Many of us have spent a lot of time and energy trying to figure out how to overcome procrastination. Some of us have succeeded. Some of us have given up. But most of us are still struggling.

We dream about so many things, we set goals, we visualize our desired outcome, we feel excited about our plans, but when it comes to actually following them through… that is when we suddenly realize that right NOW is really NOT a GOOD time to start working on our projects. Why? Because we know that TOMORROW we will feel more like doing it! This feeling that we are all familiar with is called procrastination.

The latest research in psychology has finally shed light on the two underlying reasons for procrastination:

The first one is called the ‘Affective Forecasting’. As it turns out, just like weather, economy, or political forecasts are not always perfect, we too often make mistakes when predicting our future affective states to positive or negative events. It happens because we base our ‘predictions’ on the belief that how we feel now, is how we will feel later.

For example, if I have just made a decision to go jogging in the park every morning, I will feel enthusiastic and good about myself. There are three main reasons for me to feel that way. Firstly, I know that it will help me to get back in shape and look gorgeous in my new bikini. Secondly, because I am very proud of myself for making such a wonderful decision that will help me lead a healthier lifestyle. Thirdly, because I do not have to do it right now (this is actually a ‘hidden’ reason, but it does not make it any less powerful).

However, when my alarm goes off at 6:15 a.m. the idea of getting up from under my warm blanket, taking a shower, putting my running shoes on, and going out of the house at dawn to run a few miles will not seem nearly as appealing. Most likely I will open one eye, look outside the window and see a somewhat grayish sky, hit the snooze button, yawn, roll on to the other side of the bed and continue sleeping. And of course, an hour-and-a-half later I will feel pangs of guilt, because I have chosen a short-term pleasure over my long-term goal. When making up my mind about jogging every morning and waking up early, I have not taken into consideration that at 6:15 in the morning I usually feel sleepy and tired. I wake up a little aggravated by the annoying sound of my alarm and feeling far from happy and enthusiastic.

We procrastinate, because we incorrectly forecast that our positive affective state at the time when we set intentions will remain exactly the same over a long period of time. Big mistake! Our emotions, feelings and intentions change quickly.

When we first set a goal or make a resolution, we normally feel optimistic and determined to stay on track. But we do not take into consideration how we will feel when it comes down to acting on our intentions. Our actions are largely determined by our emotions, not common sense. This is why we often ‘give in to feel good’, even at a cost of our long-term goals.

The second reason for procrastinating is ‘Focalism’. It is a natural human tendency to focus on current events and underestimate the extent to which outside circumstance will influence our thoughts, feelings and actions in the future. Again, it happens because we believe that our current experience or situation will be similar to our future experience or situation. Since we cannot fully control future events or be 100% right in our predictions, any assumptions that we make about our future that are based on our current experiences are only wild guesses.

So the first step to overcome procrastination is to improve our ‘affective forecasting’ skills. In order to do this we have to get better at ‘mental time traveling’. Whenever you set a goal for yourself, visualize exactly how you will feel when it comes down to you actually taking action. It is not so hard to do. Just ask yourself how you feel about working on your goal right NOW! If your mind immediately comes up with excuses why right now is not the best time to start, it means that the same thing will most likely happen tomorrow… and the day after tomorrow … and the day after that…

We all know how it works. You make a promise to yourself one day and then come up with a really great story of why you should postpone doing it until the next day. If you really want to overcome procrastination you need to break free from this vicious cycle of unfulfilled promises and excuses. In the next post I will share some really cool tips that will help you to beat procrastination.