Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit: Scientific American
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=procrastinating-again

"Procrastination carries a financial penalty, endangers health, harms relationships and ends careers. “Procrastination undermines well-being on a wide scale,” notes psychologist Timothy A. Pychyl, director of the Procrastination Research Group at Carleton University in Ottawa. Nevertheless, recent work hints at potential upsides to this otherwise bad habit: perpetual foot-draggers seem to benefit emotionally from their trademark tactics, which support the human inclination to avoid the disagreeable." - Scientific American

Almost everyone occasionally procrastinates, but a worrisome 15 to 20 percent of adults routinely put off activities that would be better accomplished right away.

Although biology is partly to blame for foot-dragging, anyone can learn to quit

Procrastination can also stem from anxiety, an offshoot of neuroticism. Procrastinators postpone getting started because of a fear of failure (I am so worried that I will bungle this assignment), the fear of ultimately making a mistake (I need to make sure the outcome will be perfect), and the fear of success (If I do well, people will expect more of me all the time. Therefore, I’ll put the assignment off until the last minute, do it poorly, and people won’t expect so much of me).

It's a new year and many of us have started thinking about various resolutions: updating that resume, cleaning out the attic, starting that exercise routine. But the sad reality is that most of us will not follow through on these commitments, not because we're insincere, but because tomorrow is always a better time to get going. Procrastination is a curse, and a costly one. Putting things off leads not only to lost productivity but also to all sorts of hand wringing and regrets and damaged self-esteem. For all these reasons, psychologists would love to figure out what's going on in the mind that makes it so hard to actually do what we set out to do. Are we programmed for postponement and delay? Led by Sean McCrea of the University of Konstanz in Germany, an international team of psychologists wanted to see if there might be a link between how we think of a task and our tendency to postpone it. In other words, are we more likely to see some tasks

merely thinking about the task in more concrete, specific terms makes it feel like it should be completed sooner and thus reducing procrastination

The authors note that "merely thinking about the task in more concrete, specific terms makes it feel like it should be completed sooner and thus reducing procrastination."

"Even though all of the students were being paid upon completion, those who thought about the questions abstractly were much more likely to procrastinate--and in fact some never got around to the assignment at all. By contrast, those who were focused on the how, when and where of doing the task e-mailed their responses much sooner, suggesting that they hopped right on the assignment rather than delaying it."

It's a new year and many of us have started thinking about various resolutions: updating that resume, cleaning out the attic, starting that exercise routine. But the sad reality is that most of us will not follow through on these commitments, not because we're insincere, but because tomorrow is always a better time to get going.

portant implic

"To some there is nothing so urgent that it cannot be postponed in favour of a cup of tea. Such procrastination is a mystery to psychologists, who wonder why people would sabotage themselves in this way. A team of researchers led by Sean McCrea of the University of Konstanz, in Germany, reckon they have found a piece of the puzzle. People act in a timely way when given concrete tasks but dawdle when they view them in abstract terms."

People act in a timely way when given concrete tasks but dawdle when they view them in abstract terms.

Procrastinate Like Leonardo da Vinci

Academe is full of potential geniuses who have never done a single thing they wanted to do because there were too many things that needed to be done first: the research projects, conference papers, books and articles — not one of them freely chosen: merely means to some practical end, a career rather than a calling. And so we complete research projects that no longer interest us and write books that no one will read

It might seem an idle pastime but academics have come up with a mathematical equation for why people procrastinate.

The psychologist, from the University of Calgary, has subsequently formed an equation for why people procrastinate, which began by studying 250 college students. The equation is U=EV/ID. The 'U' stands for utility, or the desire to complete a given task. It is equal to the product of E, the expectation of success, and V the value of completion, divided by the product of I, the immediacy of the task, and D, the personal sensitivity to delay. Prof Steel says procrastination is becoming a bigger issue because many more jobs are "self-structured", with people setting their own schedules. This means that people tend to postpone things with delayed rewards in favour of activities that offer immediate rewards. "Procastinators tend to live fro today rather than tomorrow. for short term gain for long term pain" he writes. Until now, psychologists have generally linked procrastination to perfectionists who avoid tasks rather than produce less than perfect products.

