The Procrastination Equation (34 page)

Rumsfeld, Donald, 130

RuneScape
, 154

Russia, 112, 255-56n36

Sabini, John, 134

Salary.Com, 101

sales jobs, 15-16, 20, 88

satiation precommitment, 168-69, 172

satellite TV, 69

Save More Tomorrow plan, 108-9

savings, 88-89, 106-9

Sawyer, Robert, 188

Sayyiduna Ali Murtadha, 96

Scan Gauge
, 286-87n49

Schatten, Kaaydah, 126

Scheier, Michael, 117

Schelling, Thomas, 278n6

Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), 173

Schouwenburg, Henri, 14

Scientific American
, xi

scientific history, 58

scouting, 122-23

Second World War, 68, 255n36

Secret, The
(Byrne), 131, 131n

self-actualization theory, 169, 280n16

self-assessment quiz, 18-20

self-confidence.
See
confidence

self-control, 13, 14, 25, 47-49, 54, 134, 147, 162, 192, 212, 216

self-deception, 9-10

self-development, 83-84, 98

self-doubt, 8, 117, 137

self-efficacy.
See
intentions

self-esteem, 122, 257-259n7

self-fulfilling prophecy, 20, 22

self-help industry, 132-33, 193-94

self-loathing, 226n4

self-perception, learned, 22

self-praise, 152-53

self-recrimination, 8

Seligman, Martin, 21-22, 21n

Sera, Matt, 120-21

service clubs, 127

sex, 55-57

Shantideva, 55

shopping, 118, 147.
See also
Christmas shopping; grocery shopping; impulse spending

Silver, Maury, 134

Singapore, wealth, 106

Skinner, B.F., 64, 68, 71

Slaney, Robert, 12-13

Slate
magazine, 185

sleep, 149-50

S.M.A.R.T. goals, 184, 288n57

smoking, 75, 93, 132, 133, 134, 144, 169

snooze button, 167, 171

SnuzNLuz, 171

social networking sites, 71-72, 104

social support, 126, 127-28, 197, 198, 199

soil depletion, 112

Solitaire, 104

Southern California Edison, 181

speakers, inspirational, 127

species survival, 112, 113

spirituality, 83, 84, 117

St. Augustine, 93-94, 94n

St. Gabriel Possenti, 94n

St. Paul the Apostle, 169

St. Pierre, Georges, 120-21

Star Wars Galaxies, 154

starvation, 54

Steel, Toby, 98-99

stickK.com (website), 171

stimulants, 149

stimulus control, 178-83

stimulus cues, 189

Stone, Elizabeth, 49

stress, 82, 96, 147, 149

students

campus clubs, 35

campus environment, 33, 35

grades, 34, 86

and Internet use, 70-73

and justifying procrastination, 134-35

Procrastination Assessment Scale, 23, 23n

Procrastination Equation applied to, 33-37, 37

SATs, 173

time/motivation graph, 37, 228-29n17

time management, 87

work pace graph, 40.

See also
academic dishonesty; dropouts; essay writing; MBAs; PhDs

sub-goals, 186, 186.
See also
mini-goals

success, celebrating, 209, 210

success cluster, 83-84, 98

success spiral, 120-25, 123n, 204, 259n8

Sudoku, 98, 105

sugar, 9, 54, 74, 75, 149, 213

Sun Tzu, 166

Super Troopers
(film), 143

Surya Das, 95

24 Hour Party People
(film), 167n

Talkswitch, 104

tangent tasks.
See
productive procrastination

Taras, Vas, 66

tarot cards, 4

tax deductions, retirement plans, 108

tax procrastination, 88, 181

Taylor, Frederick Winslow, 140-41

Taylorism, 140-41

teenagers, 47, 49, 56, 69

television, 79, 98, 180, 213, 216-17

development, 67

international comparisons, 69-70

viewing options, 70

temperature, increases.
See
climate change

temptation

biological origin, 46

covert sensitization, 175-77

delaying access to, 168

distancing from, 175

proximity to, 38-39, 64-66, 65, 75-76, 163-64, 164, 168, 172

resistance-susceptibility, 47

time sensitive, 177

Ten Commandments, The
(film), 67

text messaging, 77, 105, 133, 196, 199, 200

“There Goes (Varoom! Varoom!)

That Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake

Streamline Baby” (Wolfe), 11

thought suppression, 173-74

Thaler, Richard, 109

Thucydides, 58

time

and Expectancy Utility Theory, 28-30

and irrational delay, 3-4

motivation element, 24-26

software, 188.

