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Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination

psychologicalscience.org

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Re: Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination

#41

Post by mirimir »

heimatau wrote: post #27
hashberry wrote: post #26

I am a remote worker and suffer from chronic procrastination. This is a great article but I believe procrastination is an addiction. At times I feel like a compulsive alcoholic who sneaks off to do fun things all day instead of working. I have procrastinated as a student and my entire career and have always gotten away with it. I've been rewarded with praise of my great work, higher paying positions, and bonuses. I f…

I wish research would look into high IQ procrastinators because they'd be an outlier to their data. Since the bad consequences tend to miss high IQ people. But according to the article, researchers wouldn't call that procrastination, since the consequences haven't been experienced. Many of the same stressors are experienced between people who complete tasks (I've been calling them high IQ but could be anyone), last m…

I developed very bad habits as a child. I could screw off, read SF in class, barely study, and still be the best in science. But then I went to university with others like me, and it was a rude awakening ;)

Re: Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination

#42

Post by scotty79 »

33degrees wrote: post #14

"The idea is that procrastinators comfort themselves in the present with the false belief that they’ll be more emotionally equipped to handle a task in the future." This pretty much sums it up for me, and explains why the time management based approaches haven't helped me all that much.

I think that's just one of rationalizations not actual strategy. It's like alcoholic thinking one drink will give him strength to stay sober.

Re: Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination

#43

Post by hartpuff »

rizzin wrote: post #36
capote wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Labeling or not, calling it a problem or not, I don't get your point. Are you saying that you cannot control yourself and it's not your fault that you didn't do all that work? At the end of the day it seems a personal choice to me. Similar to people with drug problems, it might be harder or easier for certain people to get the willpower to do (or not do) certain things, but it's still under your control and up to you…

>Just do your work if you want the results. Quote from the article: "As I tell people, to tell the chronic procrastinator to just do it would be like saying to a clinically depressed person, cheer up."

To be fair, that poster sounds like the kind of person who would also tell a clinically depressed person to just cheer up.

Re: Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination

#45

Post by jo909 »

hacker_9 wrote: post #6

Labels are dangerous, and labelling yourself as a procrastinator will just make you even less likely to do the work you need to do. I think I get a lot of work done (solo game dev on my own), but I also re-organise my task list about every week too, does that make me a procrastinator? If I get stuck on a hard problem, I'll often browse the internet mindlessly, then come back and solve it. Does that make me a procrast…

You are clearly not a procrastinator, and chronic procrastination seems so far away from your own mental state and experiences that you might not relate and emphasize even remotely with it. I don't mean that in a bad way, it is likely just not been part of your reality which makes it very very hard to understand what affected people feel like and what their reasons could be.

(Please excuse me if I'm putting words in your mouth here. It's an interpretation on my behalf, and I'm just as likely to also completely fail to understand how you feel like and what your reasons are.)

"Procrastination" is a simple word to describe a complex and large range of behaviors. Each behavior on it's own might be something very normal that everybody does once in a while, but that is just one end of the spectrum. On the other end of the spectrum it is a massive problem, controlling every part of the affected persons life and likely mixed with other mental and emotional problems as a result of it. Of course the number of people on that extreme end are rare, it's somewhere in between for most.

But I would say that by definition people that identify with that "label" recognize how it is (has been) hurting them again and again, and how hard it is to control those behaviors.

It is a very important first step to admit to yourself that you have a problem, and to learn about your "condition" so you can understand what is actually happening. There are many strategies that helped many people, most base on first recognizing and understanding your own (harmful) patterns and their deeper roots, in order to change them.

Dismissing that this is actually a real problem and that people should just snap out of it is surely not helping affected people.

Re: Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination

#46

Post by majewsky »

heimatau wrote: post #24

TL;DR; The science is merky but researchers have noticed self-forgiveness, seeing tasks as fun (or rewarding), and changing the perspective of procrastinators have been beneficial. Emotions also play a role. Since many may skim this article here are some highlights with direct excerpts: - (defining proc) What I’ve found is that while everybody may procrastinate, not everyone is a procrastinator,” says APS Fellow Jose…

> The idea is that procrastinators calculate the fluctuating utility of certain activities: pleasurable ones have more value early on, and tough tasks become more important as a deadline approaches.

This sounds like a definition (sort of) for rational judgment. When you have a hard task, most of the time it's a good idea to procrastinate it for a while because

a) requirements may change, so that work spent early on could be useless (or even the whole task could turn out to be unnecessary), or

b) you might acquire more knowledge in the meantime which enables you to solve the task more effectively or more efficiently.

The distinction between a procrastinator and a rationalist would then be that the procrastinator also procrastinates tasks for which the outlook of these two things happening is bleak.

Re: Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination

#48

Post by hacker_9 »

z3t4 wrote: post #35
hacker_9 wrote: post #6

Labels are dangerous, and labelling yourself as a procrastinator will just make you even less likely to do the work you need to do. I think I get a lot of work done (solo game dev on my own), but I also re-organise my task list about every week too, does that make me a procrastinator? If I get stuck on a hard problem, I'll often browse the internet mindlessly, then come back and solve it. Does that make me a procrast…

I can sit an hour trying to solve a problem, then in my frustration I take a jog, and most of the time find the solution within five minutes. I wonder if we where not self employed, what would the boss say if you suddenly went on a jog or did some yoga!?

Yep this is probably the biggest failing in the modern workplace; expecting employees to be able to sit down all day and be productive. I found in those environments you just end up pretending to be productive a lot of the time.

Re: Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination

#49

Post by wprapido »

bcook wrote: post #30
eldude wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, sometimes self-interest merely means bribing myself, like for instance with a new Macbook Pro in exchange for seeing a contract through to completion, or maybe an expensive bottle of whiskey. The self-efficacy portion is harder, but most of the failure of procrastinators is due to the self-created problem of not having enough time. Fortunately, focusing on increasing self-efficacy leads one to start makin…

Eh, I have pretty harsh clinical depression, so I only really see horrible conclusions. but, yeah, I have tried a few things. They only last up to a year before I conclude that it's not worth it. I sincerely apologize for this post (because I know you are trying to spread positivity & encouragement), but I think I offer a different perspective where these simple changes do not offer much help.

i'm also a procrastinator with clinical depression (F33.2) and i think our set of issues is entirely different

Re: Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination

#50

Post by sitkack »

mirimir wrote: post #41
heimatau wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish research would look into high IQ procrastinators because they'd be an outlier to their data. Since the bad consequences tend to miss high IQ people. But according to the article, researchers wouldn't call that procrastination, since the consequences haven't been experienced. Many of the same stressors are experienced between people who complete tasks (I've been calling them high IQ but could be anyone), last m…

I developed very bad habits as a child. I could screw off, read SF in class, barely study, and still be the best in science. But then I went to university with others like me, and it was a rude awakening ;)

The shock of suddenly being average. No one warned us.
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