Procrastination featured on CBC's The Current Tuesday, December 28
December 27, 2010
Mark D. White
I'll be appearing on CBC's The Current program Tuesday morning, December 28, discussing procrastination alongside Piers Steel, prominent procrastination researcher and author of The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done
UPDATE: Here's the podcast.
As soon as I have finished tidying my study I will, of course, be tuning into this piece in a bid to extend this mornings procrastination and avoid writing my current paper. ;)
Posted by: Muireann Quigley | December 29, 2010 at 07:17 AM
Do you honestly think there's a procrastination joke I haven't heard by now, Muireann? :)
Posted by: Mark D. White | December 29, 2010 at 07:26 AM
If only I was joking. I have currently decided that shredding a big pile of paper is preferable to writing. :( Never mind - the tagline on CBC's site promises to cure me of my procrastination - for which I will be most grateful! :)
Posted by: Muireann Quigley | December 29, 2010 at 07:31 AM
Nice podcast, with a biological as well as philosophical take. Query: We have a judgmental word (procrastination) for someone who puts off, despite knowing this will make herself worse off.
But is there a judgmental word for someone who is completely lacking in spontaneity, who never deviates from the travel plan, despite passing a once-in-a-lifetime roadside vista?
Posted by: Jonathan Wight | December 29, 2010 at 09:09 AM
Just had a listen. A nice entertaining piece. Regarding the computer software for helping with internet procrastination (one of my great weaknesses) there is this one, actually called 'self-control' - http://visitsteve.com/made/selfcontrol/. You've probably heard about it already - I think I read about it in Dan Ariely's 'Predictably Irrational'. It won't block all sites but you can set it to block certain sites for set periods of time, which still allows access to work-related sites. Even if you uninstall the software it won't allow you back on those sites until the time has elapsed.
I could really do with this as my own willpower doesn't do the job that well. Unfortunately, it only works on macs and I have a PC. Shame.
Posted by: Muireann Quigley | December 29, 2010 at 09:11 AM
Good question, Jonathan, I don't know of a term offhand - there may be something in George Ainslie's Breakdown of Will, ch. 9 ("The Downside of Willpower"), and perhaps Tyler Cowen paper in Ethics, "Self-Constraint versus Self-Libertation" (http://www.gmu.edu/centers/publicchoice/faculty%20pages/Tyler/selfliberation.PDF). That phenomena can also be seen as a failure of "rational reconsideration," which Michael Bratman discusses often in his work (such as Intentions, Plans, and Practical Reason, Ch. 5).
Posted by: Mark D. White | December 29, 2010 at 09:21 AM
Thanks, Muireann - try the Software Time Lock: http://download.cnet.com/Software-Time-Lock/3000-2092_4-10386106.html
Posted by: Mark D. White | December 29, 2010 at 09:23 AM