Never put off until tomorrow what you can easily put off a lot longer than that.
Not, perhaps, the wisest words to live by. But they worked out well for Piers Steel. The University of Calgary psychology professor spent 10 years studying procrastination before he finally got around to publishing his findings in this month's Psychological Bulletin.
("I had to read a lot of papers," he says.)
Steel was on a mission. He wanted to figure out what the reams of past procrastination research really added up to.
Now, after pooling the data from 216 earlier studies -- and incorporating results from hundreds more -- he has compiled a comprehensive report that includes, among other things, findings about the damage procrastination can do to health, happiness and bank accounts; who is likely to procrastinate (young people more than older people, men slightly more than women); and on what tasks people are likely to procrastinate (tasks they don't like to do).
His most surprising findings may involve the characteristics that drive people to procrastinate. By his analysis, perfectionism and anxiety are not guilty as they've so often been charged. In fact, he says, perfectionists are a little less likely than others to stall around -- although they'll worry about it more if they do. Instead, his findings point to impulsiveness as the prime suspect.
When people act impulsively, they make snap decisions and focus on what they want to do in the here and now. They'll postpone starting the diet that will have them looking good at class-reunion time because right this minute they want to eat a piece of pie. "Thoughts of the future do not weigh heavily in their decisions," Steel says.
Other researchers in the field are greeting Steel's paper with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
"I'm glad to see the article, I'm glad it's getting coverage. A lot of people don't understand how complicated procrastination is," says author and psychologist Bill Knaus of Massachusetts, who conducted one of the earliest procrastination workshops 35 years ago and has written books on the subject.
But others take issue with some of Steel's conclusions -- such as his dismissal of the perfectionism-procrastination link.
"Steel really tried to look at everything for this paper -- I applaud him for that," says Timothy Pychyl, associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. But, he adds, "He makes the sweeping generalization that perfectionism doesn't have a role in procrastination. He can't do that."
