Don't Delay

Understanding procrastination and how to achieve our goals.

Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. is an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where he specializes in the study of procrastination. See full bio

April 8, 2009

Twitter: A Desultory Behavior

It took a major economic meltdown for us to recognize the problem with greed in the free market. I wonder what it's going to take for us to recognize the problem with desultory behavior created by social-networking technologies? Read More

April 7, 2009

Email "addicts" need this creative commitment device

There is an almost irresistible pull to that signal, and although it varies from program to program, it means the same thing, "you've got mail!" It's really a necessary task, but for far too many people it's become a problem. It's not a new problem, but that's part of the problem, email is everywhere, so the problem grows. Here's a simple solution that works. Read More

April 5, 2009

Tween time management: Personality, Gender & School Performance

Time management: the completion of tasks within an expected timeframe while maintaining quality through planning, organizing, prioritizing or multitasking. A study to be published next month provides insight into what this means for 12 year olds. Read More

April 3, 2009

Let my people surf the Web - they'll be more productive!

Companies worry a lot about lost productivity. Some spend millions on software to block employees from using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or online shopping. A recent study questions this approach. In fact, a little surfing seems to increase productivity. Read More

April 3, 2009

Procrastination killer

Can your iPhone help you procrastinate less? Read More

April 1, 2009

Procrastination Therapy: The secret ingredient for success

Finally, the blog entry you've been waiting for, the secret ingredient to ending procrastination. Read More

March 31, 2009

How to overcome obstacles to goal pursuit when that obstacle is you!

We've all seen it, if only in the movies - a coach detailing the plays for the football team. Deliberate strategies to get around obstacles to the goal. But what happens when the obstacle is you? What's your game plan? Read More

March 30, 2009

Time traveling to reduce procrastination (and "tough love" for procrastinators)

We set the best of intentions for tomorrow with the belief that tomorrow will also bring the motivation to act. Some of these are new intentions, some "re-treads" as we procrastinate today. "I'll feel more like it tomorrow." Will you? Here are two strategies to help ensure you'll actually fulfill that intention. Read More

March 28, 2009

Affective forecasting, intentions and why we procrastinate

We take action or make intentions for action believing that the action will make us feel better. This is the perceived hedonic consequence of future events. The trouble is, the research on affective forecasting shows that we're terrible at predicting how we will feel in the future. I think this is a key issue in understanding procrastination. Read More

March 27, 2009

Academic delay of gratification, motivation and self-regulated learning strategies

Competing intentions. We all have them; Exercise as we intended, or spend another night as couch potato. A recent study on academic delay of gratification sheds some light on the self-regulatory skills and learning strategies that successful students use to delay gratification. Read More

Procrastination Basics

Everyone procrastinate sometimes, but 20 percent of people are true procrastinators. They consistently avoid difficult tasks and deliberately look for distractions, which, unfortunately, are increasingly available. Procrastination in large part reflects our difficulty in regulating emotions and to accurately predict how we will feel tomorrow, or the next day.

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