Thread: So why do people procrastinate?

Well U=EV/ID apparently, where
U = utility or the desire to complete a given task
E = the expectation of success
V = the value of completion
I = the immediacy of the task
D = the personal sensitivity to delay.

And there was me thinking it was just because I am bone idle

Academics invent a mathematical equation for why people procrastinate

It might seem an idle pastime but academics have come up with a mathematical equation for why people procrastinate.



By Urmee Khan
Last Updated: 9:15AM GMT 08 Dec 2008

Research began by studying procrastination habits of 250 college students Photo: GETTY IMAGES


Prof Piers Steel, a Canadian academic who has spent more than 10 years studying why people put off until tomorrow what they could do today, believes that the notion that procrastinators are either perfectionists or just lazy is wrong.
Prof Steel, who admits to becoming distracted by computer games himself, argues in a new book that those prone to putting things off suffer from a vice of their own - impulsiveness.
Chronic procastinators, who make up 20 per cent of the population, are more impulsive and erratic than other people and less conscientious about attention to detail and obligations to others, he says in his forthcoming book, The Procrastination Equation: Today's Trouble with Tomorrow.
The psychologist, from the University of Calgary, has subsequently formed an equation for why people procrastinate, which began by studying 250 college students.
The equation is U=EV/ID.
The 'U' stands for utility, or the desire to complete a given task. It is equal to the product of E, the expectation of success, and V the value of completion, divided by the product of I, the immediacy of the task, and D, the personal sensitivity to delay.
Prof Steel says procrastination is becoming a bigger issue because many more jobs are "self-structured", with people setting their own schedules.
This means that people tend to postpone things with delayed rewards in favour of activities that offer immediate rewards.
"Procastinators tend to live fro today rather than tomorrow. for short term gain for long term pain" he writes.
Until now, psychologists have generally linked procrastination to perfectionists who avoid tasks rather than produce less than perfect products.
So, instead of people being too lazy to care about the task, he believes that most procrastinators believe they can complete a task and also care about it.
Lazy people, by contrast, are not bothered whether they can finish the job – they just do not want to do it. Both can come up with excuses such as a dog eating the homework.
Famous procrastinators include writers Marcel Proust and Douglas Adams, who famously said he loved the "whoosh" of missed deadlines passing over his head.

I'll read this later.

Well it would appear that the author of the study didn't get right down to it - "10years"

Originally Posted by Troubled

a Canadian academic who has spent more than 10 years studying why people put off until tomorrow what they could do today

I learned, at an early age, not to put off till tomorrow, what you could do today. This is based on the notion that, if it was good, you may want to do it again tomorrow. This was before I discovered that it is better to get it right before you think about doing it at all. Thus was born, the phrase 'research and development'. This now seems to take up a lot of time, when I could be out there, 'doing it' to see if I like it. Such is life.

Give me a while to think about that,and maybe I will come back to you with the answer

If procrastinators had a club would they ever have a meeting?

I'll let you know in a few days - busy at the moment...

mostly when someone puts off something they told you they was going to do meant that they were not going to do it at all in the first place.

What's the formula for lazy people? In the end, it's the same, innit?

I used to procrastinate somewhat, I would agree to do something when I knew I was going to get drunk instead.

And it wasn't because I was lazy,, damn staying drunk all the time is hard work.

Someone's tax dollars hard at work!