What is procrastination? A brief test and Venn diagram definition.

This thing that you do... do you really understand it?

How do you tell the difference between prioritising and procrastination?

Have you ever put off addressing a problem, only to find out it resolved itself without you?

Putting things off can be useful sometimes, right?!

Behaviour needs to tick four boxes to qualify as procrastination: You need to (1) intend to complete the task, (2) delay acting on the intention, (3) have volition (i.e., voluntary control to do the task), and (4) an expectation of harm, or things being worse off, if you delay.

If you're responsible for putting something off that you want to do and know you would be better off doing now, then you're procrastinating.

One of the benefits of thinking of procrastination in this way is how we can then depict procrastination as being in the centre of a four-circle Venn diagram (see below), with phenomena related to (but not quite) procrastination represented in surrounding segments.

This might seem like a very academic definition. And it is...  

In part, we need a clear definition to make sure we are all talking about the same thing.

One challenge that crops up in procrastination research every now and then is the possibility of a definition that does not include an expectation of harm.

There are a few scholars who argue there is a positive type of procrastination (e.g., 'active' procrastination), where people delay because they feel as though they thrive under the pressure of a close deadline. But in reality, those people don't put things off any more than normal (Wessel et al., 2019).

My theory is that people who say they put things off to take advantage of the motivation of a closer deadline just feel like they put stuff off, but in reality, they don't realise just how late true procrastinators leave things.

TL;DR: If you're responsible for putting something off that you want to do and know you would be better off doing now, then you're procrastinating.

Why does a definition matter?

Well for one, if we adopt the above definition, we find a lot of behaviours meet the criteria for procrastination that we might not have thought about before. For example, quitting smoking, weight loss (e.g., www.contemplateweightloss.com), and delaying going to bed (for which I'm currently piloting a new intervention) often meet the definition.

More importantly, you can use the definition to check if you're actually procrastinating.

All too often I see people beating themselves up for procrastinating, when in reality, their hand is being forced (low volition), there are other more urgent things they need to be doing (lower relative expectation of harm), or they don't really care about what they were putting off (i.e., minimal intent).

If you can honestly look yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you do not have time, then perhaps you have not been procrastinating, and your problems lie elsewhere.

You might think that this opens up room for self-deception around procrastination, and I suppose that is true. But ultimately, I tend to agree with Professor Joel Anderson, who argues that procrastination requires a level of mens rea (guilty mind). Namely, that you feel it in your bones when you are procrastinating. The buck stops with you, and ultimately you know you're responsible for your unwarranted delay.

You feel it in your bones when you are procrastinating. The buck stops with you, and ultimately you know you're responsible for your unwarranted delay.

Maybe people around you are telling you what you should do, but in your heart you know you really don't want to. You might feel like you are procrastinating, but are you? I'd argue maybe not.

That certainly describes what I was like in high school.

If you don't have a firm intention to ever do something, or you honestly can't see any down-side of putting it off, then again, maybe procrastination is not the right way to think about your behaviour.

You can only truly be said to be procrastinating if you intend to do the thing, are delaying, could be doing it, and expect to be worse off by not doing it now.

And you should probably do something about that...

Why?

Well, because by definition you will be better off if you don't procrastinate, but also because if you fall into the habit of procrastinating you may suffer the same consequences as other problematic procrastinators who tend to be slower at progressing through their careers, earn less, have more and longer periods of unemployment and underemployment, suffer more stress and negative health consequences, and are generally less satisfied with life.

If those things aren't worth fighting for, then what is?

How do I know if I'm a problem procrastinator?

If you're worried about procrastination negatively affecting your life, you can complete the Passive Procrastination Scale (PPS) below to receive a report.

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If you scored above average, it's likely that spending a few weeks working hard to build some strategies to help you master your procrastination will pay great dividends.

You may be able to pick some low-hanging fruit, as it were.

Procrastination is complicated, and what to do about it is beyond the scope of this post, but we aim to make this site a repository of resources to help you, so have a look around.

Help is around the corner.