The Procrastination Equation

Pretty much everyone procrastinates at one time or another

Part two of a three part series on motivation, procrastination and what to do about them. Check out part 1 here.

Part 2 is also from an Art of Manliness podcast:

Procrastination can be a big stumbling block to our success in life. If you’re a student and you put off studying to the last minute, you might not do as well on a test. If you wait to start saving for retirement until you’re in your 40s, you lose out on the power of compound interest.

We know that we need to do certain things sooner, rather than later, but we don’t. Why?

My guest today is Dr. Piers Steel, and in his work and his book, The Procrastination Equation, he’s distilled all the research out there on procrastination into a kind of formula that explains why we put things off. Piers explains why his approach to procrastination is different from that taken by many psychologists, and what they often get wrong about its root causes. He then digs into the different components of why we procrastinate, as well as actionable advice on how you can mitigate these issues and start getting more stuff done.

I've started reading the book. I was going to read some more of it on Sunday night, but I wanted to watch one more episode of the 2008 version of "Knight Rider". However, each succeeding episode started playing automatically so I ended up not reading any that night.

There is an equation for procrastination, and basically it's the expected value of what should be done divided by the time remaining until it has to be done. If it's something you want to do, you're less likely to procrastinate. And the further out that something needs to be done, the more likely you are to procrastinate.

One of the things the book talked about was how long it takes the pre-frontal cortex to develop...usually not until about age 19 or 20. The cortex is what allows us to postpone immediate gratification in favor of pursuing some future goal. Which ties in with yesterday's post.

Here are the show highlights:

• Defining procrastination 
• The problems with assigning psychological causes to procrastination
• The real reasons people put things off
• How procrastination really affects your life 
• The 3 elements of the “procrastination equation” 
• The ways that expectations (of both reward and consequence) play into our procrastination 
• Can you ever fully beat procrastination?
• So, how do we go about mitigating procrastination?
• Why you actually want your tasks to be a bit challenging
• What if you have a genetic predisposition to procrastination?

When I finish reading the book, I may have more to post on the subject. Abd if you want to find out what you can do to defeat procrastination, tune in to part 3 tomorrow/

Interesting days

Today - iPod Day, Event Organizers Day, Mole Day, TV Talk Show Host Day and Boston Cream Pie Day

Tomorrow - World Tripe Day, Bologna Day and United Nations Day 

Next Tuesday - Checklist Day, Haunted Refrigerator Night, Create A Great Funeral Day and Candy Corn Day

November 23 - Fibonacci Day, Flossing Day, Day of Listening, Black Friday, You’re Welcome Giving Day, Sinkie Day, Cashew Day, Maize Day, Eat A Cranberry Day, Systems Engineer Day, Espresso Day, Buy Nothing Day and A Blue Christmas