Why do we procrastinate rather than push through unavoidable tasks? Steve Maher reveals the connection between anxiety and procrastination, and how we can overcome it

Around 50 metres above the Kawarau River, in New Zealand, a scene played out that will be forever etched in my memory. A young man was readying himself to jump off the Kawarau Bridge. Thankfully this was someone trying to have fun by bungee jumping, rather than a serious incident. But the poor fellow was still suffering anguish. The top half of his body was attempting to jump and saying ‘Yes let’s do this,’ but his feet firmly planted themselves into the platform, saying ‘Absolutely no chance.’

Clearly, it was right to feel anxious when jumping off a 50-metre high board with just a rope attached, and a distant river below. But these internal battles might sound all too familiar, and sometimes rage within us when we are trying to do more simple, safe tasks in daily life.

Essentially, this comes down to procrastination, with the delaying tasks you need to do causing frustration for so many of us. So, why do we have this annoying habit?

Why do we procrastinate?

I once had a flat mate who was an arch-procrastinator. His motto was ‘Why put off today what you can put off tomorrow.’ I suspect his issue was a lack of motivation, but for many this isn’t the case – the root cause tends to be anxiety driven. However, there can be many reasons people procrastinate:

  • Too many inputs. Working memory is the ability to temporarily store and manipulate information in the mind to complete a task. Too many inputs can overwhelm our brain, so it can’t cope. Basic functions, like decision-making, become much harder. Steve Jobs famously wore the same black turtleneck every day so he didn’t waste cognitive effort on deciding what clothes to wear – in turn saving his mental capacity for bigger decisions.

  • Uncertainty. Brains do not like uncertainty. As well as being adept at matching patterns, they are prediction machines. So, when they can’t foresee an outcome, our brains have a propensity to freeze.

  • High standards. It’s common for people with high expectations of themselves to struggle with procrastination. If something is important to you, there may be a tendency to hold back from starting, as you worry that you might not meet the standards you’ve set for yourself.

  • Negative outcomes. Our imagination is essentially our ability to predict the future. It’s a fantastic tool, but often biased towards the negative to protect ourselves from potential harm, and can lead us not to attempt things due to a fear of failure.

So, why does the brain work like this? One explanation is that it is trying to protect us. The dominant part of the brain is the limbic system, which is its emotional centre. A key player in this is the amygdala, which is always seeking to protect us from threat. When we feel threatened, the amygdala triggers the fight, flight, freeze response. So it’s possible that when we are overwhelmed, struggling with uncertainty), or there’s a fear we may fail, the brain goes into freeze mode. But the important distinction here is that our brain can’t recognise what is a genuine threat to our safety, and an imagined one, and therefore reacts the same regardless.

Psychologist Daniel Kahneman provides another explanation in his classic work, Thinking Fast and Slow. He describes the brain as having two systems: system one operates automatically and quickly, with little effort; system two is more demanding and requires a lot more mental effort. Daniel explained that when we have too much on our mind, or are worried about the outcome, system one will win out and we prioritise short-term gains (like scrolling social media) over long-term pain (studying for exams).

So, what can we do to help us take the metaphorical plunge, and ditch the procrastination?

  • Chunking. Make the task easier for the brain to handle by reducing the load. As the saying goes: ‘How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.’ This encourages breaking a large task down into smaller, more achievable ones.

  • The Zeigarnik Effect. Sometimes when I have to write, I find all sorts of reasons for putting it off. But Happiful has deadlines, so I can’t put it off forever. Author and journalist Oliver Burkeman suggested a brilliant technique that, while paradoxical, works wonders: allow yourself only 30 minutes per day to write. At the end of the 30 minutes, I am usually in the flow and want to write more, but following the rules I must stop. The strange thing is that the next day, I am literally running to my desk to write more. This is known as the Zeigarnik Effect, and can apply to other tasks or ongoing things that you regularly put off.

  • Overcoming inertia. If you can’t enforce the 30-minute cut off point, and you want to carry on with your task at hand – be that writing, a work out, or studying, – you may find yourself doing much more than you intended. Overcoming the effort and anxiety of getting started may be all you need to do to break through procrastination.

  • Values alignment. Aligning your actions to your values has many benefits – for example decision making becomes easier by reducing cognitive load. Knowing your values, and how a task allows you to move towards them, will mean you are less likely to put things off because you’re connected to the end goal.

Procrastination is a frustrating trait that stops us getting stuff done. And while it can often be a result of our brain trying to protect us, leading us to take the easier option of doing nothing, sometimes we need to do what our bungee-jumping friend finally did after torturing himself for 15 minutes – which is to take the leap. Following my tips may just help you do that.

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