Getting Started: New Research on the Mechanics of Procrastination

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Scientists Lewis and Oiserman conducted a study, discovering a new way to combat procrastination. There are already dozens of such methods, but the results of the study provide new information about the problem of laziness and the desire to postpone everything for later.

In the past few years, the word "procrastination" has become one of the most popular reasons to do nothing. Still, "procrastination" sounds more weighty than "I'm lazy", and in general, more scientific or something.

If we assume that procrastination is a disease, then it turns out that it is the worst and most contagious disease in the entire history of mankind. After all, everyone is subject to it. Some are better at controlling symptoms than others, but no one is immune. Therefore, productivity "doctors", such as, for example, try to instill in us the right habits and, as far as possible, get rid of procrastination. And if Babauta's approach is motivational, then the approach of Neil Lewis and Daphne Oizerman is more scientific.

Lewis and Oizerman are scientists at the University of Michigan and the University of Southern California. In their own, they tried to prove what drives our procrastination and whether it is possible to eradicate it. We can say they succeeded.

Scientists started from the theory that we subconsciously divide ourselves into two personalities: the real "I" and the future "I". And if the real "I" is at the head of life, then the future "I" is the most ordinary clerk that no one remembers.

Because of this, all our actions are aimed at satisfying the needs of the real "I". Why save money for retirement if I want to buy a new smartphone? Why give up a sandwich before bed if I want it now and there are still three weeks before the beach season? Scientists wanted to answer this question:

How can we get us to think more about the future self and less about the present?

With the help of a series of experiments, Lewis and Oizerman determined: if the subjects are told that a certain number of days are left before an event, and not months or years, then they subconsciously think that it will come faster.

Participants in the trial were asked to imagine that they had a baby and that they needed to go to college in 18 years. The other group was told that the child would go to college in 6,570 days.

The second group of subjects decided to save money four times earlier than the first. The rest of the conditions were equal.

The scientists did not give specific advice on how to use the results of their experiment in practice. It may be worth counting all deadlines in days, not months or years. Then we will assume that they are closer than they really are. And this will have a positive effect on our desire not to procrastinate.

What do you think?