A word that means delaying or postponing something that needs to be done on time. However, it is said to be a trap that can damage your performance, harm your reputation, and cause one’s self unnecessary anxiety. However, some people celebrate it.

In 1956, as a joke, Less Wass established the Procrastinator’s Club of America, in Philadelphia, PA. He registered it in 1966. He described its purpose as promoting “the philosophy of relaxation through putting off until later those things that needn’t be done today”.

Everyone puts things off sometimes, but procrastinators chronically avoid difficult tasks and may deliberately look for distractions. This is easily done when you are online and are searching for information and you come across something that you are more interested in than what you are supposed to be looking for.

Psychologists have found various reasons why people procrastinate, and there is no single reason. The key that unites most of these reasons is emotion and mood regulation. Studies show that some of the drivers of procrastination include low self-confidence, anxiety, and low self-esteem.

Leonardo Da Vinci took 16 years to finish the Mona Lisa, one of his most famous paintings. Les Wass was the creator of the Iconic Mister Softee Jingle that drew children to the Mister Softee ice cream truck, among other well-known tunes. Go figure. He died at the age of 94.

It is often confused with laziness, but they are very different. It is an active process you choose to do something else instead of the task that you know you should be doing. In contrast, laziness suggests apathy, inactivity, and an unwillingness to act (Mind Tools).

As hypothesized and consistent with previous studies, procrastinating was highest in the youngest cohort (14-29 years). Men procrastinate the most. Current research shows that procrastination might have something to do with our desire to reduce our mental effort.

The Scripture “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Gal 6:9). If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, is sin for them (James 4:17). This later one especially relates to a task that God asks us to do.