Procrastination Equation
University of Calgary professor, Piers Steel, has published a paper on procrastination in American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin, in which he has defined procrastination in mathematical terms. The equation explains what Steel terms as Temporal Motivational Theory, and is defined as:
Steel concluded that procrastinators have less confidence in themselves and don't expect they can actually complete a task -- and unlike the advice of most self-help books, perfectionism is not the root of the problem. Steel found that perfectionists procrastinate less, they just worry about it a whole lot more than other people. Procrastinators are averse to work, impulsive, easily distracted and are not motivated to achieve.
So what advice does Steel have for procrastinators? Willpower. If you believe you can do something, there's a good chance you can do it. So procrastinators need to force themselves to do what they set out for themselves. The more they do, the more their expectancy of completing tasks will increase.
It should be noted that Piers Steel took 10-years to research this topic before publishing his findings.
Updated: January 21, 2006
Utility = E x V / ΓD,
where Utility is the desirability of the task; E is the expectancy a person has of completing a task; V is the value of completing the task; Γ is the immediacy or availability of the task; and D is the person's sensitivity to delay.Steel concluded that procrastinators have less confidence in themselves and don't expect they can actually complete a task -- and unlike the advice of most self-help books, perfectionism is not the root of the problem. Steel found that perfectionists procrastinate less, they just worry about it a whole lot more than other people. Procrastinators are averse to work, impulsive, easily distracted and are not motivated to achieve.
So what advice does Steel have for procrastinators? Willpower. If you believe you can do something, there's a good chance you can do it. So procrastinators need to force themselves to do what they set out for themselves. The more they do, the more their expectancy of completing tasks will increase.
It should be noted that Piers Steel took 10-years to research this topic before publishing his findings.
Updated: January 21, 2006
- How to Stop Procrastinating -- the only strategy that really works!
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