DesertFox
01-12-2007, 09:02 AM
Washington - Procrastination in society is getting worse, and scientists are finally getting around to figuring out how and why. Too many tempting diversions are to blame, but more on that later.
After 10 years of research on a project that was supposed to take only five years, a Canadian industrial psychologist found in a giant study that not only is procrastination on the rise, it makes people poorer, fatter and unhappier.
... In 1978, only about 5 percent of Americans thought of themselves as chronic procrastinators. Now it's 26 percent, Steel said.
... Psychologist William Knaus ... said he found it harder to wean chronic procrastinators from the habit of delaying than to wean alcoholics from booze. Knaus mentioned one businessman who spent 40 hours to avoid five minutes of work.
"It's a huge problem," Knaus said. "I think the majority of mental disabilities people have - anxiety, panic - they can be defined as a special case of procrastination."
... The causes of procrastination combine temptation, sense of immediacy, the value of doing the job, and whether you believe you can get the work done, Steel found. He even created a complicated mathematical formula, complete with Greek letters, to figure out when a person is likely to procrastinate.
More (http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4996998)
After 10 years of research on a project that was supposed to take only five years, a Canadian industrial psychologist found in a giant study that not only is procrastination on the rise, it makes people poorer, fatter and unhappier.
... In 1978, only about 5 percent of Americans thought of themselves as chronic procrastinators. Now it's 26 percent, Steel said.
... Psychologist William Knaus ... said he found it harder to wean chronic procrastinators from the habit of delaying than to wean alcoholics from booze. Knaus mentioned one businessman who spent 40 hours to avoid five minutes of work.
"It's a huge problem," Knaus said. "I think the majority of mental disabilities people have - anxiety, panic - they can be defined as a special case of procrastination."
... The causes of procrastination combine temptation, sense of immediacy, the value of doing the job, and whether you believe you can get the work done, Steel found. He even created a complicated mathematical formula, complete with Greek letters, to figure out when a person is likely to procrastinate.
More (http://www.denverpost.com/ci_4996998)