The Lure of Tomorrow

Napolean Hill, in his 1930s book "Think & Grow Rich" identified procrastination as one of three primary causes of personal and business failure. That was over 70 years ago, and things haven't changed much on that front. As a recovering procrastinator I've learned there are three levels of procrastination, 1) distracting, 2) debilitating and 3) destructive. and, there are manifold contexts in which we procrastinate. The bottom line is "how is it a problem for you?" if it is do something about it, if not don't stress yourself over it, 'cause it will just lower your self-image even more. Join our Facebook Fan Page at http://tinyurl.com/endprocrastinationnow

I definitely find the abstract projects much harder to get started, but there are even seemingly simple, straightforward projects I struggle with as well. http://www.theprocrastinatingperfectionist.com

I'm a "caretaker", and find if a task is for someone else, I"m more likely to do it. If the task is just for my benefit, and there is no immediate penalty, monetary or other type, I'm most likely going to put it off until sometime in the future.

im a procrastinator lord knows i have wanted to be more active and i know i procrastinate , i usually find myself saying , 1. its important . 2. but do i have all the information i need to do the task. or 3. its important but its not critical. or 4 its critical and has a direct effect on me but i can compensate for the downtime since im very quick at tasks. i never understood my behavior persay. because im not lazy at all. lord knows i always ask to stay late to help out at work or take on others workload. i dont think ill understand it. maybe it has to do with how the brain associate critical action.. i like to call it something like Triage ..

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colbernation your destination for procastenation!
XDD

The simple explanation is that people that procrastenate are lazy. That may be a perfectly plausible answer some of the time. The article is interesting for those who procrastenate but would not be considered lazy. That dichotomy has perplexed me for years. I think this article is a step in understanding this particular problem, and it seems to explain why some procrastenators get it done eventually. They overcome the abstract hurdle and start to look at something in concrete terms. Lazy procrastenators would just never get it done.

Red door, you nailed it without a lot of psychological doublespeak. We do that which gives us pleasure, and we delay or ignore that which we perceive as unpleasant -- boring, difficult, arduous, tedious, painful, etc. Instant gratification is the motivator of our current society. And lest anyone think I am pointing fingers, let me confess that I am among the worst of the worst. Procrastination has always been my worst character flaw, and I would work on overcoming it, but it would be too difficult. Actually, I don't know why I joke about it; procrastination really isn't funny in real life. Does anyone identify with late bill payments, overdue library books, empty gas tanks, late car registrations/inspections, late assignments, all-night study sessions, messy houses, messy cars, Christmas presents arriving after Christmas, unsent birthday cards, etc., etc., etc.?? It's no way to live, and if you are not a procrastinator, count your blessings!!!!!!

thanks for saying that procrastination is a curse because it is. I didnot procrastinate to write this comment because it was exciting to me, so those exciting tasks, I rush to do. ... if nothing is exciting, I don't rush to do it and I say okay I will do it later (instead of tomorrow) then later in my day I have crammed to many tasks and then I say, I will do it for sure tomorrow, then someone calls and I get distracted with lunch plans because of course that is more exciting.....and the saga continues.........

I for one procrastinate if I have to speak to someone with regards to the task. if there is no interaction I am able to hop to the task. For example changing jobs. I have to go thru the interview and then the training.....all necessary interactions I would like to do without.

I also agree with red door

Procrastinators do things that are fun or easy first. They delay things that are boring or arduous. This alone explains the results of the study. Giving a concrete answer is easy. Explaining something that you have no interest in is arduous and boring. Isn't this common sense? I'm a procrastinator and I admit I'm just lazy. No study necessary.

Procrastinator do things that are easy and fun first. They delay things that are arduos or boring. This explains the results in the study. Giving concrete answers is easy. Asking someone to think about something they have no interest in is arduous and boring. Isn't this common sense?

I will get back to you tomorrow on my comments!

I think the issue is more complex than psychological distance - unless someone explain how this relates to my procrastination issues founded in fear of rejection, failure, or inadequacy (thanks, Dad)

Thanks, C2C2, I was having a hard time wrapping my head around Herberts analogy.

I believe people procrastinate because they don't think they have time to finish the entire task, so they don't ever start, or they view it as boring or difficult. The solution is is to simply set a timer for a short period of time and commit yourself to the task until the timer goes off, then stop. I dreaded unloading my dishwasher until I figured out it only takes about FOUR minutes to get it done. Try committing 15 or 30 minutes to a project and see how quickly it will get done by breaking it up into segments.

Some people think that I am a procrastinatior. This is not true. I only crastinate in my spare time so that I retain my amateur status!!

Excellent article. I would like to discuss the article in a more comprehensive way, but I think I will have to wait to do that tomorrow. Now I will worry about why I didn't do it today, but time has slipped by, so I can't do it today.

Some people say I'm a procrastinator.
That is not true. I only crastinate in my spare time so that I can retain my amateur status!!

I was thinking of writing a more comprehensive comment on this timely article, but due to the essence of time I think I will delay until tomorrow. Now I'll have to worry about doing this tomorrow.

I should be writing one of the two papers due tomorrow, but instead I'm reading this. I hate you, Newsweek.