

Later: What does procrastination tell us about ourselves? - cwan
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2010/10/11/101011crbo_books_surowiecki?currentPage=all

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akamaka
By far the best article I've read on procrastination was published in the
Harvard Business Review a few years ago.

It looked at behaviours like procrastination and perfectionism in terms of the
psychology of the relationship of the worker with the person needing the work
done. It persuasively argues that the problem lies not in poor time management
skills, but in the self-esteem of the person doing the work and how they
handle people being unhappy with their work.

The article posted here today is philosophical and thoughtful, whereas the HBR
article is immensely practical and evidence-based. The full article is behind
a paywall, but I highly recommend it!

<http://hbr.org/product/chronic-time-abuse/an/R0406F-PDF-ENG>

~~~
gregsadetsky
Looks like it's available here:

[http://www.evolutivconsultants.ro/wp-
content/uploads/2010/03...](http://www.evolutivconsultants.ro/wp-
content/uploads/2010/03/Chronic-Time-Abuse.pdf)

~~~
akamaka
Thank you for finding this!

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dporan
A quick search turned up this great quote from a research psychologist:
"Procrastination is not waiting and it is more than delaying. It is a decision
to not act."

I see that he has a new book:
[http://books.google.com/books?id=L4BDQxrME0IC&printsec=f...](http://books.google.com/books?id=L4BDQxrME0IC&printsec=frontcover)

Of course, I probably won't get around to reading it. :-)

~~~
gcheong
Then I might suggest you start with this, much smaller, more focused book. You
can probably read the entire thing in about an hour or so:

[http://www.amazon.com/Procrastinators-Digest-Concise-
Solving...](http://www.amazon.com/Procrastinators-Digest-Concise-Solving-
Procrastination/dp/1453528598/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289079667&sr=8-2)

The authors of both books are good friends and Pychyl wrote the forward to
Ferrari's book.

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T_S_
I will never watch a DVD that I buy, only one that I rent.

When there is no consequence to procrastination, it is inevitable. It must be
true then that deadlines add value.

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harringf
Bookmarked. I will read it later.

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exit
i'm half way through it. it's quite interesting, but i seriously wish it were
25% as long.

i read these articles because i honestly hope to get something life changing
out of them, not for the pleasure of illustrative anecdotes.

i suspect authors of such articles have a word count to meet? it's unfortunate
that the economics of writing reward filling whitespace - how could we
motivate writers to be as succinct as possible?

~~~
XFrequentist
Recommended: <http://www.zapreader.com/>

Now that I'm used to it, I find I retain more this way than linear reading.

~~~
gnosis
Here's a similar, stand-alone application called Dictator:

<http://dictator.sourceforge.net/dictator.html>

