Piers Steel a fait sa thèse de psychologie à l'Université du Minnesota sur la Nature et la Mesure de la Procrastination en 2002.

Il a un site consacré à son domaine d'étude, Procrastinus, avec un Test bien trop long pour un procrastinateur même occasionnel. Ils essayent de vous attirer à faire le Test interminable en promettant des conseils pour sortir de la procrastination, mais c'est assez décevant, toujours les mêmes trucs qui ne marchent pas trop - à part "Stimulus Control" qui m'explique à nouveau pourquoi je vais en Bibliothèque même quand je n'ai pas besoin de références.

Your score is 97 out of a possible 100

You rank in the top 10% in terms of procrastination. That is, when it comes to putting things off, you often do so even though you know you shouldn’t. Likely, you are much more free-spirited, adventurous, and spontaneous than most. Probably, your work doesn’t engage you as much as you would like or perhaps you are surrounded by many easily available and much more pleasant temptations. These temptations may initially seem rewarding, but in the longer-term, you see many of them as time-wasters. Though you are likely incredibly productive just before a deadline, you might not get all your work done and there is a lot of unwanted stress. You may want to reduce what procrastination you do commit. If so, here are three tips that have been shown to work:

Goal Setting

This is one of the most established ways of moving forward on your plans. Take any project you are presently procrastinating and break it down into individual steps. Each of these steps should have the following three aspects. First, they should be somewhat challenging though achievable for you. It is more satisfying to accomplish a challenge. Second, they should be proximal, that is you can achieve them fairly soon, preferable today or over the next few days. Third, they should be specific, that is you know exactly when you have accomplished them. If you can visualize in your mind what you should do, even better.

Stimulus Control

This method has also been well tested and is very successful. What you need is a single place that you do your work and nothing else. Essentially, you need an office, though many students have a favorite desk at a library. For stimulus control to work best, the office or desk should be free of any signs of temptation or easily available distractions that might pull you away (e.g., no games, no chit-chat, no web-surfing). If you need a break, that is fine, but make sure you have it someplace at least a few minutes distant, preferably outside of the building itself. If you are unwilling to take the time to get there, acknowledge that you likely don’t need the break.

Routines

Routines are difficult to get into but in the end, this is often our aim. Things are much easier to do when we get into a habit of them, whether it is work, exercise, or errands. If you schedule some of those tasks you are presently procrastinating upon so that they occur on a regular schedule, they become easier. Start your routine slowly, something to which you can easily commit. Eventually, like brushing your teeth, it will likely become something you just do, not taking much effort at all. At this point, you might add to your routine, again always keeping your overall level of effort at a moderate to low level. Importantly, when you fall off your routine, inevitable with sickness or the unexpected, get back on it as soon as possible. Your routine gets stronger every time your follow it. It also gets weaker every time you don’t.

Piers Steel vient de publier "The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure", Psychological Bulletin. 2007 Jan Vol 133(1) 65-94 :

Procrastination is a prevalent and pernicious form of self-regulatory failure that is not entirely understood. Hence, the relevant conceptual, theoretical, and empirical work is reviewed, drawing upon correlational, experimental, and qualitative findings. A meta-analysis of procrastination's possible causes and effects, based on 691 correlations, reveals that neuroticism, rebelliousness, and sensation seeking show only a weak connection. Strong and consistent predictors of procrastination were task aversiveness, task delay, self-efficacy, and impulsiveness, as well as conscientiousness and its facets of self-control, distractibility, organization, and achievement motivation. These effects prove consistent with temporal motivation theory, an integrative hybrid of expectancy theory and hyperbolic discounting. Continued research into procrastination should not be delayed, especially because its prevalence appears to be growing.

Oui, l'humour de la phrase finale est volontaire, mais c'est un dossier plus grave que des années de dédramatisation de cette pathologie sur PhD Comics pourraient faire penser, cf. CBC :

People who procrastinate, they tend to be less healthy, because they're putting off going to the doctor, going to the gym. They're less happy, and less wealthy. They have poor performance. (...)

His study found that in the past quarter-century, the average self-score for procrastination (using a one-to-five scale with one being no delaying) has increased by 39 per cent. (...)

Psychologist William Knaus, who has written several self-help books on fighting procrastination since 1977's «Overcoming Procrastination,» said he found it harder to wean chronic procrastinators from the habit of delaying than to wean alcoholics from booze.

Sur ce dernier point, j'ai des doutes sur Knaus - Piers Steel dit que les bouquins de self-help et pop psychology sont complètement à côté de la plaque scientiquement sur ce sujet - mais voir Procrastinators Anonymous ("Hi, I'm Phersu, and I'm a Procrastinator." ALL: "HI, Phersu").

Medical News :

Most self-help books have it completely wrong when they say perfectionism is at the root of procrastination.

Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they can actually complete a task," Steel says. "Perfectionism is not the culprit. In fact, perfectionists actually procrastinate less, but they worry about it more."

Other predictors of procrastination include: task aversiveness, impulsiveness, distractibility, and how much a person is motivated to achieve. Not all delays can be considered procrastination; the key is that a person must believe it would be better to start working on given tasks immediately, but still not start.

It's estimated that about 15-20 per cent of the general population are procrastinators. And the costs of procrastinating can add up well beyond poor work performance, especially for those who delay filing their taxes or planning their retirement.

Steel says motivational failures such as difficulty in sticking to diets and exercise regimes - frequently the focus of New Year's resolutions - are related to procrastination because impulsiveness is often at the root of the failure. "Temptations that are close at hand are difficult to resist. Addicts often relapse after returning from treatment facilities because drugs and alcohol become easily available and daily habits reassert themselves. Or we load up on bread in the restaurant before the meal is served. Or we check our email 10 times an hour instead of completing a project."

The good news is that willpower has an unusual capacity. "The old saying is true: 'Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right'," Steel says. "And as you get better at self control, your expectancy about whether you can resist goes up and thus improves your ability to resist."

Steel has also come up with the E=MC2 of procrastination, a formula he's dubbed Temporal Motivational Theory, which takes into account factors such as the expectancy a person has of succeeding with a given task (E), the value of completing the task (V), the desirability of the task (Utility), its immediacy or availability (Γ) and the person's sensitivity to delay (D).

It looks like this and uses the Greek letter Γ : Utility = E x V/ΓD

It's still unclear why some people may be more prone to developing procrastination behaviour, but some evidence suggests it may be genetic.

La formule a-t-elle un intérêt ?

"My theory is that if your model of motivation remains level, it only spikes up right before deadline, like a shark's fin," Steel said.

Self-knowledge might include knowing that the goal is large and then breaking it down into easier, step-by-step tasks in order to succeed, he said, or removing temptations like TV or video games. But he said, most people don't have that much self-knowledge.

Experts in the field say that Steel has captured all the historical analysis on procrastination and has advanced thinking on the subject by adding new elements like a motivation of time. They believe that Steel's formula could lead to further research in the field and eventual methods of helping chronic procrastinators.

Oui, au lieu de copier-coller ces liens, j'ai du travail.

Oh, Bernard doit remplir ses impôts :