It’s 10 am on a Sunday, and you sit down with your laptop and a cup of coffee, ready to tackle the many assignments due this week. Before you begin, you check your phone—just emails. Then a text from a friend appears, linking to Instagram. One post won’t hurt, right? Suddenly, it’s 1 pm, and you haven’t even started your work. Pulling yourself away from your phone feels impossible, so you compromise for something a little easier: folding laundry and listening to a podcast. By 3 pm, the day is long gone. What’s the point? You turn on your favorite TV show and grab some ice cream. By now, it’s 6 pm, and the thought of starting any work feels far more daunting than it did this morning. 

            If this all sounds familiar, you might be a procrastinator. Believe it or not, you are not alone. A fourth of adults worldwide are chronic procrastinators, and about half of all students struggle with procrastination. In fact, I had been procrastinating researching and writing this article for quite some time. 

            Procrastination is a self-defeating behavior pattern that prioritizes short-term benefits over long-term costs. The more you continually procrastinate and regret it, the more you will get caught in a negative cycle. We tend to avoid tasks we deem unpleasant or fear we won’t complete well, hoping to sidestep discomfort or failure. Ironically, this avoidance leads to greater stress and dissatisfaction over time. Procrastination is especially deceptive because it offers immediate emotional relief, even as it exacts high emotional, physical, and practical costs. Chronic procrastination can rewire your brain, creating negative habits by both strengthening avoidance pathways and weakening your ability to confront overwhelming challenges. 

            From the outside, procrastination seems irrational. We know we need to get a task done, so why don’t we just do it? Procrastinators repeatedly convince themselves that they’ll complete the task later—a phenomenon known as effective forecasting. By imagining future productivity, they temporarily ease guilt and discomfort in the present, even though the same cycle is likely to repeat. Many procrastinators claim that they perform better under pressure, but research actually shows that this is false; it is really the habitual last-minute relief, as seemingly overcoming a tough task. Most people turn to self-criticism after procrastinating, which seems logical after wasting a great amount of time on something that only increases their stress and anxiety. However, procrastination doesn’t just stem from laziness; it is much more nuanced and complex than that. Although procrastination isn’t officially considered a mental illness in and of itself, it tends to be linked to other mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, perfectionism, and ADHD. 

            Procrastination comes from the intricate parts of our brain involved in emotional regulation, decision-making, and self-control. Neurologically, procrastination is a clash between the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex. The limbic system processes emotions, including pleasure, pain, and reward. When someone is faced with an unpleasant task, the limbic system attempts to escape its discomfort. The amygdala is a structure within the limbic system that processes fear and anxiety. This structure is activated when you are presented with an overwhelming task, and it steers you towards activities that bring immediate relief, such as scrolling on social media or binge-watching a TV show. When we engage in activities that quickly release dopamine in our brain, the “feel-good” chemical, it fuels our procrastination and reinforces the habit of avoiding challenging tasks. The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain that supports decision-making, planning, and impulse control. It prioritizes long-term goals over short-term enjoyment. When we procrastinate, the prefrontal cortex is overcome by the limbic system’s emotional impulses. There is a tug-of-war going on within our brains between emotional avoidance and rational decision-making. This imbalance is further explained by temporal discounting, the tendency to undervalue future outcomes in favor of immediate but temporary relief. When immediate rewards are involved with our decision-making, the limbic system in our brain often overrides the prefrontal cortex, leading to procrastination. 

            It’s essential to acknowledge and address procrastination as soon as possible because the longer you lie to yourself and ignore this negative habit, the harder it will be to break the cycle. One tip is time-chunking, which involves breaking tasks into smaller, more manageable parts. It can help reduce the emotions associated with an overwhelming task and allow the prefrontal cortex to take over. The Pomodoro Technique is another method that involves 25-minute intervals of focused work followed by a short break. This technique trains your brain to stay engaged and builds momentum and motivation by providing small rewards. Often, underlying emotions drive procrastination, so acknowledging and addressing these emotions through journaling, therapy, or mindfulness exercises can be helpful. Overall, you should treat yourself with kindness. Self-criticism can increase stress levels, whereas self-compassion will encourage emotional regulation, resilience, and meaningful progress.

References 

insightspsychology. (2024, November 29). The Neuroscience of Procrastination: What Happens in Your Brain? Insights Psychology. https://insightspsychology.org/the-neuroscience-of-procrastination/

Kabir, F. (2025, August 12). The Surprising Truth About Procrastination: What No One Is Telling You. The Good Men Project. https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-surprising-truth-on-procrastination-wha t-no-one-is-telling-you/ 

Psychology Today. (2017). Procrastination. Psychology Today; Sussex Publishers. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/procrastination 

Stop Putting It Off: A Guide to Understanding Procrastination. (2025, July 13). Deconstructingstigma.org. https://deconstructingstigma.org/guides/procrastination