ABSTRACT

A common dictionary de nition of procrastination is ‘to defer action’, that is, to decide deliberately to do something later on (for example, ‘I have deferred my decision until next Wednesday’). This is an example of planned delay in order to consider all the available evidence before making the decision. When individuals have problems with procrastination, however, it usually refers to them acting in a dilatory manner and thus laying something aside until a future unspeci ed time (for example, ‘I will do it eventually’); or, if a future time has been speci ed, no action occurs when the time arrives (for example, ‘I was going to start the essay today but a friend popped round and one thing led to another’). To put the problem of procrastination simply: you keep putting off doing what your better judgement tells you ought to be done now (incidentally, procrastinate is often confused with prevaricate which means ‘to act or speak evasively or misleadingly’). Sometimes procrastination is accompanied by self-condemnation (for example, ‘I want to knuckle down but I’m useless at doing it’).