These are phrases many of us use: “Oh, I’ll do it tomorrow.” “I’ll start on Monday.” “I need to sleep a little longer and I’ll get it done when I get up.” Do these phrases sound familiar? If so, congratulations; you’re among the procrastinators. Like many of us. Procrastination is a very human thing to do. When we’re tired, when something else comes up, when we don’t have the energy to do it right then, we resort to the phrases I just mentioned. These phrases feel like a savior in the moment and provide relief.
However, often when they come to our rescue, they move in an uncomfortable place. Because they no longer comfort us; on the contrary, they tire us out and perhaps make us question ourselves. They cause us to fail to do what we need to do, and in our lives, these phrases no longer act as saviors but as enemies. It’s at this point that we turn to ourselves, reflect, and ask: Why? Why am I like this? Why am I behaving this way? We feel lost in these questions and reach a dead end. So, what are the answers to those questions? How can we answer them?
Defining Procrastination Behavior
Procrastination is defined as avoiding a responsibility or a behavior that is within our control (Tuckman, 1991 as cited in Kaplan & Göker, 2020). This behavior encompasses four elements: being delayed, perceiving the task as an important one, the behavior being inadequate, and experiencing emotional turmoil as a result (Milgram, 1991 as cited in Aydoğan & Özbay, 2012).
When we examine these definitions, the concepts of control, responsibility, and emotional turmoil stand out as key words. From another perspective, procrastination has been considered a method of avoiding feelings of guilt and shame (Fee & Tangney, 2000 as cited in Öztürk, 2025). For all these reasons, procrastination has been considered a method of protecting self-esteem (Burka & Yuen, 2008 as cited in Öztürk, 2025).
Procrastination Through the Lens of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) addresses the factors that make life difficult for individuals under six headings (Dursun & Akkaya, 2022). Among these headings is a dimension classified as “experiential avoidance,” which examines challenging events from a behavioral perspective. When we look at procrastination from this perspective, experiential avoidance supports the definitions we’ve just discussed.
It’s a method of avoiding feelings of guilt and regret, situations and responsibilities we need to control—in other words, obligations—and thus preserving self-esteem. So, what is self-esteem?
Understanding Self-Esteem and Behavioral Roots
Self-esteem is an individual’s positive and negative thoughts, behaviors, and feelings toward themselves (Turgut & Çınar, 2021). We all have a self-perception—the way we see and define ourselves—and the foundation of that self-perception. Our behaviors develop in relation to this foundation.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy examines our behaviors under two headings: long-term and short-term. Procrastination protects us in the short term, helping us manage the moment more effectively, avoiding feelings of guilt and regret, situations and responsibilities we need to control, or, in other words, obligations. This way, we also protect our self-esteem.
However, if frequent procrastination leaves us in an undesirable and challenging situation in the long run, indirectly facing challenging emotions and thoughts, then we can ask ourselves: “Is procrastination a momentary solution or a habit that worked for us for a while but is no longer useful?” This question can help us categorize this behavior.
When Procrastination Doesn’t Cause Distress
What if we resort to this procrastination behavior frequently, but it progresses in a way that does not challenge us?
We all have certain learning styles, personal skills, and capacities. Our thoughts and behaviors are shaped by these styles, skills, and capacities. If we look at it from a behavioral perspective, ask, and examine, “I procrastinate, but does it make my life harder, or do I adapt better when I do things under pressure?” If the answer is, “I adapt better,” why do we treat it as a problem, and perhaps even self-critically, even though it doesn’t cause any difficulties?
Social Learning and Rule Dominance
From the moment we are born, we learn by observing our environment through a method we call “social learning.” Sometimes this learning is direct, sometimes indirect. The environment we grow up in shapes our perspective on events, our environment, and ourselves.
And so, we proceed within the framework of rules. These rules sometimes bend according to our own skills and newly learned experiences, but sometimes they are so rigid that they can’t be bent. Bending them feels like they could break. This exemplifies the “rule dominance” theme of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
If what we’ve learned and experienced has become a sensitive rule that can be broken at any moment, “these rules” constantly monitor and criticize our “behavior” like a jury member. That jury member’s voice forces us to silence our own voices, making us forget. Therefore, as in procrastination, we continue without remembering, or perhaps even realizing, our own skills and capacities. At this point, we need to turn to ourselves and ask, “Is this critical voice my own?”
Conclusion: Awareness as the First Step Toward Change
As numerous studies have shown, procrastination can stem from a variety of factors. Reviewing these factors and considering our own skills, capacities, learning styles, and the benefits and detriments of this behavior is a good starting point for shaping our lives and behaviors in the direction we desire.
References
Göker, H. ve Kaplan, M. (2020). Psikolojik sermayenin iş erteleme üzerindeki etkisi: psikolojik iyi oluşun düzenleyici rolü. Fırat University Journal of Social Sciences, 30(1), 273–289.
Öztürk, M. (2025). Yetişkinlerin erteleme eğilimleri, öz eleştirel ruminasyon ve psikolojik katılık düzeyleri arasındaki ilişkilerin incelenmesi. [Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi] ORCID: 0009-0004-9340-8183
Turgut, T. ve Çınar, S. E. (2021). Düşük öz saygıya bağlı psikolojik sorunlarla başa çıkma ve öz saygıyı artırmaya yönelik psikolojik danışma süreci: Bir olgu sunumu. Humanistic Perspective, 3(2), 281–305.
Dursun, A. ve Akkaya, M. (2022). Kabul ve kararlılık terapisi odaklı deneysel araştırmalar: Sistematik bir gözden geçirme. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 14(3), 340–352.
Aydoğan, D. & Özbay, Y. (2012). Akademik erteleme davranışının benlik saygısı, durumluluk kaygı, öz-yeterlilik açısından açıklanabilirliğinin incelenmesi. Pegem Eğitim ve Öğretim Dergisi, 2(3), 1–9.