Let's face it, procrastination affects us all to some extent...sometimes the urge to put off something unpleasant like studying for an exam or doing laundry is just too strong to resist.

So, is procrastination simply the result of laziness or bad time management?

Well, some scientists, like evolutionary psychologist Daniel Gustavson argue that it's a complex process, and (if you haven't guessed it already) Gustavson and his colleagues suggest that there is an evolutionary underpinning for our procrastination. In 2014 they published their research in Psychological Science titled "Genetic Relations Among Procrastination, Impulsivity, and Goal-Management Ability: Implications for the Evolutionary Origin of Procrastination" where they described their survey of twins' work habits in order to understand the genetic components of procrastination. A key aspect of their study was that they studied fraternal twins (who don't share the same DNA like any other set of siblings) and identical twins (who share all of the same DNA). Since the twins grew up together with practically the same environmental factors, the researchers were able to create a mathematical model to see if the twins' genetics corresponded to procrastination, and they found that procrastination was indeed heritable.

Their findings suggest that early human life was focused mainly on short term survival, they didn't have time to think about the future when they didn't know if they would make it 'til the next day. Thus, our impetuous ancestors who instinctively prioritized their short term goals and put off more distant hazy ambitions could have been better at surviving and subsequently able to pass on their behavioral traits to posterity.

On the contrary, nowadays, when we have future goals that we need to prepare for yet we can't get ourselves to do so, this evolutionary wiring gets us into quite the pickle.

However, not all hope is lost, since the researchers found that about half of the time the differences in procrastination habits could be caused by differences in genetics, we can't blame our genetics for it all. What we can do is fortify our minds and manipulate our environment to limit procrastination.

To stop procrastination, the following tips may help:

Make a to-do list of items you're avoiding.

When working on a task, eliminate tempting distractions.

Break your tasks down into manageable chunks so you're not overwhelmed.

Once you complete a task, treat yourself.

Focus on success and ask for help when needed.

-Judy Tenuta