Don't Delay

Understanding procrastination and how to achieve our goals

Timothy A Pychyl Ph.D.

I'll Feel More Like It Tomorrow

Sticking to our exercise intentions is tough. Too often present-self puts off the workout, believing that future-self is more motivated. Here's why.

Do Neurotic Extraverts Procrastinate More?

Emotionally intense people can swing between highly positive and highly negative emotions. Does this affect procrastination? I think it does.

Precrastination, Revisited

As the CEO—Chief Excrement Officer—around our farm, I’ve learned something about the notion of precrastination and how it relates to procrastination.

ADHD and Academic Procrastination: A Success Story

Although ADHD in children is typically associated with academic difficulties and procrastination, there is hope! Here's a success story and the strategies that made a difference.

Trying Versus Doing

Did you try to put on your pants this morning, or did you put on your pants?

How Sleep and Self-Control Relate to Wasting Time at Work

Sleep quality is related to many important health outcomes, but this recent study shows that it’s also related to wasting time at work, at least for those low in self-control.

ADHD and Procrastination

An update on the most recent research exploring the relation between ADHD and procrastination.

The Neural Signature of Procrastination

Using fMRI, researchers reveal brain differences related to action control and procrastination. Not surprisingly, it’s all about emotion.

An Essential Self-Regulation Strategy

Unable to resist cravings, we believe we’re weak-willed and that more effort is required. It's not. The key is understanding how we mis-regulate, not under-regulate, ourselves.

Too Soon? A Little More Delay Might Have Been a Good Idea

Can an author successfully write a book that is both an apology and an apologia for procrastination?

How Negative Thoughts Relate to Procrastination

Procrastination is a negative form of delay related to anxiety, depression, and psychological distress. Recent research puts special emphasis on the role of rumination.

What Best Predicts Goal Attainment?

How's that New Year's resolution diet going? Self-control letting you down? A recent study shows the experience of temptation and the resulting depletion are the real culprits.

Emotion Regulation Skills Reduce Procrastination

Procrastination is an emotion-focused coping strategy. We avoid some tasks in order to avoid the emotions they evoke. New research explains how to reduce procrastination.

Procrastination, Depression and Creativity

A brief post to highlight a recent podcast and a book that anyone troubled by procrastination will want to listen to and read, respectively.

Facebocrastination: New Research on the Perils of Facebook

A new study in the journal Computers in Human Behavior underscores the self-control challenges of social media. Learn about the effect of students' Facebook habit on well-being.

Culpably Unwarranted Delay: Is There an App for That?

Once it becomes clear that procrastination involves a mens rea (guilty mind), significant opportunities for intervention come into view.

The Poison Tendrils of Negative Emotions

A recent research summary argues that negative emotions poison every aspect of successful self-regulation. Understanding this process is key to understanding procrastination.

Procrastination 101: It's Not About Feeling Like It

I don’t feel like it. I don’t want to. I’ll feel more like it tomorrow. Have you had these thoughts? Ever heard your children say these things?

Strength Versus Structure

Strength is important. We may even say it’s essential, but it’s not sufficient. It’s structure and routine that will save us when the going gets tough.

Mindful Emotion Regulation

Mindfulness-based therapies are very popular, and all have a common goal – adaptive emotion regulation. As such, they are a key route to reducing procrastination.

I Was Just Thinking In My Head

“I was just thinking in my head.” Have you heard anyone say that? I have, quite often. Not limiting ourselves to our own heads can help reduce procrastination.

Procrastination As A Virtue For Creativity, Why It's False

A recent Op-Ed in the New York Times outlined how procrastination is a virtue for creativity. The problem is the essay wasn’t about procrastination at all.

Laziness and Procrastination

"I am so lazy." What should we think of this?

"I'll Do It Later" – Children's Academic Procrastination

Procrastination starts early in life and often centers around homework. Research highlights the role of motivation.

Academic Procrastination And Academic Achievement

We can all probably recall a time when we procrastinated but still managed to "pull it off." We may even know a high-achieving procrastinator. Memorable, but not typical.

Fear and Shame on New Year's Day

The Roman god Janus, for whom January is named, had two faces. One looked back to the past; the other looked forward. As we do this today, let's talk about how this makes us feel.

New Year's Resolutions Lack Resolve

I think there’s a certain irony with the notion of New Year’s resolutions. Typically, I hear people state vague goal intentions that lack any sort of resolve.

Self-Help Or How to Live a More Meaningful Life?

Self-help books based on scientific evidence have been shown to be very effective, but should we focus so narrowly on a single issue like procrastination?

Social Media, the Network Effect and Procrastination

There’s an army of growth hackers working in the tech industry to hook you deeply into social media. Their job is to break down your self-regulation. The result? Procrastination.

Procrastination, Hypertension and Cardiovascular Disease

Personality traits can confer risk. This recent study documents how procrastination is a factor for poor adjustment to and management of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

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