The smarter you are, the more likely you'll be to put things off. For smart folks, procrastination may be the norm. "It could very well be the most basic human impulse," says psychologist George Ainslie, the inventor of "hyperbolic discounting," the human tendency to plan practically anything as long as it's sometime well in the future and not now.
Hyperbolic discounting
The standard experiment : to compare short-term preferences with long-term preferences. For instance:
"Would you prefer $1 today or $3 tomorrow?" or
"Would you prefer $1 in one year or $3 in one year and one day?"
... when offered the choice between $50 now and $100 a year from now, many people will choose the immediate $50. However, given the choice between $50 in five years or $100 in six years almost everyone will choose $100 in six years, even though that is the same choice seen at five years' greater distance.
The Greeks called it akrasia--"Doing something against one's better judgment." The condition is of great interest and puzzlement to motivators because of its irrationality. Surely we should all be getting positive things done in a steady, rational manner.
Socrates asks precisely how this is possible - if one judges action A to be the best course of action, why would one do anything other than A?
Socrates attests that akrasia is an illogical moral concept, claiming “No one goes willingly toward the bad”
Aristotle on the other hand took a more empirical approach to the question.
Read more .... Akrasia
What do you think of procrastination?
To say that procrastination is not a personal weakness is like scapegoating biology to condone violence or crime towards others!
ReplyDeleteIn the name of idleness, would we ever have a Website with the following address?
www.procrastinatenow.com