See also
intention-action gap

time and motion studies, 140-41, 268n2

Toastmasters, 127

Today
show, 92

Trainspotting
, 168, 279n14

transactional leadership, 204, 208

transcranial magnetic stimulation, 46-47

transformational leadership, 204-8

Treatise of Human Nature
, A (Hume), 26

Trope, Yaacov, 26

Trump, Donald, 12

Twitter, 71

unemployment, 11-12, 87, 116

Unilever Health Institute, 76

United States

congressional procrastination, 110-11, 111

cost of procrastination, 101

founding fathers, 110, 113-14

government debt, 109-10

household savings, 107

labor stats, 100-1

retirement planning, 106, 108

wealth comparisons, 106

universal default, 89

“Unlikely Beast” game, 173-74

unschedule, 169, 198

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 75

Ustinov, Sir Peter, 155n

Utthana Sutta (monk), 59

Valens, Richie, 90

value

and expectancy.
See
expectancy-value theory

malleable nature, 269n6

motivation element, 22-24

Vancouver, Jeffrey, 118, 130

variable reinforcement, 64-65, 65

vicarious victory, 125-28, 217

video games, 62-63, 78, 103, 104, 154-55, 180

video snacking, 103

virtuous circle, 143

vision, 205

Visnu Sharma, 249n26

visualization, 128, 143.
See also
creative visualization; mental contrasting

vocational psychologists, 156

Voltaire, 130

volunteerism, 74, 83, 124

Vroom, Victor, 170

Vyse, Stuart, 78n

Wansink, Brian, 76-77

War of Independence (U.S.), 111

Washington, George, 110, 111-12, 113-14, 257n44

water shortages, 112

Way of the Boddhisattva, The
(Shantideva), 59

Wegner, Daniel, 174

Weight Watchers, 170, 171

White, Barry, 90

wild great tits, 50

wilderness programs, 121-22, 125

William the Conqueror, 166

willpower, 44, 58, 76, 134, 137, 147, 148

wills, 90-91, 190

winding-down routines, 149, 150, 182

wish fulfillment, 128-30

wish-fulfilling prophecy, 117

Wolfe, Tom, 10-11

Wordsworth, William, 80, 82

Work and Days
(Hesiod), 58

work hour stats, 100-1

work/life balance, 182

work/play segregation, 182, 195-200

“World Scientists' Warning to Humanity,” 113

World of Warcraft
, 68, 69, 154

Wright, Frank Lloyd, 10

writers, 10-11, 33-34, 59n, 80-82, 159, 159n, 166, 168, 185, 249-50n44

Young Presidents Organization, 102

Ziglar, Zig, 76

Zinsser, William, 34

Acknowledgments

T
his book all started with a phone call from an immensely talented and likable literary agent, Sally Harding. After seeing my research covered in the press, she insisted long before anyone else that I was the person to write the book on procrastination. Who was I to argue? The Cooke Agency was wise to merge their agency with hers, and she equally so to form a partnership with them. With Dean Cooke, Suzanne Brandreth, and Mary Hu, they make a fine crew that can steer a book through any waters, foreign or domestic.

My thanks also go to Louise Dennys at the Knopf Random House Canada Group, who saw the potential of this book, and to the extraordinarily erudite Anne Collins, who wields a golden pen. She is an editor’s editor, and becoming publisher at Knopf Random Canada was inevitable. Anne improved every page here. I am indebted to Nancy Miller, who championed the book early on and then to Jonathan Burnham at HarperCollins US, who ensured that it had a home. Also, I am grateful to my editor there, Sally Kim, for stubbornly insisting that what I thought was good enough should be better. Talented and thoughtful, she even gave me her own umbrella when I got caught in a New York rainstorm. Special thanks to Jane Isay for bringing the manuscript home by providing finishing editorial touches and making sure the narrative flowed. With her extensive experience and her familiarity with psychodynamics, psychology, and neurobiology, we made a good team. Lastly, the lovely Jane McWhinney gave the final polish, making sure each sentence gleamed. Like raising a child, writing a book takes a village, and I am thankful to have had so many gifted people in my corner.

Early in my academic career at the University of Minnesota, I was lucky to have Dr. Deniz Ones teach me meta-analysis and Dr. Thomas Brothen initiate my lifelong fascination with procrastination. At the University of Calgary, where I currently reside, much appreciation goes to my colleague and friend Dr. Daphne Taras, who fought to make sure I received my sabbatical to write this book and who provided, or credibly feigned, interest in the manuscript development. Though I wished the sabbatical had been longer, those uninterrupted months proved invaluable. I also appreciate the efforts of her son, Matthew Taras, for confirming historical facts. Further appreciation goes to my sisters, Anita and Marion, for reading earlier drafts and to my father-in-law, John Horne, a consulting economist, for his critical eye.

