I have been writing articles for this publication for several years. Every month I get an email telling me the deadline for that month and almost every month I get my article in a day or two ahead of time. Sometimes it arrives on the due date. During the weeks ahead of that, I often tell myself that I will write my article early, but I rarely do that.
Most of us procrastinate from time to time but some of us are especially bad. We do almost everything at the last minute. Doug Adams, author of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, spent nearly a decade working on another book. When he died in 2001 he had not even completed a first draft, after 10 years of work. He was a self-proclaimed procrastinator. Adams was fond of saying, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”
Does procrastination really pay off? Do some of us actually perform better under pressure? One study indicated that people who put off preparation of their tax return until the last minute were likely to make errors costing them an average of $400. Another study of students at Ohio State University found that those who procrastinated on a regular basis had GPAs of 2.9 on average. Students who worked at a steadier pace averaged 3.6 out of 4. It doesn’t seem that delaying actually pays off.
A psychologist at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, Piers Steel, has studied mountains of research on the subject. As reported in New Scientist December 15, 2007, he has identified 4 key factors that result in procrastination.
First on the list is how confident a person is that she will successfully complete the task. Next is how easily distracted the person is. Next on the list is how boring or unpleasant the task is. Finally, how immediate the rewards for completion are.
With these factors in mind, Steel has created a list of strategies to help us avoid delays:
Make a firm commitment to someone else to finish by a certain time. This will make it even more difficult, and embarrassing, to be late.
Remove distractions, including your cellphone, Xbox and email beeps.
Get plenty of sleep so that being tired is not a factor.
Set a series of realistic goals. These can be weekly, daily or even hourly.
Promise yourself a reward for each goal you achieve.
Believe in yourself. He says the old saying is true, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are probably right.”
Outsource your motivation. Get someone else to bug you about your deadlines.
Most of us struggle with the conflict between satisfying our present selves or our future selves. Recognizing this conflict will help. It also helps to find ways of making an unpleasant task more tolerable. Trick yourself by combining unpleasant tasks with things you like, for example, blasting your favorite CD while you are cleaning the house. And when worst comes to worst, you can always outsource to family or friends who will hold your feet to the fire.
Reach the author at mpowell@a1teletronics.com.
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