Posted by Helen on: 02.16.2009 /
I found this Economist article interesting.
Motivating minds: People procrastinate when asked to think in the abstract
TO SOME there is nothing so urgent that it cannot be postponed in favour of a cup of tea. Such procrastination is a mystery to psychologists, who wonder why people would sabotage themselves in this way. A team of researchers led by Sean McCrea of the University of Konstanz, in Germany, reckon they have found a piece of the puzzle. People act in a timely way when given concrete tasks but dawdle when they view them in abstract terms.
Comment by: Anisha
1You know, Helen, I looked at this three times yesterday and thought I shouldn’t respond, since I was procrastinating! I’ve definitely noticed that I do that, I think the hurdle is to make concrete everything we do!
Comment by: Helen
2Yes, that’s what I was thinking too, Anisha!
Did you ever see the movie What about Bob? I like the idea of breaking a task down into doable ‘baby steps’ like the psychologist in that movie did. Maybe there’s overlap between that and this study, since smaller steps tend to be more concrete - or involve less thought, which perhaps is the problem with abstract tasks. Something we don’t have to think about perhaps seems easier to get started.
Comment by: Anisha
3No, I’ve never seen it. But I began to read (and subsequently put down) the book “How to Have a 48 Hour Day” and it basically said the same thing. I find that when I start a bigger project, I need to list the actual “action steps” that I need to do, or procrastination will overcome it before it even gets off the ground.
Comment by: Helen
4Same here, Anisha. I’m greatly tempted to procrastinate!
Comment by: Elaine
5thanks for this article - it actually came at an interesting time for me. a group I volunteer with has several different committees going on and many of them seem to be losing steam. I’ve even been on ones that faded away totally.
In wondering what went wrong, I now think the problem was that we had nothing “definite” we were going to do - no date for the project, just a vague idea that might develop into something…
this research supports my frequent request - just give me a deadline to shoot for and don’t make the project so abstract I haven’t a clue what I’m doing and why. :)
Comment by: Helen
6Elaine, I can see how having no definite project or deadline could cause a committee to lose steam. This research does seem to go along with what happened to those committees.