Why your brain loves procrastination

Our motivational state rarely matches the task at hand, so we always have to use self-regulation skills to bring our focus to it. So at first it will be, "Okay, I recognize that I don't feel like it, but I'm just gonna get started."

TP: We know from psychological research by [Andrew] Elliot and others that progress on our goals feeds our well-being. So the most important thing you can do is bootstrap a little progress. Get a little progress, and that's going to fuel your well-being and your motivation.

SL: Can people really overcome procrastination?

TP: I guess I'm a living case. When I was an undergraduate, I procrastinated a lot. And now that I understand procrastination, I just have no room to wiggle.

Because it's all about self-deception - you aren't aware that it's going to cost you, but you are. When there's no more self-deception and you face yourself, you either shit or get off the pot. You're either going to do it, or you're not going to do it.

I really like my life, and I like to make time for the things that are important to me. [Robert] Pozen, who's written a book on extreme productivity , has the OHIO rule: only handle it once. And I'm like that with email. I look at that email and say, "I can reply to it now, or I can throw it out," but there's not much of a middle ground. I'm not going to save it for a while.