The Surprising Reason Why You Procrastinate

According to countless studies, everyone admits to procrastinating, especially on writing tasks. Yet the origins of our urge to put off writing are surprising, and its effects, even more severe than most of us realize. 

Key Takeaways:

• Research shows strong correlations between procrastination and poor outcomes on writing assignments for school and work. 

• Even when organizations create deadlines to stop procrastination and improve performance, we resent the guardrails that make us more productive.

• Surprisingly, studies of tens of thousands of participants demonstrate that browsing multimedia is not one of the core causes of procrastination, regardless of the age of participants. 

• By unpacking the tasks associated with writing, all writers can avoid procrastination and plan sufficient time to complete each task easily—with better writing outcomes. 

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Most of us report putting off writing tasks, from important emails to high-stakes projects. When asked if they procrastinate, an estimated 95% of college students reported doing it. Moreover, countless studies have demonstrated strong links between procrastination and students’ performance on writing tasks. In fact, researchers document strong links between procrastination and negative outcomes on academic performance. 

Yet, weirdly, students resent rules instructors put in place to limit procrastination—despite these rules dramatically improving students’ writing and course outcomes. 

Perhaps still more peculiar, we all realize we procrastinate—and even take steps to avoid procrastination—but still end up blowing past deadlines, then scrambling to submit inferior work. 

“To avoid procrastination, break down all the components of your task—unpack every step, then plan your time accordingly.”

Ironically, procrastination has a single, easily identified origin: the planning fallacy. When we think of writing, most of us label our task as a single act, like “write a proposal” or “write a research paper.” These labels mislead us, prompting us to allot far less time to complete a task than even a professional writer or highly published professor would require. 

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To Stop Procrastination, Unpack Your Tasks

However, when you break down all the components of a task, you provide more accurate estimates of the time you’ll need to complete it successfully. Additionally, many writing projects are multifaceted, requiring research and, in many instances, experiments and statistical analysis. In studies, when participants faced complex, multi-step processes, they reduced their procrastination and made the most significant adjustments to their planning when they unpacked each task they needed to meet writing deadlines. 

When facing a writing project, break down the required tasks early—for both work- and course-related writing tasks. For instance, set aside time as early as possible to brainstorm potential topics or to get a sense of how many studies tackle your top choice of topic. Count backward from your deadline and build in at least a week for rewriting and editing your work. Budget days to weeks to perform literature reviews or gather suitable sources. Then build in time for both writing a rough draft and editing it. 

Finally, treat those early deadlines as bona fide due dates for each task. Even for talented, self-assured writers, the process of brainstorming, researching, and writing usually take far longer than most of us imagine.