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Mindset Keynote · Barber Life Academy

THE PAIN OF
PROCRASTINATION.

The text you didn’t send back. The state board practice you’ll “get to.” The savings you’ll start next month. The chair you’ll open someday.

Today we turn one off and turn the other on.
Say thisProcrastination isn’t a time problem. It’s a feelings problem that sends you the bill later.
Off → On01
The Big Picture

It’s common. That doesn’t make it cheap.

80–95%

of college students procrastinate.

15–20%

of adults are chronic procrastinators. For them it shows up at work, in money and in health.

63,323

people across 88 studies: more procrastination went with more depression, anxiety and stress.

While we are postponing, life speeds by.

Seneca · Letters to Lucilius, Letter 1
Say thisStruggling with this is normal. Staying stuck in it is optional.
Steel (2007), Psychological Bulletin, meta-analysis of 691 correlations from 216 works. Nie et al. (2025), Frontiers in Psychiatry, meta-analysis of 88 studies in 17 countries (pooled r = .34; mostly correlational).
Common ≠ harmless02
Case Study 01 · JAMA Network Open, 2023

The delay shows up later in your mind, body and money.

The study
3,525 students

Eight Swedish universities. Researchers measured procrastination, then checked back 9 months later, adjusting for age, background and earlier health.

Also higher 9 months later
↑ Depression↑ Stress↑ Anxiety
Higher risk 9 months later
For each step up in procrastination (1 standard deviation)
Disabling arm pain
+27%
Money problems
+15%
Poor sleep
+9%
Physically inactive
+7%
Lonely
+7%
Say thisThe bill for “later” doesn’t disappear. It shows up in your sleep, your mood and your wallet.
Johansson F, et al. Associations Between Procrastination and Subsequent Health Outcomes Among University Students in Sweden. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(1):e2249346. Prospective cohort; 2,587 completed follow-up. Bars show adjusted risk ratios (e.g., RR 1.27 = 27% higher). Other pain sites, alcohol and smoking were not significantly linked.
Later always sends a bill03
Case Study 02 · Work & Income

Procrastination has a paycheck.

22,053

people in one of the largest studies of procrastination and work. Higher procrastination went with:

Lower salaries.
Shorter stretches of employment.
More unemployment and underemployment instead of full-time work.
Behind the chair, it looks like
DMs answered tomorrow. The booking goes to the barber who answered today.
No rebooking at checkout. Empty Tuesdays.
Fresh cuts never posted. Nobody new finds you.
“I’ll save next month.” No cushion when it’s slow.

Drive thy Business, let not that drive thee.

Benjamin Franklin · The Way to Wealth, 1757
Say thisBehind the chair, nobody pushes you. Your habits are the boss.
Nguyen, Steel & Ferrari (2013), International Journal of Selection and Assessment 21(4), n = 22,053, cross-sectional (shows a link, not proof of cause). Beutel et al. (2016), PLoS ONE, n = 2,527 German adults: unemployed people reported more procrastination than employed people.
Your habits are your boss04
Case Study 03 · Psychological Science, 1997

It feels better now… until it doesn’t.

Procrastinators Started on time RELIEF THE BILL Early semester Deadline season Stress & illness
Early in the semester: procrastinators reported less stress and less illness.
Late in the semester: they reported more stress and more illness.
Overall: they were sicker, and they earned lower grades on every assignment.
Two longitudinal studies of college students, followed across a full semester.
Say thisProcrastination is a payday loan on your peace. Quick relief now, brutal interest later.
Tice & Baumeister (1997), Psychological Science 8(6), 454–458. The chart illustrates the pattern the study reported; it is not plotted data.
Relief now, interest later05
Why We Do It

It’s not a time problem. It’s a feelings problem.

“Procrastination is an emotion regulation problem, not a time management problem.”Dr. Tim Pychyl · Carleton University

Mood repair
We run from the feeling.

The task feels boring, hard or scary. Dodging it gives quick relief, and future you gets the bill.

Sirois & Pychyl, 2013
Now beats later
Far-off rewards feel small.

Motivation drops the farther away the payoff is, then spikes only when the deadline is right on top of you.

Steel, 2007 · temporal motivation theory
Future you
Future you feels like a stranger.

In a study of 6,394 U.S. adults, people who felt more connected to their future self were more likely to have $1,000+ saved.

Hershfield, Brimhall & Kerbel, 2025
What you’ve only known
Some is wiring. Most isn’t.

Twin research puts genes at about 46%, so more than half comes from habits, home and the people around you. Fear-driven perfectionism adds to it; high standards alone don’t.

Gustavson et al., 2014 · Sirois, Molnar & Hirsch, 2017
Say thisIf you grew up around “we’ll deal with it later,” that feels normal. Normal can be retrained.
Name the real reason06
See It For What It Is

Every time you dodge it, you train the dodge.

The taskfeels heavy You dodge itscroll · nap · “later” Instantrelief Brain learns:dodging works Task grows,feels heavier THE AVOIDANCE LOOP Every lap makes it stronger
The procrastination equation
Motivation = Expectancy × ValueImpulsiveness × Delay
↑ ExpectancyStack small wins so you believe you can.
↑ ValueTie the task to your why: your chair, your family, your freedom.
↓ ImpulsivenessPut the phone in another room.
↓ DelayShrink the deadline to today-sized pieces.
Piers Steel · The Procrastination Equation (2010)
A weakness you can see is a weakness you can plan against.It’s trainable. In a randomized trial of 150 adults, a 10-week online program cut procrastination compared with people who waited.
Say thisAwareness isn’t the finish line. It’s the starting line.
Steel & König (2006), Academy of Management Review; Steel (2010), The Procrastination Equation. Rozental et al. (2015), Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, internet CBT vs. waitlist, n = 150 (guided d = 0.70).
Seen is solvable07
The Plan of Attack

Three moves that actually work.

