The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done

This is the fundamental question that "The Procrastination Equation" sets out to answer. This interesting book looks at the evolution of procrastination, and explains what goes on in our brains when we decide to procrastinate. The book also gives us strategies for finally overcoming this bad habit once and for all.

And what happens if you actually take this book's message to heart?

You'll stop finding excuses and finally start working towards your most important goals, whether you want to lose weight or get a promotion. You'll work better, and more efficiently, because you'll know how to manage your time intelligently.

Best of all, the guilt and misery you go through when you put off tasks will be transformed into guilt-free relaxation when it's all done. Think how you've felt in the past when you've gotten everything done you needed to do. It feels great, right?

By learning how not to procrastinate, you'll experience less stress, and be a happier person, because you'll be living your best life. And, you'll stop wasting time obsessing over all the stuff you're not doing.

This is the kind of book that all of us can benefit from, because – let's face it – we all procrastinate. So no matter what your age or occupation, you're going to find something interesting and useful in this book.

The author, Piers Steel, is a leading researcher and speaker on the science of motivation and procrastination. He's been studying procrastination for over 10 years, and his research has appeared in magazines such as Psychology Today and New Scientist. It's been reported in the New York Times and USA Today, among others.

So, keep listening to find out the true source of procrastination, how much time your team may be losing to procrastination every day, and how to rephrase your goals so you're less likely to put them off.

"The Procrastination Equation" is divided into 11 chapters. Chapter one forces us to look closely at ourselves to find out how often, and how badly, we procrastinate. There's a useful quiz in this chapter that scores our tendency to procrastinate. If you decide to take it, you might find yourself in the middle of the road, which is where most of us fall.

This chapter is where we learn the true source of procrastination. According to 30 years of research, the personality trait that predicts procrastination most often is impulsiveness. If you live in the moment and often want things right now, then chances are very high you're going to procrastinate.

The reason is that impulsive people don't have much ability to endure short-term pain for long-term gain. So, they grasp on to something small they can have now, and don't think much about the pain of tomorrow.

The author gives us plenty of information to help us understand why impulsiveness is often the stepping stone to procrastination. If you have any impulsive tendencies, you'll be nodding your head in recognition here. Of course, there are other personality traits that are directly linked with procrastination. Impulsiveness, and these other traits, are explained in more detail in the next chapter.

It's here that the author explains why we procrastinate. And the science behind this eternal question is truly fascinating.

First, though, we get a glimpse of the author's procrastination equation, which gives the book its title. It starts with three basic elements of procrastination: Expectancy, Value and Time. These three motivators directly contribute to our procrastination.

For instance, imagine you're assigned a project you're not sure you're skilled enough to do. You think it's going to be difficult, and you question your ability to even finish. So, you put it off. According to the author, your low expectancy and lack of self confidence are the stepping stones to your procrastination. In situations where your confidence is challenged, it's easy to put off the task.

If you struggle with value, then you put off tasks you find boring or unpleasant. For instance, imagine you have to write a report for your boss. The research and writing will be tedious, and you probably won't see any reward except a curt "thanks" from your boss. This is the kind of low-value task that is prime for procrastination.

Or perhaps you find yourself easily swayed by momentary fun activities. An interesting website will pull your attention away from work. Or, a phone call to a friend is a more immediate pleasure than planning for and cooking dinner. If this sounds like you then you value rewards that can be obtained quickly far more than rewards that make you wait. Here, you're struggling with time – as well as value.

Most of us probably run up against all three elements of procrastination. And the three fit together into a neat equation the author created to explain, and predict, procrastination. The equation is far too detailed to cover here, but the science behind these elements, and how they fit into his procrastination equation, is really fascinating. The equation offers a convincing explanation of why we do what we do.

Since this information forms the foundation for the rest of the book, this is a chapter you won't want to miss. You'll definitely look at your own procrastination habits differently once you're done.

Chapter three digs into the neuroscience behind the tendency to procrastinate. Here, we find out why our brains are hardwired to put things off. The answer lies in the struggle between our ancient limbic system, the part of our brain that controls instinct and desire, and our prefrontal cortex, which is the part of our brain that controls reason and logical thinking. If you're anything like us, you'll find the science fascinating here.

The author spends a great deal of time, almost half the book, explaining procrastination. Of course we learn the science behind this bad habit, but we also learn why and how society contributes to people procrastinating. We learn about the high personal costs of procrastination. And in chapter six we get an in-depth look at the economic costs of procrastination.

If you're in a management or leadership role, you won't want to miss this one. Many of the statistics here are downright shocking.

According to recent research, the average worker wastes two hours a day procrastinating. And, this doesn't include lunch or any scheduled breaks. The author breaks down the numbers, and tells us that procrastination costs organizations, on average, almost $10,000 per employee, per year.

