{"id":2508,"date":"2024-07-03T14:34:50","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T14:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cake.com\/blog\/?p=2508"},"modified":"2026-02-19T10:15:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:15:47","slug":"why-do-people-procrastinate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cake.com\/blog\/why-do-people-procrastinate\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do People Procrastinate? Expert Reveals the Exact Reason"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a writer whose job is to be creative every day, procrastination comes pretty naturally to me. The line between working hard<\/em> and hardly working<\/em> is rather thin in my case, and, at different points in life, I played jump rope with it whenever I felt overwhelmed with my tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much like most people, I spent hours upon hours procrastinating, and whenever I felt guilty, I then spent even more time trying to figure out \u2014 why do people procrastinate anyway?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eager to learn why procrastination is such a common struggle, I researched this topic extensively and contacted experts to share their insights with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As my own experience and scientific research have confirmed, our mood plays a much larger role in our tendency to procrastinate than we think. In fact, procrastination is a strategic choice we make to instantly feel better \u2014 no matter the consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s dive into this matter without any delay!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What procrastination is \u2014 and isn\u2019t<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Procrastination is a self-regulation problem that involves needlessly and voluntarily delaying intended tasks even though we may face negative consequences.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, we\u2019ve always known that procrastination constitutes some sort of delay of important tasks. However, accuracy is crucial here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Procrastination always involves a delay, but not all delays are automatically acts of procrastination. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, delaying an assignment because of a family issue isn\u2019t procrastination, as that delay is absolutely necessary. Similarly, if your manager tells you to switch to another assignment and put off your current one, that\u2019s not procrastination either. It\u2019s not your choice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a clearer explanation, I turned to the expertise of Fuschia Sirois<\/a>, PhD, Professor of Social and Health Psychology at Durham University, and her book Procrastination: What It Is, Why It’s a Problem, and What You Can Do About It<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how do you know if you\u2019re actually procrastinating? Well, in her book, Sirois explains that you might be if:<\/p>\n\n\n\n