Skip to content

This site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; others help us improve the user experience. By using the site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Read our privacy policy to learn more.

Close
AICPA-CIMA
  • AICPA & CIMA:
  • Home
  • CPE & Learning
  • My Account
Journal of Accountancy
  • TECH & AI
    • All articles
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
    • Microsoft Excel
    • Information Security & Privacy

    Latest Stories

    • Incorporating prompt engineering into the accounting curriculum
    • Create a dynamic to-do list with Excel’s checkboxes
    • Another way to manage authentication texts
  • TAX
    • All articles
    • Corporations
    • Employee benefits
    • Individuals
    • IRS procedure

    Latest Stories

    • Paper tax refund checks on the way out as IRS shifts to electronic payments
    • IRS keeps per diem rates unchanged for business travel year starting Oct. 1
    • Details on IRS prop. regs. on tip income deduction
  • PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
    • All articles
    • Diversity, equity & inclusion
    • Human capital
    • Firm operations
    • Practice growth & client service

    Latest Stories

    • Paper tax refund checks on the way out as IRS shifts to electronic payments
    • Practice mobility update: New NASBA tool tracks changes for CPAs
    • IRS keeps per diem rates unchanged for business travel year starting Oct. 1
  • FINANCIAL REPORTING
    • All articles
    • FASB reporting
    • IFRS
    • Private company reporting
    • SEC compliance and reporting

    Latest Stories

    • SEC accepting Professional Accounting Fellow applications
    • SEC names new chief accountant
    • SEC ends legal defense of its climate rules
  • AUDIT
    • All articles
    • Attestation
    • Audit
    • Compilation and review
    • Peer review
    • Quality Management

    Latest Stories

    • AICPA unveils new QM resources to help firms meet Dec. 15 deadline
    • 8 steps to build your firm’s quality management system on time
    • Auditing Standards Board proposes a new fraud standard
  • MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING
    • All articles
    • Business planning
    • Human resources
    • Risk management
    • Strategy

    Latest Stories

    • Business outlook brightens somewhat despite trade, inflation concerns
    • AICPA & CIMA Business Resilience Toolkit — levers for action
    • Economic pessimism grows, but CFOs have strategic responses
  • Home
  • News
  • Magazine
  • Podcast
  • Topics
Advertisement
  1. newsletter
  2. Cpa Insider
CPA INSIDER

Stop putting up with putting it off

Experts offer practical tips for beating procrastination.

By John Lehmann-Haupt
September 24, 2018

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2018. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.

Related

September 17, 2018

Why our passions are essential to work success

August 27, 2018

How to coach a problem employee: The know-it-all

July 30, 2018

How to coach a problem employee: The slacker

TOPICS

  • Professional Development
    • Communication

We’re all guilty of procrastination at one time or another. But for a fair-sized chunk of the population — as many as 50% of students and 20% of the rest of us, according to the American Psychological Association — it’s a serious problem, sabotaging their focus and hijacking their attention from what they know they should be doing.

So, why do we procrastinate, and what can we do about it? Piers Steel, Ph.D., of the University of Calgary, and author of The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done, has studied the phenomenon for 30 years. While lack of confidence and aversion to unpleasant tasks are clear factors in procrastination, Steel points out that we are, to an extent, hard-wired to procrastinate.

“We have multiple decision-making centers,” he said. “We make plans in our prefrontal cortex, but they can easily be subverted by the limbic system, a more primitive part of the brain that responds to temptations in front of us. When we put something off, it’s usually in favor of something more enjoyable.” Some of us are more prone to this than others, and Steel has identified impulsiveness, a quantifiable characteristic, as a key determinant of procrastination.

In recent years, Google, Facebook, YouTube, and other such platforms have delivered a smorgasbord of new temptations. “The deck is stacked against us,” Steel said.

Other factors come into play, too, according to Fuschia Sirois, Ph.D., of the University of Sheffield in the U.K., whose research has focused on the health and well-being implications of procrastination. “We’ve found that people’s ability to manage their negative emotions towards a task is an indicator of their likeliness to procrastinate,” Sirois said. “If they lack the ability to regulate those feelings, in situations that bring them up, people will procrastinate as a means of avoiding those feelings in order to regulate them.”

The good news is that there are techniques to help people manage those emotions. “Through a strategy of ‘cognitive reappraisal,’ you can learn to look at something distressing in a more positive way,” Sirois said.

Here are a few proven tips that will help you vanquish your own procrastination, wherever you may encounter it. Some will help you manage the temptations around you; others will help you manage yourself.

