According to the theory of reasoned action, what is behind an action is the intention to do it (Van Hooft et al., 2005). A person’s intention may depend on their attitude toward the task and the perceived external pressure to perform it. But in practice, that theory does not always explain what makes someone do something. Van Hoof et al. (2005) also brought to light that there are other components that could explain why someone acts, non-motivational factors.
- Internal factors: availability of information, skills and abilities and the absence of emotions or compulsions.
- External factors: availability of opportunities and also resources, and the dependence or cooperation of others around us.
Read More: 10 Effective Strategies to Battle Procrastination, According to Psychology
Dealing with Procrastination: Strategies Based on Evidence
Researchers have also looked for ways to handle procrastination and reduce the effects in several contexts, such as studies or work environments. And some of the most common techniques to deal with procrastination are:
- Establish routines and work calendars
- Early exposure to events to lower the levels of stress
- Set of daily goals and targets to increase motivation
- Improve self-checking to avoid discrepancies in time and effort management (Garzon & Gil, 2017)
But, in Kühnel et al. (2023), research was found that there can be another strategy to deal with procrastination besides the techniques already named.
- Positive affect: Having a positive affect available before the action could lead to a lower level of procrastination. And that’s because being exposed to positive affect reduces behavioural inhibition and opens people’s thought-action repertoires (Kühnel et al., 2023).
- Time pressure: Not only planning. This strategy goes a bit further. When someone is aware of the discrepancy between a person’s current state (like the advance on a project) and their goal (finishing that task on a deadline), it functions as a way to pressure the person. Deadlines and external pressure can work to lower procrastination due to the fact that time pressure can increase task attentional pull (helps with on-task focus and having to present the intention) (Kühnel et al., 2023).
- Doing things now, Mental Contrasting with Implementation Intentions: this technique has two parts; in the first one, the person imagines a future desired outcome and evaluates the present. Then there is the IF formulation to take that into an action “If (obstacle) then I will (behaviour)” (Zhou et al., 2026).
Read More: What is Revenge Bedtime Procrastination?
Conclusion
Procrastination is a voluntary delay in doing a task. There can be multiple reasons, such as impatience for the task reward, depression, aversiveness to the task, distractibility and even perfectionism, among others. When talking about completing a task or a goal, it’s not only motivation that is behind it. People can also consider planning, goal achievement, and internal factors such as individual skills, as well as external factors such as opportunities. But, in order to deal with procrastination, there can be techniques that can help. Planning and routines provide an effective resource, as mentioned previously. Also, the use of a positive affect, time pressure and even mental contrasting with Implementation intentions.
References +
- Garzón Umerenkova, A. y Gil Flores, J. (2017). El papel de la procrastinación académica como factor de la deserción universitaria [The role of academic procrastination as a factor in university dropout]. Revista Complutense de Educación, 28 (1), 307-324.
- Orbell, S., & Sheeran, P. (2000). Motivational and Volitional Processes in Action Initiation: A Field Study of the Role of Implementation Intentions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30(4), 780– 797. Portico. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2000.tb02823.
- Kühnel, J., Bledow, R., & Kuonath, A. (2023). Overcoming procrastination: Time pressure and positive affect as compensatory routes to action. Journal of Business and Psychology, 38(4), 803- 819.
- Sirois, F. and Pychyl, T. (2013) Procrastination and the Priority of Short-Term Mood Regulation: Consequences for Future Self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7 (2). 115 – 127. ISSN: 1751-9004 https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12011
- Sirois, F. M., Molnar, D. S., & Hirsch, J. K. (2017). A Meta–Analytic and Conceptual Update on the Associations between Procrastination and Multidimensional Perfectionism. European Journal of Personality, 31(2), 137–159. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2098
- Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: a meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological bulletin, 133(1), 65.
- Van Hooft, E. A. J., Born, M. Ph., Taris, T. W., van der Flier, H., & Blonk, R. W. B. (2005). Bridging the gap between intentions and behaviour: Implementation intentions, action control, and procrastination. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 66(2), 238–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2004.10.003
- Wieber, F., Thürmer, J. L., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2015). Promoting the translation of intentions into action by implementation intentions: behavioural effects and physiological correlates. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 140516.
- Zhou, X., Wider, W., Wu, H., Xu, Y., Qin, M., & Borromeo, A. S. (2026). Beyond positive thinking: A randomised trial of mental contrasting with implementation intentions to curb academic procrastination. Acta Psychologica, 262, 106168.
