Last week, I spoke with a PhD student who works with me. He felt disappointed in his recent progress and began questioning himself, believing he could accomplish far more. I reassured him by highlighting the specific reasons behind my positive feedback, but I also gave him space to explain why he was unhappy with himself. Then he said something that caught my attention: “You cannot understand, I’m a terrible procrastinator.” I smiled and confessed, “Actually, I’m the worst procrastinator,” but he simply shook his head and insisted, “You’re not, Elena.” Meeting his gaze, I replied, “I’m just good at hiding it, and I’ve learned to use procrastination in ways that benefit both my work and my personal life. In fact, being a procrastinator can be a real advantage for our relationships, our career, and our overall well-being if you know how to channel it effectively. Accept and forgive yourself for occasionally putting things off.”
These reflections are for the PhD student who works with me, for everyone who believes they’re a “terrible procrastinator,” and for my younger self.
Why are some of us prone to procrastination, and can it ever be beneficial? Procrastination can sometimes be surprisingly helpful, even beyond providing extra time for reflection or creative thinking. From an evolutionary standpoint, different levels of procrastination might have helped our ancestors conserve energy and adapt to ever-changing environments. Occasionally, problems do resolve themselves if we wait, either because outside circumstances shift or because we gain fresh perspectives with time. This ties into the idea of regression to the mean, a statistical principle suggesting that when things are at an extreme (either positively or negatively), they often drift back toward an average level on their own. Interestingly, this principle also led to the statistical term ‘regression. Delaying action, intentionally or not, can mean that some obstacles diminish without requiring constant, immediate intervention.
I have always been a procrastinator, living in a world that often celebrates “doers.” I learned to forgive myself for procrastinating and to recognize its potential upsides after reading about the hidden wisdom of procrastination in Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book, Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012), which I only discovered in 2020. Taleb explains that procrastination can act as a natural filtering mechanism, helping us identify what’s truly important. By delaying action until a task shows its real urgency, we can conserve energy and resources for the things that genuinely matter. In some cases, a short delay can give us time to brainstorm, refine ideas, or even reduce stress before diving in. It’s important to understand why we put things off and to recognize that not all procrastination is detrimental. The challenge is to harness it constructively, using those brief pauses to think strategically, rather than letting postponements derail our progress. Small doses of delay can spark creativity, but we need to be careful that it doesn’t turn into a consistent pattern of avoidance. If you notice yourself repeatedly avoiding tasks, consider talking it through with colleagues or friends; anxiety about certain tasks may be at the root of the problem.
I wrote this blog post while procrastinating on something else.
Feb 2025
