When a task isn’t urgent, it’s easy to keep procrastinating. Scheduling a doctor’s appointment or dusting your bookshelf can end up sitting on a to-do list for days, even weeks, despite taking only a few minutes to complete.
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Procrastinating on small responsibilities doesn’t mean you’re lazy, says Joseph Ferrari, a psychology professor at DePaul University in Chicago and the author of “Still Procrastinating: The No-Regrets Guide to Getting it Done.”
People are wired to avoid unpleasant experiences. “We are good at putting off things that we think could be aversive,” Ferrari says.
There are plenty legitimate reasons to delay completing a task, but “a reason becomes an excuse when it’s more habitual,” Ferrari says. “When there is always a reason not to do something, it’s called an excuse.”