Research Into Procrastination Shows Surprising Findings

[Dil Bert]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070110090851.htm

"Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they can actually complete a task," Steel says. "Perfectionism is not the culprit. In fact, perfectionists actually procrastinate less, but they worry about it more."

Other predictors of procrastination include: task aversiveness, impulsiveness, distractibility, and how much a person is motivated to achieve. Not all delays can be considered procrastination; the key is that a person must believe it would be better to start working on given tasks immediately, but still not start.

It's estimated that about 15-20 per cent of the general population are procrastinators. And the costs of procrastinating can add up well beyond poor work performance, especially for those who delay filing their taxes or planning their retirement.

[Cashie]

Gosh, this looks as if it could be vital reading for me and give me a useful insight into a bad habit that is wrecking my life. And I will definitely maybe get round to reading it tomorrow....

we check our email 10 times an hour instead of completing a project

- substitute BW? for email and this article just about sums up my working style 

[nania]

I'm glad to see I'm not as bad a procrastinator as you Jem
I managed to read the article right away ! One thing less to do tomorrow 

Gosh, this looks as if it could be vital reading for me and give me a useful insight into a bad habit that is wrecking my life.

Seriously, I completely empathise with you Jem
Ever since Junior High School , I've never managed to do my homework until the last minute
If it's indeed genetic, I must have inherited it from my mother because she's a big procrastinator too !

This article is very interesting and has very concrete examples. I'm illustrating one of them right now 

Not all delays can be considered procrastination; the key is that a person must believe it would be better to start working on given tasks immediately, but still not start.

It 00:27, I should be either sleeping or working for my exams instead of writing a not-so-vital post - let's be lucid
I have my last exam on Friday morning and I'm having a day and a half off : I couldn't work this afternoon. I suppose I will work frantically tomorrow to try to catch up.

But on the other hand, could we procrastinators work ahead of time ?
Usually, when I do this to early before the dead line I'm completely unefficient so what's the point ? It's not because I work ahead of time that I work better !

[Nayika]

I have an essay due in tomorrow by 5 (700 words to go yet) and I'm STILL on MSN and BW?
Definite procrastination I would say
(I also ahve an essay due on Friday which i haven't even started yet )

[Ratnalekha]

I usually don't procrastinate with homework,sometimes with projects,unless it's a hard one that should get done as soon as possible.Tonight's home though is to watch and take notes on the speech President Bush is going to give tonight,which now when I think about it,I would very much like to procrastinate on but unfortunately is impossible

[Sajna]

Like those of you who responded to the article, I'm also an expertise at procrastination, unfortunately. It's definitely not genetic, since my parents are practically perfectionists really. But it's definitely not fun, as I've lost a lot of sleep this past semester. On average, I only got about 5 hours of sleep a night, and that added up to frequent headaches, constant fatigue, etc. Yet ironically, I've noticed I work better under pressure as well, but I must say it also adds up to a lot of stress. A lot of college students also seem to be able to identify with this problem. But this coming semester (and hopefully for all the semesters to come), I'm really determined to stop procrastinating (so I hope I won't be of the majority who end up not fulfilling their New Year's resolutions, as the article states ). Wish me luck.

[Ratnalekha]

Awwwwwww,don't worry Sajna,one day we promise we'll get you an appointment to some fancy spa where all that stress will go away....... Good luck with your resolution though because another bad habit is when one does not keep their promise so you might wanna stick with it.

[Nayika]

But it's definitely not fun, as I've lost a lot of sleep this past semester. On average, I only got about 5 hours of sleep a night, Yet ironically, I've noticed I work better under pressure as well, but I must say it also adds up to a lot of stress. A lot of college students also seem to be able to identify with this problem.Wish me luck.

I know exactly how you feel except coupled with my insomnia (and addiction to BW? and SRK) i get less, around 3 hours a night and have at least twice this month gone without sleep at all
Wish you all the best with your resolutions 

[Sajna]

Awwwwwww,don't worry Sajna,one day we promise we'll get you an appointment to some fancy spa where all that stress will go away....... Good luck with your resolution though because another bad habit is when one does not keep their promise so you might wanna stick with it.

How sweet. And yes, I'll make sure I stick with it--even if it means I have to unplug my computer to prevent myself from visiting the forum and whatnot.

I know exactly how you feel except coupled with my insomnia (and addiction to BW? and SRK) i get less, around 3 hours a night and have at least twice this month gone without sleep at all
Wish you all the best with your resolutions 

Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully it gets better for you.

[nania]

But as the article also said :

The good news is that willpower has an unusual capacity.

I guess each time I've been telling myself I would do things on time and not almost too late, I didn't put enough willpower into it 
But I can feel you are strongly determined and I'm most confident you will overcome your procrastination 

I'm so completely with you that I'll follow your example !!!!
From tomorrow morning on, no more procrastination (okay), full concentration (hard!!!) and no more than 30mins BWT a day (very hard !!!!!!)
And this is not one those impulsive decisions

[Sajna]

But as the article also said :

The good news is that willpower has an unusual capacity.

I guess each time I've been telling myself I would do things on time and not almost too late, I didn't put enough willpower into it 
But I can feel you are strongly determined and I'm most confident you will overcome your procrastination 

I'm so completely with you that I'll follow your example !!!!
From tomorrow morning on, no more procrastination (okay), full concentration (hard!!!) and no more than 30mins BWT a day (very hard !!!!!!)
And this is not one those impulsive decisions

I'm glad to hear that, nania! I'm sure if you put willpower into it, your plan will come to fruition.

[los angeles]

No idea if it's accurate or not (probably sometimes it is) but I came across an interesting article once where they asserted that in many cases, procrastination happens because deep inside you don't believe in what you are doing. Apparently you might not even be aware of it, it can be a subconscious thing, on the surface you may have convinced yourself of something that isn't quite right. I think I have found this to be true for me with a couple things, actually.