U=EV/ID

The equation is U=EV/ID.

Prof Piers Steel, a Canadian academic who has spent more than 10 years studying why people put off until tomorrow what they could do today, believes that the notion that procrastinators are either perfectionists or just lazy is wrong. Prof Steel, who admits to becoming distracted by computer games himself, argues in a new book that those prone to putting things off suffer from a vice of their own - impulsiveness.

The Cult of Done Manifesto 1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion. 2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done. 3. There is no editing stage. 4. Pretending you know what you're doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you're doing even if you don't and do it. 5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it. 6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done. 7. Once you're done you can throw it away. 8. Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done. 9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right. 10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes. 11. Destruction is a variant of done. 12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done. 13. Done is the engine of more.

ts as done. So do mistakes.

Hi

To read and use.

Let's face it: when you've run into serious productivity roadblocks like procrastination, distraction, and overwhelmed paralysis, keyboard shortcuts and index cards aren't going to save you—only better patterns of behavior will.

It’s Monday. You’ve had a nice, long, idle weekend, and—what’s this? Someone who says they’re your boss wants you to do work?! Well, we’ll have none of that, will we? Of course not – this is the internet. Frittering away hours in front of mental_floss’ Amazing Fact Generator is always an option. But here are 10 other easy ways to put off whatever you’re supposed to be doing while also getting your knowledge fix

Not often, but it happens. Sometimes I get so intimidated by work that I end up procrastinating online. I started my workday at 6 a.m. last Monday hoping to get the week off to a good start, but I found myself reading a Wikipedia entry on the many versions of “Blade Runner” three hours later.

Man, I need to follow this plan

WWD rolls out a five-point plan, one they claim is needed to eliminate the gap between what you think are your biggest time wasters from your actual time wasters. The distinction is an important one because, without accurate data, any other efforts to cut down on your web wandering will probably be unsuccessful. The plan starts with a simple pen-and-paper audit to identify where your attention goes (aside from, you know, this site). They also suggest setting up visible reminders, like a sticky note with an arrow that points to the screen and the words, "Is this really what you want to be doing right now?" Once you've got the first step down, the full five-point plan helps you figure out why you engage in such behavior and offers ways to kick the compulsive surfing habit.

reward

It’s difficult to talk about how to get started with a project without addressing why it can feel so difficult to get started in the first place. And, as I said in the talk, I think this often comes down to perceived barriers. Barriers to even the most modest kind of starting. Barriers that seem entirely real, external, and immovable...

Merlin Mann on how to get yourself on task with creative side projects and not rationalize against them using "Real-Life Obligations."

"It’s difficult to talk about how to get started with a project without addressing why it can feel so difficult to get started in the first place"

MaxFunCon: Merlin Mann on Doing Creative Work (via TSoYA) Here’s the audio from a short talk I presented a few weeks ago at Jesse Thorn’s awesome1 MaxFunCon in Lake Arrowhead, CA. The talk is subtitled, “With All Due Respect

by Merlin Mann

Great talk about overcoming creative barriers and getting stuff accomplished.

"Remember now, we’re not talking about finishing a project or even making something that you know will be the greatest thing ever made. Just starting. What’s the barrier for you?"

An excellent excellent podcast.

the

PROCRASTINATION is one of the biggest business killers, so get off the avoidance treadmill and make a mountain of cash.

PROCRASTINATION is one of the biggest business killers, so get off the avoidance treadmill and make a mountain of cash. So instead of succumbing to the dreaded beast try these tips for overcoming procrastination.

Useful list of ideas on how to overcome procrastination

mental tricks

Ditto.

Funny blog post on anti-adulthood...with illustrations!

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Reading: How to be Insanely Productive and Still Keep Smiling http://bit.ly/dnVQs5 via @zen_habits

Excelentes tips para una mayor productividad (más allá de la onda NA del post)