I've been meaning to write this blog for a while, but... well, I procrastinated. We procrastinate when we delay or postpone the things we should be doing. Procrastination is incredibly common and something we have all battled with at one point or the other. It does not mean that you're a terrible person or a bad employee: Procrastination is such a common struggle because the human brain is actually wired for it. Some people procrastinate out of fear of being judged for their work, and as a result, they prefer to just avoid completing the task altogether. Others are thrill-seekers who claim to enjoy the rush that comes with racing to meet a deadline. Another common reasoning that I often come across is some people’s belief that their performance is at its best under pressure. Thanks to the internet, procrastination is the most accessible than it has ever been for people in so many various walks of life,
It’s a universal challenge, which begs the question: what is it about the human brain that drives us to put off tasks that are actually quite important to us?
A Brief History of Wasting Time
Humans have always struggled with procrastination. It is reasonable to suggest that the first spell of procrastination arrived on the same day as the first assigned task. The issue dates back at least as far as Ancient Greece. In Plato’s Protagoras, Socrates raises the question of how it is possible that, if one judges an action to be the best, one would do anything other than this action. The Greek poet Hesiod cautioned not to “put your work off till tomorrow and the day after.” The word akrasia, which means “weakness of will,” was used by Aristotle to describe this state of acting against one’s better judgment. The term was later used several times in the Bible and described as a “sin of the mind.” When we get stuck into an akratic loop, we know we “should” do something, but we resist doing it. The word “procrastination” itself comes from the Latin “pro”, which means “forward”, and “crastinatus”, which means “till next day.”
The Battle of Procrastination
Many people believe that procrastination occurs due to laziness or just plain incompetence, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Procrastination actually finds its roots in our neurobiology. It’s the result of a perpetual battle in our brains between the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex.
The Limbic System, also called the paleomammalian brain, is one of the most primitive and dominant portions of the brain. Its processes often occur involuntarily and govern pleasure-seeking, instant gratification, and the survival response. When you feel like your whole body is telling you to flee from an unpleasant situation, that is your limbic system being activated. It is also tightly connected to the prefrontal cortex.
The Prefrontal Cortex is a newer, less developed, and as a result a relatively weaker portion of the brain. This is the part of your brain where decision-making, analysing information, expressing emotions and planning complex behaviours happen. The prefrontal cortex is “the part of the brain that really separates humans from animals, who are just controlled by stimulus,” explains Dr Tim Pychyl, one of the world's leading experts in procrastination.
As the limbic system is much stronger, it very often wins this battle, leading to procrastination. This part of the brain tends to act impulsively and lean towards instant gratification, even if it contradicts our long-term goals. In simpler terms, we give our brain what feels good now. In fact, procrastination can also be viewed as the result of a battle between your present self and your future self. According to Dr Tim Pychyl, “We have a brain that is selected for preferring immediate reward. Procrastination is the present self saying I would rather feel good now. So we delay engagement even though it’s going to bite us on the butt.”
The Very Real Dangers of Procrastination
Procrastination can be extremely harmful, not only on a professional level but also on cognitive and emotional levels. A study conducted by Dr Dianne Tice and Dr Roy Baumeister measured the performance, stress, and overall health of a group of college students throughout the semester. While the procrastinators initially displayed lower levels of stress, likely due to being engaged in more pleasurable pursuits than their peers, by the end of the semester, not only were they more stressed, but they also earned lower grades. Many studies suggest that procrastination is associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress as well as loneliness and reduced life satisfaction. Procrastination is also associated with prevalent health problems, cardiovascular disease, and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors.
References
Jaffe, E. (2013). Why wait? The science behind procrastination. APS Observer, 26. https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/why-wait-the-science-behind-procrastination
Johansson, F., Rozental, A., Edlund, K., Côté, P., Sundberg, T., Onell, C., Rudman, A., & Skillgate, E. (2023). Associations between procrastination and subsequent health outcomes among university students in Sweden. JAMA Network Open, 6(1), e2249346. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.49346
Le Cunff, A.-L. (2019, July 26). The neuroscience of procrastination: A short primer. Ness Labs. https://nesslabs.com/neuroscience-of-procrastination
The Science Behind Procrastination. Arc UNSW Student Life. (2021)Identifying the Neural Substrates of Procrastination: A Resting-State fMRI Study. (n.d.). Scientific Reports, 6(1).
Wypych, M., Michałowski, J. M., Droździel, D., Borczykowska, M., Szczepanik, M., & Marchewka, A. (2019). Attenuated brain activity during error processing and punishment anticipation in procrastination – a monetary Go/No-go fMRI study. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-48008-4
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