Book SummaryProcrastination, by Jane B. Burka and Lenora M. Yuen

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Procrastination

“I’ll take care of it later.” These are words we’ve all said or heard, and they’re a telltale sign of procrastination. Chronic procrastinators’ tendency to delay important tasks prevents them from living fulfilling lives. In Procrastination, psychologists Jane Burka and Lenora Yuen demystify why we procrastinate. They argue that we procrastinate to avoid experiencing the fear that certain tasks bring us. Fortunately, they claim that you can beat procrastination, and learn to live a more fulfilling life, if you accept reality’s constraints and learn healthier ways to manage your fears.

Burka and Yuen base their ideas in Procrastination on decades...

Procrastination Summary The Problem of Procrastination

According to Burka and Yuen, the first step to beating procrastination is understanding how it harms us—and why we do it anyway. We’ll begin this section by defining procrastination and describing its negative impacts. Next, we’ll identify why we procrastinate. Finally, we’ll explore factors that cause some people to procrastinate more than others.

What Is Procrastination, and How Does It Harm Us?

The authors claim that procrastination is postponing a task. They argue that there are positive, neutral, and negative forms of procrastination. It’s positive or neutral when you delay less-important tasks to attend to important ones. For example, it’s a good idea to procrastinate on mowing the lawn so you can visit an aging family member. Positive and neutral forms of procrastination have little to no long-term, negative consequences.

(Shortform note: Other experts on procrastination also argue that there are positive forms of procrastination. In A Mind for Numbers, Barbara Oakley adds that [procrastination is positive when you intentionally delay a task to reflect on how best to begin...

Procrastination Summary Solutions for Beating Procrastination

As we’ve explored, many of the factors that influence procrastination are outside of your control: your biology, your upbringing, and cultural marginalization. However, that doesn’t mean procrastination is uncontrollable. The authors argue that fortunately, it’s possible to beat procrastination if you first accept some realities as being beyond your control and then focus instead on controlling what you can: your behavior.

(Shortform note: Some experts on happiness claim that accepting...

Procrastination Summary Reality 1: You Can’t Choose Your Emotions—But You Can Regulate Them

First, the authors argue that when you’re faced with a task, you can’t control what emotions arise, such as fear or dread. However, you can control how you regulate these emotions so they don’t overwhelm you and tempt you to procrastinate. We’ll begin this section by exploring some of the brain science behind emotional regulation. Then, we’ll share two behaviors that support emotional regulation and reduce your dependence on procrastination.

The Brain Science Behind Emotional Regulation

According to Burka and Yuen, emotional regulation helps you calm your fears rather than exaggerate them. Your amygdala—the part of your brain that processes threats—produces fear when you encounter a task that consciously or unconsciously reminds you of negative, past experiences (such as family trauma or cultural marginalization). The amygdala sometimes exaggerates how threatening tasks are, pushing you to procrastinate. However, your frontal cortex—the part of your brain that thinks consciously—has the capacity to quiet these fears so they don’t take over and lead to procrastination. In this section, we’ll explore two behaviors you can engage in to consciously calm...

Procrastination Summary Reality 2: You’re Imperfect—But You’re Capable of Growth

The second reality to accept is that you’re imperfect. According to Burka and Yuen, you can beat procrastination by shifting your efforts from achieving perfection to achieving growth. Growth is a more realistic goal than perfection. When you approach tasks with a focus on improvement, they appear less daunting and your need to procrastinate dissipates.

(Shortform note: In The Art of Learning, professional chess player Josh Waitzkin argues that focusing on growth over perfection also bolsters your learning and resilience. Chess players who emphasize the process of growth over the outcome of winning see mistakes as opportunities to improve their strategy. When they make a mistake on the chessboard, they learn from it and continue playing (which leads to more learning). By contrast, chess players who strive for perfect outcomes become easily upset when they make a mistake or lose a game. Because they don’t persist through setbacks, they learn less.)

To demonstrate that it’s possible to shift to a focus on...

Procrastination Summary Reality 3: Time Is Finite—But You Can Learn to Make the Most of It

Lastly, Burka and Yuen claim that accepting the limitations of time empowers you to use it wisely and intentionally. As previously noted, some people procrastinate because they fear time’s passage and consequently live in denial of their limited time. Accepting time’s limitations, rather than resisting them, compels you to make the most of your time instead of procrastinating. In this section, we’ll share three behaviors that empower you to make the most of your time.

(Shortform note: Unlike Burka and Yuen, some experts claim that procrastination is purely an issue with how you manage your emotions—not an issue with how you manage your time. They claim that the best way to overcome procrastination is to learn to regulate your emotions in healthier ways. Burka and Yuen treat time management and emotional management as less of a binary. They acknowledge that learning to better manage your time can help with some of the emotional issues behind procrastination, such as the fear of restrictions and our tendency to prioritize our short-term emotional relief over...

Shortform Exercise: Reflect on Your Procrastination and Identify Solutions

According to Burka and Yuen, we procrastinate to experience short-term relief from our fears. Identifying your fear(s) will help you choose an appropriate strategy for beating your procrastination.

Think back to a time you recently procrastinated on an important task. Describe it below.