Abstract
Sirois and Pychyl argue that procrastination is a short-term mood-repair strategy. The person gives priority to feeling better now. The cost lands on a future self who still has to meet the task.
The shelf use is the vote, not the queue. Relief now can beat a later cost because the later self is easy to keep abstract. The review does not time how long a worry lasts versus the task, and it does not describe counters, clerks, or next-day appointments.
Sirois, F. M., & Pychyl, T. A. (2013). Procrastination and the priority of short-term mood regulation: Consequences for future self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(2), 115–127. DOI
Key findings
- Mood first — Procrastination is framed as giving priority to immediate mood repair over the longer interests of the self who will still face the task.
- Later self — The consequences are carried forward. The person who feels better now and the person who meets the undone task are not treated as the same decision-maker.
Application
When you can feel the relief of leaving a task and you cannot feel the cost, write who meets it later and what that meeting actually is. Pair with Friction cascade for the case where the later meeting is someone else’s next opening, not a finding this paper made.