# Procrastination



## David Baxter PhD (Jan 12, 2007)

If you procrastinate, don't put off reading this
Associated Press
Jan 11, 2007

*Foot-dragging is worse than ever ? and makes us poorer and fatter*

Procrastination in society is getting worse and scientists are finally getting around to figuring out how and why. Too many tempting diversions are to blame, but more on that later.

After 10 years of research on a project that was only supposed to take five years, a Canadian industrial psychologist found in a giant study that not only is procrastination on the rise, it makes people poorer, fatter and unhappier.

Something has to be done about it, sooner rather than later, University of Calgary professor Piers Steel concludes. His 30-page study is in this month?s peer-reviewed _Psychological Bulletin_, published by the American Psychological Association.

In 1978, only about 5 percent of the American public thought of themselves as chronic procrastinators. Now it?s 26 percent, Steel said.

And why not? There are so many fun ways to kill time ? TVs in every room, online video, Web-surfing, cell phones, video games, iPods and Blackberries.

*Wasting our time*
At work, e-mail, the Internet and games are just a click away, making procrastination effortless, Steel said.

?That stupid game Minesweeper ? that probably has cost billions of dollars for the whole society,? he said.

The U.S. gross national product would probably rise by $50 billion if the icon and sound that notifies people of new e-mail suddenly disappear, he added.

And there?s good reason to worry right now about the problem of procrastination.

?People who procrastinate tend to be less healthy, less wealthy and less happy,? Steel said Wednesday. ?You can reduce it, but I don?t think you can eliminate it.?

Psychologist William Knaus, who has written several self-help books on fighting procrastination since 1977?s _Overcoming Procrastination_, said Steel is ?absolutely right.?

He said he found it harder to wean chronic procrastinators from the habit of delaying than to wean alcoholics from booze. Knaus mentioned one businessman who spent 40 hours of delay time to avoid five minutes of work.

?It?s a huge problem,? Knaus said. ?I think the majority of mental disabilities people have ? anxiety, panic ? they can be defined as a special case of procrastination.?

There is personal financial fallout from procrastination, too. Delay in filing taxes on average costs a person $400 a year and last-minute Christmas shopping with credit cards was five times higher in 1999 than in 1991, Steel found in a review of more than 500 economic and psychological studies about putting off unpleasant chores.

Steel?s study found that in the past quarter century, the average self-score for procrastination (using a 1-to-5 scale with 1 being no delaying) has increased by 39 percent.

*Men are worse*
Overall, more than a quarter of Americans say they procrastinate. Men are worse than women (about 54 out of 100 chronic procrastinators are men) and the young are more like to procrastinate than the old, Steel said. Three out of four college students consider themselves procrastinators.

Early studies looking at U.S. and Canadian cultures didn?t find any differences in the two countries? procrastination problem, but Steel said when he has more time he?ll get around to more cross-cultural studies.

The causes of procrastination combine temptation, sense of immediacy, the value of doing the job, and whether you believe you can get the work done, Steel found. He even created a complicated mathematical formula, complete with Greek letters, to figure out when a person is likely to procrastinate.

Temptation is the biggest factor. And it?s why procrastination is getting worse, Steel said, citing technology.

?It?s easier to procrastinate now than ever before. We have so many more temptations,? he said. ?It?s never been harder to be self-disciplined in all of history than it is now.?

But procrastination goes back thousands of years, before technology. Ancient literature harps on the problem, Steel said. Knaus mentioned a book from 1852: _Thoughtless Little Fanny: The Unhappy Results of Procrastination_. The author is just called ?a friend of children.?

While many self-help books say perfectionists procrastinate because they don?t want to get things wrong, Steel found just the opposite. Perfectionists procrastinate less and do better because they avoid delaying. However they do worry more about putting stuff off, he said.

Studying procrastination as a field has a benefit, said the professor. The more he knows about the problem and the causes, the less he procrastinates ? even though he sheepishly acknowledges his study was completed five years late.

The good thing about studying procrastination, he said: ?If you take a day off from it, you can always say it?s field research.?


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## foghlaim (Jan 12, 2007)

Tis a pity that a follow up article outlining how to deal with the problem doesn't appear to be available from the same author.. I clicked on the title and found a discussion page with the headline, how do you beat procrastination, but it contained more how ppl do this (procrastinate) than ways to beat it. Given that it took him 10yrs to complete this study tho, it could be a case of another cpl of yrs before he finally gets round to writing the follow up.  



> “I think the majority of mental disabilities people have — anxiety, panic — they can be defined as a special case of procrastination.”


 I think this is a loaded statement to make in an article without backing it up with some more info. or else i missed it, did I? 
maybe someone can explain what he may have meant by this?? i'm curious! 

I think there are pro's and con's for procrastination, like there are situations that should to be thought about, maybe left to stew for a while even, to make a decision too soon could be a mistake. On the other hand, there are somethings that should be done straight away, if not then that's a mistake.


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## ThatLady (Jan 12, 2007)

Heh. I'm the champion procrastinator. I'm sure of it! Most of the time, I don't let it bother me. If there's something that really needs to be done, I'll discipline myself to do it immediately. I know if I don't, it'll get lost in the tunnels of my mind. 

I don't think it's procrastination to put off doing something important until one has thought it through thoroughly. That's just being prudent, and it's a smart move. A lot of mistakes can be avoided if we just take the time to plan and think about what we're going to do and how we're going to do it before we jump in with both feet.

I'm not sure what this author means by "the majority of mental disabilities" being special cases of procrastination. I'm not sure I can agree with that premise. Some things that we do because we suffer from mental illness may be, or seem to be, related to procrastination; however, it's kinda like the chicken and the egg. Which comes first? The only thing I can see that might hold up his premise is putting off getting treatment because you don't want to have to face your fears. Yet, this is part of the illness, in my opinion.


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## sunset (Jan 15, 2007)

I am in trouble, because procrastination is my middle name....


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## Daniel (Jan 15, 2007)

> There are so many fun ways to kill time — TVs in every room, online video, Web-surfing, cell phones, video games, iPods and Blackberries



On the positive side, iPods can decrease procrastination if used wisely, providing more incentive/entertainment while doing mundate tasks like shoveling snow, cleaning the house, or excercising.


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## ^^Phoenix^^ (Jan 16, 2007)

I procrastinated getting ready for work by reading this thread!! :dimples:


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## darkestburningstar (Oct 18, 2008)

Ok so I had a laugh at the Minesweeper comment.  I find I procrastinate because whatever I have to do is boring.  Or I know it will take me a long time.  I guess I'm a bit of a hedonist, cuz I avoid work like the plague.  I'm doing better, I must admit, I've pulled my grades up significantly in the past 2 years, but I want to do better.  I know I have exceptional intelligence, and I can grasp concepts quickly; textbooks have a lot of jibber-jabber in between.  Sometimes it's useful info, but it's often dry and useless in depth explanations that I figured out by reading the first and last sentence in the paragraph.  I guess I get irritated easily too.  Reading back on what I wrote, maybe that's something I have to work on too.
Lan


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## white page (Oct 18, 2008)

Maybe a way of beating procrastination , is deciding to enjoy the task one is avoiding , simplistic I know , but surely an universal truth !!


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