Formula For Procrastination Found 191
kandela writes "Science Daily reports that a University of Calgary academic has published a paper titled The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure in the Psychological Bulletin. The research reveals that most people's New Year's resolutions are doomed to failure, most self-help books have it completely wrong when they say perfectionism is at the root of procrastination, and procrastination can be explained by a single mathematical equation. The research is apparently the culmination of 10 years work. However, no indication was given of how much time was spent putting it off before it was begun." From the article: "Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they can actually complete a task... Perfectionism is not the culprit. In fact, perfectionists actually procrastinate less, but they worry about it more."
Uhh, the opposite for me (Score:3, Interesting)
I procrastinate because I HAVE confidence that I can finish the task later, not because I'm afraid that I won' actually be able to complete a task. If I'm afraid about finishing a task, I will start it earlier. Fear of not being able to complete a task leads to NOT doing that task for a lot of people, not procrastinating.
These "scientific studies" over analyze simple things such as procrastination. Ever think that maybe it's because of laziness, or just that you really want to watch that football game?
At least in my case, totally wrong. (Score:5, Interesting)
I procrastinate. Hard-core. I'll put off week-long tasks until the night before. I don't do this because I expect to fail and can blame starting too late - I do it because I know perfecly well that I can do that and still finish the task on time.
If you accuse me of any confidence-related shortfall, you'd have to call me over- confident. Perfectionist, though? In some things, yes. But I don't procrastinate for that reason either. Where do these absurd theories come from?
You want to know why I procrastinate, knowing full-well that, while I may not produce my best results, I also have no doubt that I will succeed in producing an acceptible finished product? Simple - Because I've found that at least half the time, the task's nature changes significantly or the task outright goes away. No joke.
In school, teachers/professors would always extend deadlines because most people whined too loudly that they considered the (perfectly easy and reasonable) assignment too hard or unfair. Professors would scale back the requirements, excuse subpar work, and often never even bother looking at what people turned in.
In the working world, most "urgent problems" that come up, go away without any intervention by the next day. Long term projects have their budgets slashed at the end of the quarter. reports never get read anyway.
So, by putting everything off until the last minute, I find myself with a hell of a lot more time to spend on meaningful (aka "self directed") activities.
That doesn't, however, translate to "lazy". When I say "self-directed", I mean self-directed. I have always impressed my professors or managers not with the quality of my assigned work, but with the quality of what I do for its own sake. But then, I enjoy what I do, so my "personal" projects tend to have value to any endeavor I take on.
And all this because I procrastinate, a habit looked down on by most people.
Oh, one of those "Formula for XY found" stories... (Score:3, Interesting)
These stories are just clever PR gags, they contain nothing of scientific value. Just look at the "equation" for a moment and you start wondering what the actually equate:
"Steel has also come up with the E=mc2 of procrastination, a formula he's dubbed Temporal Motivational Theory, which takes into account factors such as the expectancy a person has of succeeding with a given task (E), the value of completing the task (V), the desirability of the task (Utility), its immediacy or availability () and the person's sensitivity to delay (D). It looks like this and uses the Greek letter (capital gamma): Utility = E x V / D"
See: "expectancy", "value", "desirability" and so on. Perfect scientific quantities, don't you think?
Read more about those jerks atGuardian's Bad Science [guardian.co.uk], they come up regularly
Procrasticode (Score:5, Interesting)
if (job.time_allocated < job.deadline - now()) {
play();
}else{
work();
}
} while (!job.finished)
That's how I do it even though this is clearly more efficient:
while (!job.finished) work();
play();
Depression (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, duh. Of course perfectionism isn't involved (Score:4, Interesting)
I put off stuff when I don't want to do it. End of story. I find that reminding myself of the consequences for not getting things done is only mildly effective. You have to have a balance of work and pleasure. Sometimes, going off and partying really is the answer. When you're "relaxed" or "partied out", then you're more willing to work. If you find yourself fulminating about something you don't want to do, stop. Get a cup of coffee, talk with a friend, play a game, whatever makes you feel good. This will take just as much time, but when you come back you'll be happier about rolling up your sleaves and getting the job done.
Re:At least in my case, totally wrong. (Score:1, Interesting)
The one time in my life (Freshman year, I naively believed college was more difficult than high school) I began a paper a full two weeks before it was due. I spent a ridiculous amount of time on it. Changing this phrase, wiping out that one. In the end, I was pretty proud of the paper, and maintain it is one of the best things I have ever written. Final grade, A-.
The time invested was easily triple my norm for a paper, and I netted the exact same grade (granted the average on this paper was a D-, TA had an english minor and wanted to prove he could be a dick). My little tinkerings made a better paper, but creating a 'perfect' paper took far too much time.
Upon later reflection, I realized that a great deal of my time wasn't even spent on the paper itself. I knew I had plenty of time to waste, and so would read slashdot, stare at the tv, etc, all while I was 'writing' my paper. I had time to burn.
Contrasted to last semester when my Anthropology professor (gotta get those GEs out of the way) assigned a five page paper due in three weeks, I did not think about it until two days before it was due. I knew full well, that when I could feel the fire under my ass and I had ten hours to turn it in, I would be hepped-up on Mt. Dew and furiously typing away, because no matter what, I was going to finish it. It might not be the best paper ever written, but it would be done. End result: A-.
Re:Depression (Score:2, Interesting)
"Steel has also come up with the E=mc2 of procrastination, a formula he's dubbed Temporal Motivational Theory, which takes into account factors such as the expectancy a person has of succeeding with a given task (E), the value of completing the task (V), the desirability of the task (Utility), its immediacy or availability (G) and the person's sensitivity to delay (D). It looks like this and uses the Greek letter (capital gamma): Utility = E x V / GD"
Something interesting to note here -- if you are something like me, you may have built up an expectancy of failure not due to skill, but due to procrastination. That is, I tend to expect that I won't complete a project, not that I am incapable of doing so. E = 0 is a pretty bad case given the math! How does one rectify such a situation? I'll let you know when I figure it out. I plan to begin studying it tomorrow...