If you really don't want to do something, telling people you didn't have time saves you from telling them that you never wanted to do it in the first place. Procrastination allows us to live in the world of hopes, wishes, and maybe's . If you don't send your resume out to all those firms you wanted, maybe the one you did send it to will call you for an interview. Maybe the professor will cancel the exam so you won't study for it until the last minute. If you ignore the problem with your roommate, you hope it will just go away.
Fantasies are easier to cope with than taking the risk to change.
A cycle of stress. In Procrastination, authors Burka and Yuen describe the experience of destructive procrastination as an emotional roller-coaster that follows a cycle of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The cycle begins with a hopeful thought of starting early this time. As time goes on, the initial optimism fades and is replaced by a sense of foreboding. A number of thoughts and feelings compete for attention.