01
Decide the moment

WRITE AN IF-THEN PLAN

Pick the when and where ahead of time. “If it’s Monday at 9, then I post one cut and answer every DM.”

Proof94 tests: a medium-to-large boost to reaching goals (d = 0.65). In one study, 3 in 4 students with an if-then plan finished a holiday assignment, vs. 1 in 3 without.
02
Lock it in early

COMMIT BEFORE THE MOMENT

Automate it, calendar it, tell someone. Shrink step one to ten minutes. Once a task is started, people tend to come back and finish it.

ProofWorkers who committed ahead of time to save from future raises went from saving 3.5% to 13.6% of pay.
03
Reset, don’t spiral

FORGIVE FAST. RESTART FASTER.

Beating yourself up feeds the same bad mood that caused the delay. Own it, forgive it, go again.

ProofStudents who forgave themselves for procrastinating before one exam procrastinated less before the next.
If it’s at , then I will .
Say thisDon’t wait to feel like it. Decide when, and let the plan carry you.
Gollwitzer & Sheeran (2006), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology; Gollwitzer (1999), American Psychologist. Thaler & Benartzi (2004), Journal of Political Economy. Ghibellini & Meier (2025), Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. Wohl, Pychyl & Bennett (2010), Personality and Individual Differences.
Plans beat moods08
Turn Something Else On

Switch off the delay. Switch on a life of pursuit.

Turn offTurn on
Someday→A date on the calendar
Waiting to feel ready→Starting so you get ready
Scroll first, work later→Work first, reward after
“I work better under pressure”→Deadlines you set on purpose
Beating yourself up→Forgive, reset, go again
Decide once, then watch it climb
Savings rate of workers who committed ahead of time (Save More Tomorrow)
3.5%
6.5%
9.4%
11.6%
13.6%
BeforeRaise 1Raise 2Raise 3Raise 4
Coworkers who passed on the plan: 6.1% → 5.9%

One To-day is worth two To-morrows.

Benjamin Franklin · The Way to Wealth, 1757
Say thisAbundance isn’t waiting at the end of “someday.” It’s built by people who start today.
Thaler & Benartzi (2004), Journal of Political Economy 112(S1); step-by-step rates from Thaler’s testimony to the U.S. Joint Economic Committee (2004).
Pursuit is a setting09
Closing Thought
Somebody is living the life you keep putting off.
Make sure it’s you.
Today
Name it.

The one thing you keep putting off.

Tonight
Plan it.

Write the if-then. Put it on the calendar.

Within 72 hours
Start it.

Ten minutes counts. Momentum does the rest.

Procrastination is the thief of time.

Edward Young · Night Thoughts, 1742
Final lineTurn off the delay. Turn on the pursuit. Your someday starts with today’s first ten minutes.
Sources
  1. Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133(1), 65–94.
  2. Nie, Y., et al. (2025). The association between procrastination and negative emotions in healthy individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 16, 1624094.
  3. Johansson, F., et al. (2023). Associations between procrastination and subsequent health outcomes among university students in Sweden. JAMA Network Open, 6(1), e2249346.
  4. Nguyen, B., Steel, P., & Ferrari, J. R. (2013). Procrastination’s impact in the workplace and the workplace’s impact on procrastination. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 21(4), 388–399.
  5. Beutel, M. E., et al. (2016). Procrastination, distress and life satisfaction across the age range. PLoS ONE, 11(2), e0148054.
  6. Tice, D. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (1997). Longitudinal study of procrastination, performance, stress, and health. Psychological Science, 8(6), 454–458.
  7. Sirois, F., & Pychyl, T. (2013). Procrastination and the priority of short-term mood regulation. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(2), 115–127.
  8. Hershfield, H. E., Brimhall, A. S., & Kerbel, J. (2025). Judgment and Decision Making, 20, e9.
  9. Gustavson, D. E., Miyake, A., Hewitt, J. K., & Friedman, N. P. (2014). Genetic relations among procrastination, impulsivity, and goal-management ability. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1178–1188.
  10. Sirois, F. M., Molnar, D. S., & Hirsch, J. K. (2017). A meta-analytic and conceptual update on the associations between procrastination and multidimensional perfectionism. European Journal of Personality, 31(2), 137–159.
  11. Steel, P., & König, C. J. (2006). Integrating theories of motivation. Academy of Management Review, 31(4), 889–913. Steel, P. (2010). The Procrastination Equation.
  12. Rozental, A., et al. (2015). Internet-based cognitive-behavior therapy for procrastination: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
  13. Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119. Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). American Psychologist, 54(7), 493–503.
  14. Thaler, R. H., & Benartzi, S. (2004). Save More Tomorrow: Using behavioral economics to increase employee saving. Journal of Political Economy, 112(S1), S164–S187.
  15. Ghibellini, R., & Meier, B. (2025). Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 12. (Zeigarnik and Ovsiankina effects meta-analysis.)
  16. Wohl, M. J. A., Pychyl, T. A., & Bennett, S. H. (2010). I forgive myself, now I can study. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(7), 803–808.
  17. Quotes: Seneca, Letters to Lucilius 1 (Gummere tr.); Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth (1757); Edward Young, Night Thoughts (1742); Tim Pychyl, quoted in The New York Times (2019).
Start before you’re ready10