The one exception came about because of a schoolmate. He had been formally diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder and consequently received a steady supply of the drug Ritalin. Knowing I was having trouble with an upcoming creative writing project, he gave me a few tablets as a study aid. In the privacy of my dorm room, I swallowed these little round pills and started to write. The drug was remarkable and soon showed itself as words started to spill out onto the page faster and faster. They formed sentences and then paragraphs, which soon grew into complete sections. At about three in the morning, after far exceeding the recommended word length, I simply decided that I had more than enough and tied up the piece. It wasn't because I was tired or didn't have more to say. I had concentration to spare and the will to continue but the task was simply already done and then some. Ritalin had made what was difficult easy, and I loved it. If I could have gotten my own prescription, I would have. Instead, I had to learn how to concentrate drug-free.

My story may be three decades old, but it certainly isn't our first foray into pharmaceutical solutions to motivational problems. Sigmund Freud, for example, was temporarily a proponent of cocaine as a work stimulant, among a myriad of other uses. Today, the desire for the perfect pill continues. Just as athletes have their steroids, intellectuals can have their performance enhanced, too.

One of the stars of the recent movie thriller Limitless was a pill: the much-coveted (and fictional) nootropic drug NZT-48. In the film, NZT-48 not only has the power to cure all procrastinating tendencies, but also bumps up your IQ three-fold, allowing little tricks like instant and total recall. Everything you ever read, saw or learned stays with you permanently if you take the drug. Under NZT-48's influence, the film's protoganist, Eddie Morra (played by Bradley Cooper), is transformed from an unsuccessful writer into one of the masters of the world. Limitless isn't entirely a Hollywood invention, however; it is simply an exaggeration of reality. Nootropic pharmaceuticals, also called smart drugs, memory enhancers or cognitive enhancers, do indeed exist, though their effectiveness is controversial.

Though product lines aimed at chemically improving memory are still in the development phase, some other neuroenhancers are already on the market for increasing concentration. I mentioned Ritalin already but drugs such as Modafinil (e.g., Provigil) and Adderall are also becoming known as anti-procrastination pills. A growing secondary (albeit at times illegal) market for these drugs is as study aids for students in various levels of education, from high school to medical school and then to the professors that teach them. Estimates of their use by college students often exceed one in ten, so you likely at least know someone personally who has used them. The real question, though, is whether they "cure" procrastination and if so, how.

The best-known motivation medication is my old friend Ritalin (available under brand names such as Concerta and Methylphenidate); commonly prescribed to ADHD sufferers, it is referred to as "Vitamin R" by the drug's secondary market of student users. It does a wide variety of effects desirable for decreasing procrastination. It is known for its ability to increase spatial memory, helping the user to better remember graphs and diagrams, and has also been linked to increasing concentration and alertness. Also, since the number one reasons people report for procrastination is being too tired, any amphetamine will certainly provide a boost of energy - they are "uppers." Asking around our own university, it wasn't hard to find a few users. One student reported that he only used Concerta during finals and midterms, when he needed to study for extended periods of time and retain a great deal of information. Effects he listed included severely decreased appetite, an inability to fall asleep easily, and the all-important significant increase in attention to detail. For these reasons he claimed he wouldn't ever take the pills unless he was in dire need of a concentration boost, as they are expensive to obtain and the side effects are generally harder to deal with than the actual work was worth.

Adderall performs much like Ritalin, both being an amphetamine derivative, so we'll skip it and go right to Modafinil, created to treat narcolepsy and often used in cognitive-based therapies (Ghahremani, 2011). Some claim it is more effective than Ritalin as a cognitive enhancer. Studies show that it causes a focusing in brain activity towards the frontal cortex and thus increases cognitive performance in young and healthy individuals. In a study performed in 2003, Dr. Barbara Sahakian reported that subjects who had taken Modafinil moved from one task to the next more smoothly and adjusted swiftly without getting stressed or anxious when confronted with conflicting stimuli. Sahakian suggested that Modafinil "may be the first real smart drug" and that "a lot of people will probably take it. I suspect they do already." A study performed last year found that both Modafinil and Ritalin improved memory, but that only Modafinil increased wakefulness and executive order brain functions, although its effects did fade in patients who were sleep-deprived (Repantis, 2010).

Are these drugs a short cut to eliminate procrastination? Can we forget all those motivational techniques scientists have been cultivating over the last century, put aside the debate over whether procrastination is caused by perfectionism or impulsiveness and just pop a pill? I would find this most disappointing given I've dedicated a large portion of my life to studying procrastination, but let's explore the option anyway.

For starters, these neuroenhancers drugs aren't for everyone. You may not find their effectiveness worth the side effects. Everyone's brain chemistry is slightly different, and the drugs aren't universally effective - and even if they were, the cost might be excessive. For example, the fictional Limitless drug NZT-48 wasn't without its price either; stop using it once and you started to die. Let's consider Adderall. Though part of the amphetamine family and related to the street drug "speed," due to its composition Adderall is far less abrasive. Still, it betrays its origins with this litany of side effects reported for Adderall from http://adderallsideeffects.org/:

Common side effects of Adderall use or abuse include anorexia, dry mouth, chronic thirst, the development of sleeping disorders or generalized difficulty sleeping, chronic headaches or migraines, pain in the stomach, high blood pressure, sudden and unexplained weight loss, mood swings or other emotional changes, nausea with vomiting, sudden dizziness or fainting, a generalized feeling of weakness or tiredness, a sudden spike in heart rate, a higher risk of infections, unexplained fevers, heartburn, chest pains, and a slowing of growth in children. Those who use the drug for an extended period of time may also experience severe withdrawals, periods of depression, and, with extreme abuse, amphetamine psychosis.