I was doing a little paper cleanup when I ran across a Psychology Today article I had copied from Sept/Oct 2009. The article was about procrastination. I re-read it. No I was not procrastinating about reading it since then...funny :)
The best part of the article was a formula that was presented by Piers Steel. He conducted a meta-analysis of 70 different studies. His ultimate contribution is the utility formula which measures how likely you are to procrastinate on any given task:
Utility Function=E*(V/I)*D=EVD/I
where
E(Expectancy) is person's expectation for succeeding at a given task
V(value) is importance/fun a given task presents
I(Impulsiveness) is how badly you need the reward for finishing
D(delay) is a person's need for immediate gratification, their sensitivity to its
delay, how easily distracted you are
So before starting a task ask yourself and give a score on scale of 0(false)-1.0(true) for each category.
For example, suppose I want to run a marathon. I might put my odds at succeeding at 50% so I assign a 0.5. The value of the task is pretty high for me since it is one of my life goals so a 1. The impulsiveness for doing it is about a 0.5. My health would improve but my life would not change drastically. Do I need to do it now? It could wait till next year although my knees are starting to hurt more so I better do it this year..so a 0.7. Putting it together gives P=.5*1*.5/.7= .357 or 36% chance of procrastinating... Cool
So if I want to reduce the P value I can increase the .7 or decrease the .5 values. I could increase my belief of succeeding by reading runner magazines and training more often. I could decrease my I score by making it more of a scheduled routine activity. Now I am armed with some ideas on how to reduce the likelihood to procrastinate.
Today's question is:
"What is something you are procrastinating about? (What are our numbers?)"
No comments:
Post a Comment