Procrastination equation

The main reason for procrastination is impulsiveness; procrastinators are characterized by impatience and an immediate demand to satisfy their needs, making it difficult for them to practice patience and delay immediate gratification, and they are unable to bear the momentary pain for the sake of long-term benefits. Procrastinators fall into the trap of unconscious justification for procrastination, which reflects in their being confused and disorganized, lacking self-control and optimal time management, and lacking perseverance and seriousness. The mathematical equation of procrastination — as formulated by Steel — includes three variables: expectation, value, and time. Expectation contributes to the belief that goals are impossible due to repeated failure before even attempting again, making failure certain rather than just a possibility. Value is the measure of pleasure gained from performing a certain task. Boring routine tasks lack pleasure, so procrastinators dislike them, unlike the immediate pleasure derived from entertainment means that distract. Time is the most dangerous element in the equation because it lies at the core of procrastination; what determines our immediacy to a task is its timing, because we tend to value receiving immediate rewards for urgent tasks over those that require patience, and we tend to formulate immediate goals in tangible and concrete terms, unlike long-term objectives which are general and abstract. Therefore, time habitually feeds our view of satisfying short-term goals at the expense of postponing future goals that bring long-term benefits.