I am reminded of the procrastinator's creed: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow. I think procrastination is a form of rebellion---without a cause. Most of us, regardless of how rational, have a few loose screws; a few frayed circuits. This is not remarkable when we consider the light-speed pace of twenty-first century living. I have found solace in procrastination since retiring from a job where things which had to be done yesterday could have all waited until next week. A job where incompetence was rewarded while capable workers were denigrated and leadership was predicated upon political loyalty.
We learn procrastination, in various ways from various people. Initially, we question the utility of it. But, as we learn more about why it used, we understand that it is a coping mechanism which can make our hectic lives more tolerable. Sure, we pay our bills and take our medicines on schedule (if we know what is good for us), but if something can wait until tomorrow---or longer---we take advantage of the option. I am drinking my only can of Labatt's Blue. I could go get more. But it can wait.

i'm not really sure if i'm interested in this journey into your choices. to procrastinate, to put off doing an activity, is just a possible relation - thankfully you stayed away from portraying --- procrastination --- as some technical termus and thereby stopping consideration in its real?-ness.

Isaac Neutron: The state of a job where its tasks can literally wait for a week or more. that's actually one of the more adept things i've heard in a while. god forbid one actually has a relation with the relatedness of the possible task of the whole state of affairs.

I did not find the this piece very convincing. There is nothing irrational about procrastinating and the mathematical analogy is simply flawed. When faced with a decision, we all have choices. Some of these choice may actually provide more pleasure or enjoyment than the "rational"choice. Hence, procrastinating can certainly add to on'e pleasure.

"HOW DO WE FEEL ABOUT OURSELVES WHEN..."
As pointed out in the show, this goes back to ideas about the self (addressed in last week's show).
Aside from the fundamental and unanswerable question of philosophy, "What or who is "we"" (the other fundamental and unanswerable question of philosophy is "Is there anything other than one's consciousness"), addressing the statement concerning "feeling" about one's self, I contend, is not really doing philosophy. The duality of the "feeler" and the "feelee," since both are the same person, invites two layers of speculation that defy the use of reason as a tool of investigation. Once reason is not useable, and we can only speculate as to causation WITHOUT using our power of reason, we become only observers, or maybe poets (if we have some very particular language skills). Philosophy is not observation alone; it is the application of reasoning to thoughts.
The idea of self-deception is like this. There really is no such thing, rationally, as knowing something, and then thinking about one's self while BELIEVING what one knows isn't true.

I think I'll wait and write my comments tomorrow.
Good Day,
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Do you have the names of the songs that were played on the JANUARY 28, 2011 Procrastination show? I heard one, that I really liked. Thanks, Sam

This is more or less a test---just to see if my comment gets into the system (last attempt failed). It is interesting to me that this post on procrastination evoked so many opinions. I'll try to say more if this passes muster.

Well, so far, so good---my test comment seemed to get in. As I tried to say a day ago, procrastination seems, on first blush, fairly innocuous. Until it affects (or causes) life-or-death decisions. I used two examples: one, the executive pardon order by a governor which is transmitted and received too late to stay a death sentence; and two, the collapse of the Silver Bridge (in the 1970s or there abouts)---my uncle could have died in that tragedy, but did not BECAUSE of procrastination.Long story, so trust me, OK?
Several diametric forces appear to be at work in such instances. One is Jung's SYNCHRONICITY, or meaningful chance. Another is likely to be N.N. Taleb's extension of the Jungian thesis---something he calls Black Swans: numerous combinations of probabilities which are IMPROBABLE, but just happen anyway. If you get in the way, sorry about that.
Anyway, my intuition is this: the commenters to this post are at least as smart as their comments indicate. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude they have at least considered the more serious aspects of something we might otherwise view as innocuous. Just sayin'...

I actually have a more specific view of procrastination, and I ran a similiar argument in an essay against paternalism. My view is that procrastination is rational for us in a more general sense.
When we say that procrastination is irrational we mean it is irration relative to a certain 'best' aim, but is that really the 'best' aim for us? If I believe that it is best to stay home and write an essay, but instead go out with friends, perhaps it was rationally best for me to do so on social grounds. Thus it becomes a matter of two competing rationales. The cleaning example could be an example of you as an individual fighting against pressure from an institution. Thus, procrastinating is resistance.

Like so many researchers and scholars past and present, you guys are way off. Are you trying to explain procrastination or do you want get rid of it quickly and easily?
If you just want to explain procrastination, then all you're really doing is demonstrating it in your attempt.
The only meaningful discussion of procrastination is a discussion that provides a clear and practical answer to the following question: How do I stop procrastinating? This is the most important question you're readers will ask on the topic. You know, the readers who procrastinate on the academic writing tasks that define their profession?
The most effective way to stop procrastinating is also the most effective way to stop being clinically depressed or to stop having the diagnosis of autism. It's called applied behavior analysis. It's all about harnessing and transferring motivation from high probability behaviors to low probability behaviors, it's a precise science that's as simple as it is counterintuitive.
Just like there's a fat practical distinction between explanation and cure when comparing psychoanalytic vs cognitive behavioral treatment outcome and follow up studies, there's a fat distinction between explaining procrastination and curing it. The alternative is rationally and empirically indefensible.