After reading this chapter you'll be sorely tempted to teach your team some of the procrastination strategies covered in the latter half of the book, beginning with chapter eight.

This is where we start getting some useful tips and advice for overcoming procrastination. And the author's first suggestion is to find relevancy in our work.

As all of us know, we often have to do work that we find boring or distasteful. And there's no better breeding ground for procrastination than this. The good news is the author gives us some useful techniques to help us turn a boring task into something more meaningful.

If we're working on an especially mundane task, we can try to make it more difficult for ourselves by turning it into a game. For instance, we could try doing the task in half the time, or with one hand.

The author gives us a few examples to help illustrate his point. Competitive swimmers often keep boredom at bay by imagining sharks in the pool. One assembly line worker at a potato chip factory collected unusual chips that resembled famous people.

Although these examples won't apply if you're working in an office setting, they at least give you enough of a start to imagine what you could be doing to add some fun and interest to boring tasks.

The author makes an interesting point in this chapter. He says that procrastination usually decreases the older we get, because maturity makes us better able to see the relevancy in what we do. And the more we can connect the dots between the work we're doing, and how it's leading us on to something better, the easier it is to knuckle down and get it done.

Chapter nine focuses on how to manage those short-term impulses so we can keep moving forward towards our long-term goals. A short-term impulse might be making a detour to the break room to grab a cupcake instead of heading straight to your desk. Or, deciding to do some online shopping instead of working.

One way to focus on the important tasks is to think carefully about the words we use. In this context, the author talks about Avoidance Goals and Approach Goals.

Avoidance Goals sound like their name. They use words that describe the failure you want to prevent. For instance, imagine your goal is to not leave late for work. This is an avoidance goal because when you say it, you're reinforcing the very idea you want to avoid. A better way to say this goal would be, "My goal is to leave early." Put this way your goal is positive and you're more likely to stick with it – the author says.

Another good example is when it comes to dieting. You could say, "I'm not eating treats," which is depressing. Or you could say, "I'm eating healthy meals," which is much more open. It's a subtle difference, but one that can make a difference when it comes to procrastinating on a goal, or finally getting started.

We can also avoid procrastination by scheduling our hardest tasks at our peak times. For instance, imagine your boss has delegated an important project to you. You decide to work on it at the end of your working day, after you've gotten everything else done. The only problem is you're most tired at the end of the day. So, week after week you keep putting it off because you just don't have the energy or excitement to get started.

We need to schedule our most important work during our peak energy times. Although this varies for everyone, the author says this is likely to be a few hours after we wake up. And, our peak energy period lasts around four hours. If we wake up at seven o'clock, then our peak energy period is probably from 10-2.

By strategically scheduling our work around this window, we can get an amazing amount of work done.

Another strategy you can use is to engage in productive procrastination. Productive procrastination is when you avoid an important task by doing another task that could easily wait until later. For instance, you clean your bedroom instead of doing the taxes that are due in a few days. Or, you organize your office instead of finishing an important report. You're doing things here – just not the things you intended to focus on.

The author says productive procrastination is a good thing. When you avoid your target task by completing smaller tasks, you're putting yourself in a better position to hit your target task when you finally get to it. In a sense, he's saying your newly organized office will help you finish writing that report when you finally make yourself get started.

We disagreed with this strategy. In our opinion, it's far too easy to get sucked into productive procrastination. Yes, you're accomplishing some small chores or tasks. But you're still avoiding your most important work. You could spend all day productively procrastinating with one task or another. And at the end of the day, you might have a pile of little things done. But your most critical work is still left untouched.

The author stresses a critical point about procrastination towards the end of the book. Reorganizing our time, and our life, to be 100 percent productive all the time is just as unhealthy as procrastinating all the time. All of us, no matter what we do or how old we are, need open time to daydream, to play, and to just relax. Cutting out this time in the interest of productivity isn't a good solution for anyone. This was a vital point that hopefully every reader will take to heart.

So, what's our last word on "The Procrastination Equation"?

We think the book offers a fascinating look at the science behind procrastination. The author spends a lot of time explaining how and why we put things off. And, most of you will probably find this just as interesting as we did.

We felt the chapters detailing the strategies to combat procrastination were left a bit wanting. Although there are some good tips here, if you've done any reading on the subject before, you might have heard most of them already.

The biggest benefit of the book is that it will help you understand why you're procrastinating. Getting a bird's eye view of why you're acting the way you do is illuminating, and might even help you change your behavior. When it comes to actual tips and how-tos, however, you might find the lack of depth a bit frustrating. At least, we did.

All in all, however, we're still recommending the book, based on the fascinating science of procrastination.

"The Procrastination Equation," by Piers Steel, is published by HarperCollins.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.