Why are some people procrastinators?
MINNEAPOLIS — There's just a week left to shop for Christmas. Some are completely ready while others haven't even started to shop.
There are a lot of reasons to get distracted this time of year and to procrastinate.
Amitai Shenhav happens to be a published expert on the subject. He's a professor at UC Berkeley.
"In its traditional definition, procrastination literally means to put something off until later, until tomorrow," Shenhav said.
Prime procrastination scenarios he cites, aside from shopping, are studying and filing taxes.
But are people planners or procrastinators by nature?
"My understanding is that there is that genetic element to who ends up being more or less of a procrastinator and one reason for that is that some people there are differences in people and how impulsive they are," Shenhav said.
He says planning can also be learned. Say if a parent is in the military, the kids may learn preparation young.
"People by and large tend to procrastinate," Shenhav said.
He referenced a large-scale study that shows 75% of college students say they procrastinate.
"This is not something that you are good or bad at, that is completing tasks or not, it represents this confluence of how you are representing the importance of things in your environment," Shenhav said.
He says planning can be learned, so there's no time to waste.
As for beating procrastination, Shenhav says to make benchmark rewards for yourself, like, "If I work on my taxes for 20 minutes tonight, I'll treat myself to a bowl of ice cream."
Deadlines, even self-imposed, are key to productivity. He also says doing things you dread the most about a project can also help you move through it.
