Estimated Reading Time : 11 minutes, 48s. Pychyl has been researching and writing about procrastination for more than 20 years, and it shows-he's one prolific guy. He records the <a href="http://iprocrastinate.libsyn.com">iProcrastinate Podcast </a>, which frequently ranks among the most downloaded on iTunes; writes a blog named <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dont-delay">Don't Delay </a>for Procrastination Today (which has a very nice ring to it); and is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0399168125/?tag=ayeaofpro-20">Solving the Procrastination Puzzle </a>, a concise guide on how to beat procrastination.

Takeaway: The more boring, frustrating, difficult, meaningless, ambiguous, and unstructured a task is, the more likely you are to procrastinate with it.

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Psychology

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Time Management

Here's why you procrastinate, and 10 tactics that will help you stop

Roughly 5 percent of the population has such a problem with chronic procrastination that it seriously affects their lives. None of it seems logical. How can people have such good intentions and yet be so totally unable to follow through? Conventional wisdom has long suggested that procrastination is all about poor time management and willpower. But more recently, psychologists have been discovering that it may have more to do with how our brains and emotions work. Procrastination, they've realized, appears to be a coping mechanism. When people procrastinate, they're avoiding emotionally unpleasant tasks and instead doing something that provides a temporary mood boost. The procrastination itself then causes shame and guilt - which in turn leads people to procrastinate even further, creating a vicious cycle.

Procrastinating

But getting a better understanding of why our brains are so prone to procrastination might let us find new strategies to avoid it. For example, psychologist Tim Pychyl has co-authored a <a href="http://postcog.ucd.ie/files/2010%20I%20forgive%20myself,%20now%20I%20can%20study%20How%20self-forgiveness%20for%20procrastinating%20can%20reduce%20future%20procrastination.pdf">paper </a>showing that students who forgave themselves for procrastinating on a previous exam were actually less likely to procrastinate on their next test. He and others have also found that people prone to procrastination are, overall, less compassionate toward themselves - an insight that points to ways to help.

Tax Day is a horror for many procrastinators. For many people, a little procrastination isn't harmful - like 15 minutes lost in Facebook or putting off doing the laundry for a few days. But then there are things like taxes. And all the people who keep meaning to start saving for retirement, but never do.

Here's why you procrastinate, and 10 tactics that will help you stop

Why your brain loves procrastination

Bridgett Barrett