When Is Procrastination a Matter of Mental Health?

​Putting off things is common with ADHD and other mental disorders. Here’s how to procrastinate less.

When’s the last time you put off doing something that you had to get done? Procrastinating is extremely common, and we’ve all done it from time to time. You may even be procrastinating while reading this article when you instead need to get work done, pay bills or do chores.

Sometimes, however, procrastination interferes with your day-to-day life and could be a sign of a mental disorder, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, depression and anxiety.

Why Do We Procrastinate?

The majority of us procrastinate occasionally, even if it doesn’t interfere with our daily routine.

Studies show that students, particularly those who are college-age, tend to procrastinate more than others. This may happen because they have so many things to get done and think they have more time to do it all. There are also a multitude of distractions for college students. Procrastination also occurs more often in young male adults than young female adults.

There are a few reasons why we procrastinate;

• Feeling anxious about the task. For instance, maybe you’ve meant to set a doctor’s appointment, but you’re scared about what they’ll find.
• Insecurity about your ability to complete the task. By calling a friend, going on social media or distracting yourself otherwise, you don’t have to face the negative emotions associated with that task.
• Feeling tired or bored. In these situations, if you have something else to distract you, it’s easy to do that instead.
• Thinking that there’s a lot of time to get the task done, even if there isn’t. This could relate to poor time management skills.
• Believing that you perform better by leaving the task until the last minute. When you complete a task quickly with just a few hours to spare, you feel a rush of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. Doing this last-minute routine may work once or twice but isn’t usually helpful in the long term.

When Is Procrastination a Problem?

If procrastination is so common, how do you know if it’s a problem? There are a few signs that chronic procrastination is causing harm to you:

• You constantly have trouble getting things done on time. When this happens, you blame the poorer-than-expected performance on not having enough time to complete the task.
• You face more serious consequences because you put off tasks. For instance, you receive eviction or shut-off notices because you routinely don’t pay bills on time. If it’s work-related procrastination, you teeter on the edge of getting fired or you get fired. At school, your poor grades relate to turning in assignments late or performing poorly due to last-minute work completion.
• You lie to cover up procrastination. For example, your teacher or manager asks if you waited until the last minute to do a project and you tell them no, and that it’s been done for a while.
• You procrastinate in your relationships. You constantly make plans with friends and then cancel them. Or, you agree to do a favor for someone but never get it done.

One nuance to consider is what you are procrastinating. If you’re procrastinating in one area of your life – say, at work – there may be specific reasons for this. Perhaps you don’t feel equipped to get your job done and need additional training. If your procrastination affects several areas of your life, that’s greater potential that you may need help to manage those behaviors, she says.

When Procrastination and Mental Health Intersect

Procrastinating sometimes doesn’t mean that you have a mental health-related diagnosis. However, procrastination is indeed associated with certain diagnoses. You constantly have trouble getting things done on time. When this happens, you blame the poorer-than-expected performance on not having enough time to complete the task.

You face more serious consequences because you put off tasks. For instance, you receive eviction or shut-off notices because you routinely don’t pay bills on time. If it’s work-related procrastination, you teeter on the edge of getting fired or you get fired. At school, your poor grades relate to turning in assignments late or performing poorly due to last-minute work completion.

You lie to cover up procrastination. For example, your teacher or manager asks if you waited until the last minute to do a project and you tell them no, and that it’s been done for a while. You procrastinate in your relationships. You constantly make plans with friends and then cancel them. Or, you agree to do a favor for someone but never get it done. 

One nuance to consider is what you are procrastinating. If you’re procrastinating in one area of your life – say, at work – there may be specific reasons for this. Perhaps you don’t feel equipped to get your job done and need additional training. If your procrastination affects several areas of your life, that’s a greater potential that you may need help to manage those behaviors, she says.

When Procrastination and Mental Health Intersect  ​​

Procrastinating sometimes doesn’t mean that you have a mental health-related diagnosis. However, procrastination is indeed associated with certain diagnoses. Here’s a breakdown of the association between procrastination and specific mental disorders:

• ADHD: A person living with ADHD has a hard time concentrating and completing a task. Procrastination is a common issue associated with ADHD. There’s also a tendency with ADHD to want to focus on the next bigger and brighter thing that comes along.
• Depression: A person with depression likely doesn’t have the motivation or energy to get a task done, even if it’s something easy to do.
• Anxiety: For someone living with anxiety, tasks can seem too daunting and overwhelming. However, anxiety also can have the opposite effect, People with anxious symptoms are driven by their worries and nervousness, and not meeting a deadline is the consequence they consider before considering procrastination. Still, it’s possible to have several disorders – say, anxiety and ADHD – and that could ramp up the tendency toward procrastination.

7 Tips to Help Get Procrastination Under Control 

Whether your procrastination is associated with a mental health issue or not, there are some ways you can tackle it and get things done in a more timely way.

1. Acknowledge that you have a problem with putting things off

Take a look at where you’re procrastinating so you can analyze why you might procrastinate in that specific area. If it’s a job-related problem, maybe you need to ask your manager for more training in a certain subject area to boost your skills. 

2. Consider speaking with a mental health professional if procrastination affects various facets of your life

A therapist, psychologist or similar professional can help you identify how and why you procrastinate and what underlying issues may prompt procrastination. They also can give you tools to manage procrastination. 

This could include an approach called cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT. CBT helps you pinpoint thoughts, behaviors and emotions associated with a stressful situation and provides concrete ways to change your thinking pattern about that in the future. Mental health professionals use CBT for a wide range of issues, including anxiety and depression. 

3. Don’t put yourself down for procrastinating

There are many other people having the same problem, and the world seems to be set up to cause motivational troubles. In fact, more procrastination has been observed during the pandemic. That’s because it took more effort to complete things on time or early because of the mental stress everyone has felt. 

4. Have someone to hold you accountable 

This person can ask you how a task is coming along, and you can report your progress. When you complete the task on time, you can celebrate in some small or big way. A life coach, if you can afford one, also can help hold you accountable. 

5. Start small

Begin with small, manageable steps. For example, if you have a paper to write, as a first step create a new document on your computer. Or gather the materials that you need for a task. Small, first steps like these could push you toward overcoming your procrastination tendencies. 

6. Give yourself "false" deadlines, and reward yourself for meeting those deadlines  

This is just one of many time-management tricks you can use to get things done on time. Say that you have a paper due in two weeks. With a false deadline, you tell yourself it’s due in a week. If you make your false deadline, give yourself a little reward, like going out for coffee. 

​7. Change a negative mindset about a project with positive self-talk 

Say that you put off biology assignments because you think that you’re bad at it. Instead, tell yourself, "I love biology, and I’m good at biology." Even if you don’t believe it at first, the positive messages will eventually affect the way you think about something.

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