With effort, procrastinators can change

I didn’t see a dentist for years in my 20s. I would periodically consider setting up a date, but I moved so frequently that it never really happened. When, after years of procrastination, I finally ended up at the dentist, I had racked up a small mountain of dental bills.

My teeth and my wallet may never fully recover. But there is good news for young adults inclined to procrastinate: Procrastination, defined as the tendency to delay a planned action despite expecting a worse situation because of this delay, tends to decrease with age, researchers report January 15 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Although procrastination can be difficult to eliminate, change is possible.

“Is there light at the end of the procrastination tunnel? I would say yes, if you turn it on,” says Lisa Bäulke, a psychologist at the Hector Research Institute for Educational Sciences and Psychology at the University of Tübingen in Germany.

Failing to take active steps to curb self-sabotage during the formative years of early adulthood can impact people’s professional and personal lives nearly two decades later, the team found.

Most research on procrastination tends to focus on single moments or periods of just a few weeks or months, Bäulke says. How procrastinators change over the course of their lives remains an open question. A long-term study underway in Germany which began in 2002 with more than 3,000 high school students from nearly 150 schools, allowed its team to explore this question.

Over eight data collection cycles, one every two to four years, participants completed surveys regarding personality, school, career, relationships and overall health. During rounds 2 through 6, participants also completed a 12-item procrastination survey, rating on a five-point scale statements such as “I often take a long time to start something” and “I delay starting work so much that I don’t finish it on time.”

Young adults prone to procrastination entered the workforce later, got fewer promotions, were less likely to be in a relationship or have children, and reported being less satisfied with their lives than their peers who did not procrastinate, the team found. Meanwhile, landing a job after graduation was associated with lower procrastination. Concrete issues, such as the possibility of being fired, could give people a boost, Bäulke suspects.

In many ways, procrastination mirrors the trajectory of key age-related personality traits. In particular, people who are highly conscientious tend not to procrastinate, while people who are highly neurotic do. Just as these personality traits soften with age – conscientiousness increases, neuroticism decreases – so does procrastination. But procrastination seems more variable. On average, procrastination declined more sharply than neuroticism over time, for example. This suggests that blocking tendencies may be less innate than core personality traits and more susceptible to change. Factors such as environment and support systems can hinder or help the chronic procrastinator, says Bäulke.

The analysis adds to a growing body of evidence showing that it is possible, albeit challenging, to end procrastination, says psychologist Frode Svaltdal of the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. Researchers now need to find ways to help procrastinators shed their worst tendencies. “Interventions work, but too little is known about their long-term effects,” he says.

Strategies focused on goal setting, time management, motivation, and managing distractions show promise, as research elsewhere shows.

For me, the pain caused by Novocain proved to be a powerful motivator. In my middle age, I remain a master procrastinator in many areas, but I am a dedicated flosser.