jimmifli
May 21st, 2003, 9:38:41 AM
Procrastination (http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?id=259DBC50-E593-4ADE-9F3B-E6990F1614D9)
Put it off until tomorrow: you're only human after all
Robin Summerfield
CanWest News Service
CALGARY -- Mark Twain once said: "Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow."
Twain never lived in the age of e-mail, the Internet or television -- favourite distractions when work, chores and that school paper beckon.
But he knew a thing or two about putting off the inevitable.
Shelving, delaying, postponing what we hate to do, we do best.
"Hard work pays off tomorrow, procrastination pays off today. There's the rub," said Piers Steel, a University of Calgary business professor who has just completed a three-year study on just about everything written about the art of procrastination.
After a review of more than 700 professional papers from the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, sociology, as well as historical material that dated back 3,000 years, Mr. Steel has some good news and some bad news.
"We are all procrastinators to a certain extent."
Our hunter-gatherer nature, while suppressed to an extent by modern life, can rear its head when we delay those projects, create those excuses, dust off the television, fire off an e-mail, instead of getting down to business, he said.
"We have made an environment perfect for procrastination," said Mr. Steel, who will present his findings at an international psychology conference in Ohio in August. "We have all these amazing temptations that distract us from our tasks, our work, our responsibilities."
more...
Put it off until tomorrow: you're only human after all
Robin Summerfield
CanWest News Service
CALGARY -- Mark Twain once said: "Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow."
Twain never lived in the age of e-mail, the Internet or television -- favourite distractions when work, chores and that school paper beckon.
But he knew a thing or two about putting off the inevitable.
Shelving, delaying, postponing what we hate to do, we do best.
"Hard work pays off tomorrow, procrastination pays off today. There's the rub," said Piers Steel, a University of Calgary business professor who has just completed a three-year study on just about everything written about the art of procrastination.
After a review of more than 700 professional papers from the fields of psychology, philosophy, economics, sociology, as well as historical material that dated back 3,000 years, Mr. Steel has some good news and some bad news.
"We are all procrastinators to a certain extent."
Our hunter-gatherer nature, while suppressed to an extent by modern life, can rear its head when we delay those projects, create those excuses, dust off the television, fire off an e-mail, instead of getting down to business, he said.
"We have made an environment perfect for procrastination," said Mr. Steel, who will present his findings at an international psychology conference in Ohio in August. "We have all these amazing temptations that distract us from our tasks, our work, our responsibilities."
more...