Procrastination

[piccolomondo]

A mathematical formula for procrastination

Researchers have devised a mathematical formula for calculating just how much you'll procrastinate on that Very Important Thing you've been putting off doing.

The equation's factors are:

the desire to complete the task (U);
the expectation of success (E);
the value of completion (V);
the immediacy of task (I);
and the personal sensitivity to delay (D).

The magic formula is

U = E x V / I x D

What does this mean for you?

Insights into our procrastinating ways may help explain why humans struggle with long-term problems that require immediate solutions such as climate change and mounting public debt. And by reducing human motivation to a formula, powerful computer models can be put to work to predict our choices (and perhaps create avatars that will successfully mimic us in online worlds).

So now we'll be able to procrastinate playing games with programmed avatars that act even more like humans. Great! On the flip side, one could use the formula to increase U by upping the number on the E and V sides. In other words, make it easier to get that thing done and the personal reward for doing it even bigger!

Why Do Today What You Can Put Off Until Tomorrow [Scientific American via 43 Folders]

[piccolomondo]

Hilarious video blogger Ze Frank takes on one of the "sad little things that makes us human" in a recent episode: procrastination.

Taking the time out to watch this short video won't make you more productive but it will help you master the art of procrastination and give you a laugh at the same time.

Ze Frank on procrastination

If you've ever "taught yourself a whole other programming language instead of making something useful with the one you already know," this is for you.

[Al-khiyal]

I really want to read this article but I keep putting it off

[piccolomondo]

I procrastinate, and always have. When I had a corporate job, I would put off work that was challenging, then cram to make the deadline as my stress level soared. Now I own a small business, and the pattern remains. If I'm to give a presentation to potential clients, for instance, I prepare only at the last minute, my anxiety mounting as the day approaches and I do nothing. How can I change? — M.L., New York

Finishing this column with only moments to spare, I—and presumably many readers—can relate to your problem. While almost everyone puts things off occasionally, as an expression of annoyance or ambivalence about a task, chronic procrastinating can be a symptom of a psychological problem.

Since procrastination is rarely rational (Why would anyone want to experience the anxiety you report?), it's important to uncover the hidden motivations and meanings that allow it to have such an iron grip. For some people, it is a kind of behavioral retention—action being withheld to the point of extreme discomfort. For others, it represents a way to provoke an authority figure (real or imagined) from whom disappointment or punishment is expected if there's a failure to deliver. Procrastination can even be a way of flirting with self-destructiveness: People can receive an addictive thrill from completing tasks just under the wire, as if they've just gotten away with something.

In your case, especially now that you're the boss, preparing presentations at the last minute ensures that you never feel relaxed and may even signal an underlying conflict about being successful or feeling like a real adult. If you feel guilty about success or fearful of the hard-earned freedom that comes from running your own company, then procrastination is a sure way to clip your wings.

The first step to making a change: Ask yourself what you might be getting out of this high-risk behavior. As an experiment, just once muster the will necessary to prepare earlier. As you're working, pay attention to any anxieties that emerge. Does acting like an adult in this way engender feelings of abandonment or isolation? Is preparing something thoroughly scary for you because it might produce a higher level of quality you'd have to match again and again?

Whatever emotions come up will provide clues as to why your instincts all point toward delay. This kind of introspection about hidden motivations is hard to do on your own, but it can unlock more adaptive behavior. If the attempt at self-help fails, and you're a chronic procrastinator in other contexts, too, it might be worth exploring the issue with a therapist.

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