Emotions and Procrastination: The Role of Negative Mood in Avoiding Unpleasant Tasks

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Emotions play a central role in procrastination.
We tend to procrastinate on tasks that we find unpleasant or aversive.
Procrastination is a way to cope with negative emotions associated with a task.
Managing negative emotions effectively can reduce procrastination.

We all know the feeling of scrambling at the last minute to finish a task that we could have and should have tackled much sooner. Fuschia Sirois, PhD, of Durham University, talks about why procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not one of laziness or poor time management skills; how it can harm our mental and physical health; why it’s so tied up with guilt and shame; and how self-compassion can help us overcome it. Links Fuchsia Sirois, PhD Speaking of Psychology Home Page