Procrastination involves making a plan to do something but not carrying out the plan as scheduled. It means putting things off until later. Procrastination can lead to anxiety, and to inability to complete important tasks, including activities such as socializing, work and school assignments, and household maintenance. Procrastination can have significant consequences, and can lead to failure at school and work, and to the loss of important relationships. People procrastinate for many reasons, including worry and anxiety, feelings of inadequacy, fears of making a mistake or failing, perfectionism, fears of being controlled or dominated by other people, and depression.

Cognitive-behavior therapy can help a person who struggles with procrastination understand the causes of the problem in order to guide its treatment, respond to maladaptive thoughts that feed procrastination, and learn skills to break through procrastination, including skills to set concrete, specific, and realistic goals, to break tasks down into small manageable pieces, to make dates with others to do things together, and to establish incentives to carry out agreed-upon tasks.