For everything else, and everything in general, I thank my wife, Julie. The conditions for writing this book, like so much of life, were not ideal and yet here it is. Teaching, researching, and running a department aren’t easy for a parent of a toddler and a newborn. With both of our families in other cities, it seemed ridiculous to think I could also take on writing a book, but we did it anyway. My wife and I traded off sleeping on different nights, tag-teamed the children, and I absolutely relied on her support and faith. Though the motivational principles contained within this book proved invaluable, her reserves of strength are the platform on which this book was built. And, through all of it, I learned that she is a very gifted copy editor with a most discerning eye. The reader, as am I, should be very happy we are married.

Author’s Note

P
rocrastination has been my life’s work—both as a researcher and as a practitioner. With research so often being “me-search,” this isn’t accidental. Scientists often intimately know the subjects they study—they are problems they themselves face. It’s true that I have sympathy for the procrastinator’s plight because it is one I shared for many years.
¹
Nowadays my work has received international acclaim, I have coached national college champions in business school competitions, and awards for teaching and research hang on my office wall. But for most of my life, I felt potential languishing inside me mingled with frustration because I couldn’t sustain any of my many attempts to improve. Encountering people who were naturally more capable of getting things done simply reminded me of my own deficiencies, curdled my spirit, and raised considerable misplaced resentment. Luckily, I was attracted to a profession whose very purpose was to identify the key enablers of change, which I then systematically put into practice in my own life one by one.

My PhD is in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, the scientific study of our actions and minds in the workplace. Psychology applied to work focuses on how to improve people’s performance, well-being, and, quite appropriately, motivation or lack thereof. Unfortunately, many of the techniques of this discipline aren’t well known, buried in the depths of obscure journals and written in scholarly language comprehensible only to the initiated. For procrastination, the problem gets even more complex. This subject has attracted the attention of all the social sciences and inspired research around the world. With over eight hundred scientific articles on the topic from fields spanning economics to neuroscience, in languages ranging from German to Chinese, the challenge is to find and make sense of them all.
²
And this is where I come in. I found two ways to study procrastination. The first was by doing my own research, which you will read about presently. That gave me the basis for a theory of how and why we put things off. But then I needed to deal with the panoply of disciplines that have studied procrastination and published results in so many different journals and books. I was lucky enough to stumble upon meta-analysis, a recently developed scientific technique, and adapt it for my research.

Meta-analysis mathematically distills the results from thousands of studies to their core consensus. At a basic level, meta-analysis is what lets science progress. By enabling a synthesis of knowledge, it reveals the underlying truths we seek. It is very powerful, it has applications in every field, and it increasingly provides the information we need to run the world. The medical treatment you get from your doctor, for example, is likely based on the results of meta-analyses, from asthma to Alzheimer’s.
³
It is a discipline I have mastered: I have created some of its basic techniques, I teach it to others, and I have developed software for it. I like to think of it as something I am good at.
⁴
It was natural, then, to meta-analyze the body of research on procrastination, given that there was no other way to put together all the findings. I have to say that the field of procrastination proved to be daunting, as almost every possible scientific methodology and technique has been thrown at it. Researchers have run laboratory experiments, read through personal diaries, twiddled with neurotransmitters, and dissected DNA. They have monitored every setting, from airports to shopping malls; they have wired entire classrooms to track every student’s twitch and shudder; and they have studied procrastinators from every background, including pigeons, vermin, and members of the U.S. Congress. Making them all fit coherently together was like being a conductor of a madhouse orchestra. The strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion are all playing the same tune but not in the same room, in the same rhythm, or in the same key. Turning that noise into music is what this book is about.

What I found will surprise you and challenge the status quo. Some of my work has already been published, such as my article “The Nature of Procrastination,” which appeared in
Psychological Bulletin,
the social sciences' most respected journal. Some of it has already been reported in hundreds of media venues around the world, from India to Ireland and from
Scientific American
to
Good Housekeeping
and
The Wall Street Journal.
But most of what I found is presented here for the first time. Within these pages, you will find out that we've been misdiagnosing procrastination for decades, attributing it to a trait associated with less procrastination, not more. The real reasons for procrastination are partly genetic and can be traced to the fundamental structure of our brains, which is why procrastination is seen in every culture and throughout history. The environment, however, isn’t blameless; it may not be responsible for procrastination’s existence, but it is responsible for its intensity—modern life has elevated procrastination into a pandemic. And guess what? All these findings follow from the application of a simple mathematical formula I devised—the Procrastination Equation.

Because I was able to tease out the fundamentals of the dynamic that makes us procrastinate, I have also been able to figure out strategies that we can use throughout our lives—school, work, or personal—to combat our innate tendency to put things off. A tall order? You bet. That’s why it has taken me so many years to write this book. I hope the hours you spend reading it will reward you with a new way of thinking about how to spend—and waste—your time.