Self Tests by Psychology Today

Procrastination Test 40 questions, 20-25 min	1 2 3 4

Which of the following statements best describes your attitude to deadlines?

	I like having a good time reserve in case something goes wrong.
	I like to get a little bit of the deadline fever but I still need to have a solid time reserve.
	I work best having a deadline in the near future.
	I have the utmost disrespect for deadlines, so I barely finish anything on time.
	I love the feeling of racing against the clock to see if I can meet the deadline.

You have a 10-page paper or report due in a month. When do you start working on it?

	Immediately-better allow the full month for unforeseen complications
	Three weeks before it is due
	Two weeks before it is due
	One week before it is due
	Several days before it is due
	The night before it is due
	I don't do it at all

When I'm at work (or studying), I ____________ find myself daydreaming.

often

sometimes

rarely

never

Typically, I pay my bills:

	as soon as they arrive.
	sometime between their arrival and the deadline.
	just before the deadline.
	several days after the deadline.
	after the first reminder.
	after repeated reminders.
	when they threaten to discontinue service.
	after the service has been discontinued due to payment delinquency.
	when they send me a warning notice that they are passing it to collection agency.
	I never pay my bills.

You urgently need to study or work. It's time to start but your working space is kind of messy (though you have everything you need to get going). What do you do?

	Start cleaning
	Go to another room and start working
	Disregard the mess and focus on studying
	Forget about studying, and go out
	Clean my room, and go out
	Make some room in my working area and get to work

It is Wednesday and the deadline for a rather important assignment is Friday. You are not in the zone at all. How do you deal?

	I figure that I'm just not going to get in the groove, might as well not fight it and try again tomorrow when I will surely be better equipped.
	I shift my schedule around and do something that was on tomorrow's schedule today-then do today's work tomorrow.
	I take some time to walk around, do something else, then get back to the task at hand.
	I force myself over the hump and do what I have to do.
	I vow to work for a given time period, promising myself that in, say 1 hour, I won't have to work anymore.
	I wait until I find myself in the mood, or "in the zone".
	I easily get myself into the mood, or "in the zone", and get working.
	I spend a good amount of time on preparations-getting motivated, planning, making lists, developing a strategy, sharpening pencils etc.
	I opt for a state of denial and hope it will go away.
	I break it up into smaller steps and start working.
	I postpone it until I have no choice and then do whatever I can.

When I have something pressing to do that isn't really appealing (cleaning my room, organizing CD's, doing my taxes), I typically:

	find another worthy cause, such as napping or snacking.
	start working on something else.
	start working on that particular task.
	start working on it but drag it out with other distractions (phone calls, making trips to the bathroom, preparing refreshments, etc).

You get home from work and listen to the messages on your answering machine. You have 5 calls from family and friends. You hang up the phone. What do you do then?

	I phone them all back immediately.
	I relax and hang out for a bit, then phone them all back.
	I relax and hang out for a bit, then phone some of them back.
	I wait until everything else is done that night and then call them all back.
	I wait until everything else is done that night and then call some of them back.
	I call them all back the next day.
	I call all or some of them back within a week.
	I never call any of them back.

You are at a dinner party with your partner one evening. You feel that s/he was acting inappropriately and your feelings are hurt. You can't stop thinking of all the things that you would like to say to him/her. What do you do?

	I pull him/her aside at the party and explain my feelings.
	I bring it up as soon as I get home.
	I bring it up the next day after I've had some time to think about it.
	I bring it up over the course of the next week.
	I bring it up during our next fight.
	I never bring it up.

You are in a live-in relationship that isn't working out. You are really quite unhappy, even though your partner is quite in love with you. After long deliberations, you decide that it is necessary to end the relationship, and there is nothing that could change your mind. What do you do?

	I pull him/her aside as soon as I've made the decision and spell it out.
	I think about it for a week before breaking up.
	I think about it for a month before breaking up.
	I think about it for a year before breaking up.
	I write an e-mail/leave a message on his/her answering machine.
	I don't make the break-up, but just wait for it to fall apart in other ways.