Knowra Procrastination Procrastination Procrastination is the voluntary delay of an intended task despite expecting that postponement may worsen its outcome. It often trades long-term goals for short-term relief from unpleasant feelings.
Temporal discounting : The tendency to value rewards less when they are delayed in time. A distant task payoff can lose to immediate comfort when procrastination begins.
Intention : A mental commitment or plan to perform an action. Procrastination involves delaying a task that is already intended.
Time management : The planning and allocation of time among activities and goals. Scheduling makes intended tasks more concrete, though plans alone may not address avoidance.
Strategic delay : The intentional postponement of an action to gain an advantage or improve its timing. Unlike procrastination, strategic delay is not defined by acting against an expected better outcome.
Emotion regulation : Processes used to influence which emotions arise, when they arise, and how they are experienced or expressed. Avoiding a task can briefly reduce anxiety, boredom, or frustration.
Self-regulation : The processes by which people guide their thoughts, emotions, and actions toward goals. Procrastination is commonly understood as a failure of goal-directed self-regulation.
Task decomposition : Breaking a complex task into smaller, more manageable subtasks. A smaller first step can reduce the aversiveness of getting started.
Decisional procrastination : The postponement of making a decision when a choice is required. This subtype concerns delaying a choice rather than delaying an already chosen task.
Task aversiveness : The unpleasantness a person associates with performing a task. Tasks that feel frustrating, boring, or uncertain are more readily postponed.
Executive function : Cognitive processes that support planning, working memory, inhibition, and goal-directed behavior. Planning and inhibiting distractions can affect whether intended work gets started.
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