{"id":81648,"date":"2022-10-11T08:26:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T12:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=81648"},"modified":"2022-10-24T10:45:45","modified_gmt":"2022-10-24T14:45:45","slug":"procrastination-and-self-esteem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/","title":{"rendered":"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What’s the Connection?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What’s the connection between procrastination and self-esteem<\/a>? How does unhealthy self-esteem prevent you from getting things done? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everybody procrastinates, but some people do it more than others. According to psychologists Lenora Yuen and Jane Burka, self-esteem plays a key role in an individual’s tendency to procrastinate<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn about the link between procrastination and self-esteem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Is Procrastination a Self-Esteem Issue? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

People with unhealthy self-esteem tend to procrastinate more than people with healthy self-esteem. <\/strong>To better understand the link between procrastination and self-esteem, let\u2019s first contrast healthy and unhealthy self-esteem. When you have unhealthy self-esteem, you possess a distorted view<\/a> of your strengths and shortcomings. Furthermore, your sense of self-worth<\/a> heavily relies on others\u2019 opinions of you. By contrast, people with healthy self-esteem have a realistic sense of their assets and weaknesses and they possess a stable, internal sense of self-worth independent of others\u2019 opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: People often equate high<\/em> self-esteem with healthy<\/em> self-esteem, but research reveals that some forms of high self-esteem are<\/em> unhealthy<\/a>. High self-esteem is<\/a> as unhealthy<\/em> as low self-esteem<\/a> when it\u2019s \u201cfragile,\u201d meaning it sinks when others doubt your abilities or worth. In such situations, people with high, fragile self-esteem easily become defensive. By contrast, high self-esteem is healthy<\/em> when it\u2019s \u201csecure,\u201d meaning it remains stable even when others doubt you. Given that people with unhealthy self-esteem tend to procrastinate more, these findings suggest that people with fragile<\/em>, high self-esteem may be more likely to procrastinate than people with secure<\/em>, high self-esteem.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People with <\/strong>high,<\/em><\/strong> unhealthy self-esteem procrastinate because they set unreasonably high goals for themselves.<\/strong> They think these goals are the only ones worthy of their abilities, which they believe are extremely high. However, these lofty goals are difficult. They procrastinate on these goals because they\u2019re afraid that if they don\u2019t achieve them, it\u2019ll reflect poorly on them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, people with low, unhealthy self-esteem procrastinate because they believe many tasks are too difficult for them. <\/strong>They procrastinate because they believe it\u2019s not worth trying or finishing a goal they\u2019re bound to fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Research reveals that multiple factors influence your perception of a task\u2019s difficulty, suggesting that changing these factors could make people with unhealthy self-esteem less likely to procrastinate. For example, research shows that when you\u2019re tired, you perceive tasks to be more difficult<\/a>. Therefore, a person with unhealthy self-esteem may be less likely to procrastinate if they\u2019re well-rested. Furthermore, you\u2019re more likely to think tasks are easier if you\u2019re in an environment that aligns with your cultural norms<\/a>\u2014for example, if you\u2019re going to college<\/a> in your home country. Therefore, someone with unhealthy self-esteem may procrastinate less if they seek out an environment that matches their cultural values.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What’s the connection between procrastination and self-esteem? How does unhealthy self-esteem prevent you from getting things done? Everybody procrastinates, but some people do it more than others. According to psychologists Lenora Yuen and Jane Burka, self-esteem plays a key role in an individual’s tendency to procrastinate. Keep reading to learn about the link between procrastination and self-esteem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":57526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,43],"tags":[772],"class_list":["post-81648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-procrastination","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nProcrastination and Self-Esteem: What's the Connection? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to psychologists Lenora Yuen and Jane Burka, people with unhealthy self-esteem are more prone to procrastination. Here's why.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What's the Connection?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to psychologists Lenora Yuen and Jane Burka, people with unhealthy self-esteem are more prone to procrastination. Here's why.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-11T12:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-24T14:45:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1012\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"555\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What’s the Connection?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-11T12:26:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-24T14:45:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/\"},\"wordCount\":473,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Procrastination\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/\",\"name\":\"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What's the Connection? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-11T12:26:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-24T14:45:45+00:00\",\"description\":\"According to psychologists Lenora Yuen and Jane Burka, people with unhealthy self-esteem are more prone to procrastination. Here's why.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg\",\"width\":1012,\"height\":555},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What’s the Connection?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\",\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"caption\":\"Darya Sinusoid\"},\"description\":\"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What's the Connection? - Shortform Books","description":"According to psychologists Lenora Yuen and Jane Burka, people with unhealthy self-esteem are more prone to procrastination. Here's why.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What's the Connection?","og_description":"According to psychologists Lenora Yuen and Jane Burka, people with unhealthy self-esteem are more prone to procrastination. Here's why.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2022-10-11T12:26:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-10-24T14:45:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1012,"height":555,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Darya Sinusoid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Darya Sinusoid","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/"},"author":{"name":"Darya Sinusoid","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46"},"headline":"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What’s the Connection?","datePublished":"2022-10-11T12:26:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-24T14:45:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/"},"wordCount":473,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg","keywords":["Procrastination"],"articleSection":["Psychology","Self-Improvement"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/","name":"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What's the Connection? - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg","datePublished":"2022-10-11T12:26:00+00:00","dateModified":"2022-10-24T14:45:45+00:00","description":"According to psychologists Lenora Yuen and Jane Burka, people with unhealthy self-esteem are more prone to procrastination. Here's why.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg","width":1012,"height":555},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/procrastination-and-self-esteem\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Procrastination and Self-Esteem: What’s the Connection?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46","name":"Darya Sinusoid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","caption":"Darya Sinusoid"},"description":"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/low-self-esteem.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81648"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81728,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81648\/revisions\/81728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}