Advertisement
  • Turn off email alert sounds. Checking your email every time you hear that “ding” is an almost Pavlovian response and a huge time waster. “When you yield to this, you’re probably breaking out of something more valuable,” Steel said. “It’s been estimated that you can gain an extra month of productivity per year by removing this distraction.”
  • Respect your power hours. Most of us are blessed with four or five hours a day when our energy and attention are at their peak. Use that time to tackle your hardest work. “Do this, and you’ll often find you can take it a little easier the rest of the day,” Steel said.
  • Set up separate computer logins for work and play. “We know temptations are strongest when they’re nearest, so requiring the extra step of a separate login for games and social media can help,” Steel said. Choose contrasting themes. Associations will build up over time, and you’ll have an easier time staying focused.
  • Find something positive in what you’re avoiding and focus on it. You loathe shopping for gifts, but Aunt Peggy means a lot to you and you want to make her smile. Or maybe a dreaded project will bring the chance to gain knowledge or a skill you’re interested in. “Finding something in what you’re putting off that’s meaningful to you allows you to bring down the threshold of resistance to it,” Sirois said.
  • One small step … When we procrastinate, what we’re avoiding assumes monolithic status. Taking one small step can break the logjam, whether it’s doing some background research or getting your materials in order. “Break it down,” Sirois said. “Once you’ve done A-B-C, D-E-F will become evident, and your confidence will build along the way.”

John Lehmann-Haupt is a freelance writer based in New York City. To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Chris Baysden, associate director – content development, at Chris.Baysden@aicpa-cima.com.

Advertisement

latest news

September 24, 2025

Paper tax refund checks on the way out as IRS shifts to electronic payments

September 24, 2025

Practice mobility update: New NASBA tool tracks changes for CPAs

September 23, 2025

IRS keeps per diem rates unchanged for business travel year starting Oct. 1

September 22, 2025

Managing teams, managing time: The importance of setting expectations

September 19, 2025

Details on IRS prop. regs. on tip income deduction

Advertisement

Most Read

MAP Survey finds CPA firm starting pay on the rise
IRS finalizes regulations for Roth catch-up contributions under SECURE 2.0
NASBA, AICPA release proposed revisions to CPE standards
IRS releases draft form for tip, overtime, car loan, and senior deductions
Congress passes act allowing tax relief when a state declares disaster
Advertisement

Podcast

September 25, 2025

Professional liability risks related to Form 1065, CPA firm acquisitions

September 18, 2025

‘We’re still the thinkers’ — a reminder for tax pros in the AI era

September 11, 2025

Strong storytelling helps speakers deliver ‘medicine’ without the aftertaste

Features

Calming nervous clients nearing retirement
Calming nervous clients nearing retirement

Calming nervous clients nearing retirement

7 retirement tips for small firm CPAs
7 retirement tips for small firm CPAs

7 retirement tips for small firm CPAs

Building a better CPA firm: Stepping up service offerings
Multi-colored plus signs

Building a better CPA firm: Stepping up service offerings

2025 tax software survey
Smiley, frowney, and neutral faces for Tax Software Survey.

2025 tax software survey

FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Flip out with the latest Tech Q&A

The September Technology Q&A column shows how to create dynamic to-do lists with Excel's checkboxes and also how to set up multifactor authentication texts that don't rely on phones. Flip through both items and view a video walkthrough in our digital format. 

From The Tax Adviser

August 30, 2025

2025 tax software survey

August 30, 2025

Are you doing all you can to keep the cash method for your clients?

July 31, 2025

Current developments in S corporations

July 31, 2025

Paid student-athletes: Tax implications for universities and donors

MAGAZINE

September 2025

September 2025

September 2025
August 2025

August 2025

August 2025
July 2025

July 2025

July 2025
June 2025

June 2025

June 2025
May 2025

May 2025

May 2025
April 2025

April 2025

April 2025
March 2025

March 2025

March 2025
February 2025

February 2025

February 2025
January 2025

January 2025

January 2025
December 2024

December 2024

December 2024
November 2024

November 2024

November 2024
October 2024

October 2024

October 2024
view all

View All

http://JofA_Default_Mag_cover_small_official_blue

PUSH NOTIFICATIONS

Coming soon: Learn about important news

CPA LETTER DAILY EMAIL

CPA Letter Logo

Subscribe to the daily CPA Letter

Stay on top of the biggest news affecting the profession every business day. Follow this link to your marketing preferences on aicpa-cima.com to subscribe. If you don't already have an aicpa-cima.com account, create one for free and then navigate to your marketing preferences.

Connect

  • X Logo JofA on X
  • facebook JofA on Facebook

HOME

  • News
  • Monthly issues
  • Podcast
  • A&A Focus
  • PFP Digest
  • Academic Update
  • Topics
  • RSS feed rss feed
  • Site map

ABOUT

  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Submit an article
  • Editorial calendar
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & conditions

SUBSCRIBE

  • Academic Update
  • CPE Express

AICPA & CIMA SITES

  • AICPA-CIMA.com
  • Global Engagement Center
  • Financial Management (FM)
  • The Tax Adviser
  • AICPA Insights
  • Global Career Hub
AICPA & CIMA

© 2025 Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. All rights reserved.

Reliable. Resourceful. Respected.