Timothy Pychyl

Solving the Procrastination Puzzle

1. IDEA 1

   Procrastination is needless delay

   Pychyl defines procrastination as voluntarily delaying something you intend to do, even though you expect to be worse off. Not all delay is procrastination; planned or sensible waiting is different from putting off work against your own interests.

2. IDEA 2

   We give in to feel good

   Pychyl argues that procrastination is mainly about emotion, not time management. When a task feels boring, frustrating or difficult, we avoid it to feel better right now, choosing short-term mood repair over long-term goals.

3. IDEA 3

   Tomorrow rarely feels better

   Procrastinators often tell themselves they will feel more like doing the task later. Pychyl explains that this hope is usually false, because the same unpleasant feelings will still be there tomorrow, often stronger.

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