Anticipating the start of sophomore year at River Hill High School in Clarksville, Maryland, one student was quoted by student newspaper staff writer Alexander El Sawi as saying, “I hope I learn from my mistakes [from] last year and study more, not procrastinate, spend more time on my homework, and spend more time preparing for tests and exams.”
Procrastination is when we put off tasks we need to do, even though we know it’s not good for us. Sahiti Chebolu, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, studies procrastination using math to understand why people do it and how to fix it.
Have you ever wondered why you wait until the last minute to do something important? That’s procrastination. It’s like deciding to watch a movie instead of doing homework when you planned to. There are different ways people procrastinate. Some start tasks late, while others start but don’t finish them. Chebolu studied these behaviors to find out why we procrastinate.
Our brains often choose what feels good right now over what’s better for us in the long run. For example, watching a movie is more immediately enjoyable than doing taxes, even though taxes are important. This short-term thinking can lead to procrastination. Chebolu used data from New York University to understand why people delay tasks. She found that misjudging the time needed and protecting the ego from prospective failure play big roles.
Consequences in the distant future, for instance, are weighted less by the brain when it classifies positive and negative outcomes. To a certain degree, this is normal and even useful; after all, the more distant future is full of uncertainty.
“When we place excessive value on experiences in the present and not enough on those lying further ahead,” Chebolu explains, “that decision-making strategy becomes quickly counterproductive.”
Understanding why we procrastinate can help us stop. For example, if you know you often choose fun activities over work, you can reward yourself after finishing tasks. Setting deadlines can help if you underestimate how long tasks take. If you find yourself abandoning chores quickly, avoid distracting environments.
By knowing why we procrastinate and being kind to ourselves or forgiving ourselves for procrastination in our past, we can become more productive.
Research was published in the Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2024.