That Neuroscience Guy - The Neuroscience of Procrastination

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

In today's episode of That Neuroscience Guy, we discuss the neuroscience behind procrastination. 

Hi, my name is Olive Krigalsam, and I'm a neuroscientist at the University of Victoria. And in my spare time, I'm that neuroscience guy. Welcome to the podcast. You know, it took me a lot to record today. I just kept coming up with excuses. You know, there was an episode of a TV show that I hadn't finished, and to be honest, I had a bit of Lego that I thought I should be able to build or wanted to build. I just kept pushing it off and off and off. I'm sure you've experienced it.

Procrastination. Everyone procrastinates. Students procrastinate. Professors procrastinate. Writers procrastinate. Doctors procrastinate. Even people who are at the peak of their careers, incredibly successful, procrastinate. And procrastination is one of those top. where people usually jump straight to moral judgment. We call ourselves lazy. We call ourselves undisciplined. We say, we just need to get our act together. And sometimes, sure, maybe we do need to get moving. You know, today, after six months of talking about it with my son, I finally started the core workout he designed for me. But from a neuroscience point of view, procrastination is much more interesting than laziness, although laziness is interesting too.

procrastination isn't just failing to work. Procrastinating is choosing short-term mood repair, one way to phrase it, over long-term goal progress. That's the key idea. You're not just avoiding a task. You're avoiding the unpleasant feeling that comes with the task. You know, if you take this core workout, man, I knew that I hadn't done that kind of workout in a long time. I knew it was going to hurt. And to be honest, it did.

But, you know, I'm glad I did it. But anyway, you've probably guessed it. On today's podcast, the neuroscience of procrastination. So why do we put things off even we know it'll make life harder later? What's happening in our brains when we avoid something? Why do tiny starts work so well? And how can we stop treating procrastination like a lot? a character flaw and start treating it like a brain problem that we can solve.

So let's walk through the everyday experience. You have something you need to do. Maybe it's an email you need to send. Maybe it's a paper you need to write. Maybe it's taxes. Cleaning the garage, booking an appointment, starting an exercise program. That was me. Or maybe just a difficult conversation with someone. So the task matters. You know Delane will probably make things worse. And yet somehow your brain finds another thing to do. You scan social media. You watch a YouTube video. You know, you start building Lego. You decide to reorganize your desktop. And you all of a sudden decide now's the right time to research a new snowboard. That's one I use frequently. And in that moment, procrastination works. That's the problem with it.

In the short term, you've made that anxious, bored, uncertain frustrated feeling go away. You know, that thing that you had to do. So those feelings go down. And then you get interested in something, or at least you're not feeling bad about the thing that you don't want to do. So when a behavior makes an unpleasant feeling go down, the brain learns. It's negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement doesn't mean punishment. it just means a behavior is strengthened because it removes something unpleasant.

Avoiding the task reduces anxiety, then avoidance is reinforced. The brain says, good job. We escape the bad feeling. Do that again next time. So your brain, every time you procrastinate, you're actually reinforcing avoidance. And that's how procrastination becomes a habit. Not because you love sabotaging yourself. No one wants to do that.

Not because you're lazy. your brain has learned that avoidance is an effective short-term emotional regulation strategy. That's why some people say that procrastination is emotional regulation in disguise. It looks like a time management problem, but often it becomes a mood management problem. Now, let's dive into the brain. Of course, the prefrontal cortex, you'd probably guess that after all these episodes. Because if you've done your homework and listened, the PFC is involved in planning, self-control, working memory, goal-directed behavior.

It helps you keep the future in mind. The PFC is basically saying, do it. If I start now, I'll feel better. It says the deadline is coming. It says this is important. But the problem is the PFC is not operating in a vacuum. I had to throw in a Star Trek reference here. Think of Spock.

All Spock has is the prefrontal cortex, which is why he's so efficient. But in humans, the prefrontal cortex isn't alone. It's interacting with the emotional system. There you go. The amygdala sneaking in yet again. Reward systems, dopamine, and habit systems. And when a task feels unpleasant, something you want to avoid, your emotional systems can dominate.

The amygdala, of course, is involved in this. It's detecting threat and emotional significance. So if a task is associated with fear, embarrassment, uncertainty, failure, conflict. The amygdala basically said, well, this is something unpleasant. We should avoid it. And remember, the brain doesn't only respond to physical threats. It responds to social and psychological threats. Writing a report can feel threatening if you're afraid it's not good enough. Opening your bank account can feel threatening if you're worried about money. Sending a message to someone can feel threatening if you're afraid of the

response. Starting a workout can feel threatening. You know, if it reminds you of shame, failure, discomfort. So the brain says avoid and avoidance brings relief. That relief is rewarding. Now, the reward system plays a role here. It's not just the amygdala. So when you avoid a task and do something easier, more pleasant, something that you're going to enjoy, the brain gets that reward now, not later. And we've talked about this before. primacy and recency, the brain tends to overvalue immediate rewards and undervalue future awards. We had an episode on this. It's delay discounting. The future benefit of finishing the task is an abstract thing.

