Topics Rationality

Question Why do we procrastinate? Why do we persist in avoiding doing something when we know avoiding it only hurts us more? Just because a task is unpleasant doesn't mean it will get any less unpleasant in the future when we have less time to do it. If I can logically reason, this why do I still procrastinate? Do we become "wantons" (those incapable of guiding our own free will) according to Harry Frankfurt when we submit to procrastination?

Accepted:
May 6, 2010

Comments

Procrastination sometimes occurs because our immediate, short-term desires prevail over our calculations concerning longer-term costs and benefits. This does not make us into what Frankfurt calls "wantons", since we are still capable of reflective reasoning and we are still capable of being guided by such reasons. It just means that we sometimes suffer from a 'weakness of will'. (Explaining weakness of the will would require a much longer discussion.)

Procrastination is sometimes quite reasonable, though. First, because the farther we project into the future, the lower the probability of the anticipated costs and benefits. Doing a chore now, while I am alert and happy might be less onerous than doing it later, when I am tired and crabby; but the farther I project into the future, the more doubts I should have about whether I will be tired and crabby when I do the chore, whether the chore will still be annoying, and whether it will even need doing. The current pleasure of doing something else instead is much more certain. Furthermore, we should realize that our priorities change over time, so what now looks like long-term cost or benefit now may not look so in the future. I may lose my job because of my procrastination but that may no longer seem so bad when it actually happens. Insofar as I am making choices for my future self, I should recognize that that future self may not share my current priorities.