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Why Do We Procrastinate?
Procrastination Has
less To Do With Perfectionism Than A Lack Of
Confidence, A Study Shows
By Miranda Hitti,
WebMD
Medical News |
 (WebMD)
The reason we procrastinate may be more about
confidence than perfectionism, a new study says.
Contrary to popular belief, procrastinators
generally aren't perfectionists; instead, they're
more likely to delay tasks they're not confident
about, says researcher Piers Steel, Ph.D.
Steel is an assistant professor in the human
resources and organizational dynamics department of
Canada's University of Calgary.
"Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence
in themselves, less expectancy that they can
actually complete a task," Steel says in a
University of Calgary news release.
"Perfectionism is not the culprit," he continues.
"In fact, perfectionists procrastinate less, but
they worry about it more."
Steel reviewed procrastination research from
scholarly books, conferences, journals, and other
sources.
His review appears in the January edition of the
American Psychological Association's Psychological
Bulletin.
Procrastination has been around ever since
civilization began and "does not appear to be
disappearing anytime soon," writes Steel.
So he boiled procrastination down to a mathematical
formula.
The formula predicts procrastination based on a
person's expectation of finishing a task, the task's
importance, the person's desire to complete the
task, and how soon the task needs to be done.
The formula suggests people are less likely to
procrastinate if the task has to be done ASAP and
they feel confident they are up to the task.
It suggests people are more likely to procrastinate
if the task is less urgent, less appealing, or
daunting to the person facing the task.
Other factors may also be involved, Steel notes.
For example, he points out that rebellious people
may tend to procrastinate tasks given by authority
figures; and depressed people may procrastinate due
to low energy.
More research is needed on procrastination, and the
sooner, the better, Steel concludes.
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