But the immediate relief of having that ice cream, you know, it's avoidance, but it tastes good. This is why procrastination can happen even when the future cost is obvious. you can know perfectly well you're making worse tomorrow. Like I know not doing the core exercises is just not helping me. But the brain, you know, my brain's trying to figure out how is life better right now? Doing crunches and leg lifts and supermans or watching Better Call Saul. Now, the ACC, the anterior cingulate cortex dives in here as well because procrastination includes conflict, a part of the,

you wants to do the thing, a part of you wants to avoid the thing. That's conflict and it's uncomfortable. And that's what the ACC does. It monitors competing goals and decides what to do. So this is the cruel thing about procrastination. You know, it's your whole brain and it's fighting this complex battle. This is why procrastination feels bad. It gives you short-term relief, but it creates long-term stress. And the longer you wait, the more threatening the task becomes. Now you're not just writing a paper. You're writing the paper late.

You're not just sending an email. You're sending the email after avoiding it for two weeks. Think of difficult conversations. Having it right out front is one thing, but pushing it off, pushing it off, and pushing it off just makes it worse. And that adds a sense of shame. It's kind of like a fuel for procrastination.

People often try to beat procrastination with self-criticism. They say, well, I'm useless, I'm lazy. And you just start blaming flaws in yourself. But they're not true most of the time. It's just a normal human response. You know, your brain often treats starting something is the hardest part because it requires a transition. You have to move from avoidance into action.

You have to face uncertainty. You have to break inertia. But once you start, the task often becomes less startning because the brain has more information. You know, when I started lifting weight, again, I had the same procrastination problem. This is independent of the core stuff. But I put it off and put it off and put it off. But now, you know, a couple months in, I look forward to going to the gym again. I know it's not that hard and I know I can do it. But before you start, you know,

the task is vague. It can seem too challenging. It's a cloud of discomfort. But once you start, the brain knows what's going on. It becomes specific. So one way to avoid procrastination is just start. You know, if it's a paper, write the first sentence. If it's a conversation, just reach out to the person. You know, find a receipt, put on your shoes, you know, send a short email reply. Because something specific is a start and it's less scary than vague. Some people call this idea the two-minute rule. Do anything for two minutes. Don't finish it. Don't do it perfectly. Just begin. Open the document and read. write one bad sentence. Put the laundry in the basket, walk to the mailbox, read the first

paragraph of a book. The goal isn't productivity. The goal is to teach your brain that starting is survivable. It's to get over that that inertia. Because once you begin, momentum can take over. Now, the other thing that's useful is try to become Spock. Separate the task from emotion. Instead of this, I'm not trying to say, you know, I have a feeling that I do not want to have. Just realize why that feeling's there and create it. So with procrastination, it's really important to understand why it's occurring. Generate a plan. Try the two-minute rule.

Just keep going. Find an environment that works, right? You know, one big thing in our modern world is put away your phones, right? Put away the things that lead to procrastination. I've actually deleted social media off of my phone. I only use it on my laptop, but that's actually good because if I'm on my computer, I make a choice,

but I'm not about to drag my computer around with me everywhere I go. You know, now when I go out, I take a book. Because if I'm riding a bus, you know, on a plane, why not read as opposed to just keep checking Facebook or Instagram? You know, that's what you need to do to get rid of procrastination. Anyway, hopefully you find some of this useful. All right. I'm going to end with, you know, self-compassion matters.

Forgive yourself. Don't beat yourself up. Make a start. That's all you can do. Procrastination isn't just laziness. It's a short-term emotional regulation. The brain's trying to avoid tasks that feel boring, uncertainty, threatening, or overwhelming because avoidant produces immediate relief.

And that reinforces the habit. So you got to break the habit. All right, that's what I have on the neuroscience of procrastination, a bit about the brain, a bit about what is, and some tips that hopefully help you. You know, check out the website. You've heard it so many times, that neuroscience guy.com, you'll never guess what's there.

Links to Etsy and Patreon. Etsy's our merch. Every time you buy something, money goes to students in the Krigalson Lab. Patreon, every small amount you donate, Just think, what's a dollar a week? Well, you know, that all adds up with all of you that listen, and that really helps out the students in my lab become neuroscientists. Don't forget social media, X threads and Instagram at that neurosai guy.

And we do get emails and we do read them. We try to respond as best we can, but we do get a lot of them. But that neuroscience guy at gmail.com. We want to know what you want to know about the neuroscience of daily life. And the podcast. We're still going. We've had a few breaks. We've had some ups. We've had some downs. But people are still listening. And we're going to keep doing it. And if you haven't already, please subscribe. Thanks for listening. My name is Olaf Kyrgylson, and I am that neuroscience guy. And if you haven't checked it out, check out 60 seconds of neuroscience. It's a little thing I've started just on my own. It's one idea and one minute neuroscience that you can use. And of course, I'll see you soon for another full episode of this podcast.