The procrastination equation
by Piers Steel · first published 2011
50% recommend38% neutral13% critical
Why HN recommends it
Research-based and practical, it presents a simple model of motivation (expectancy, value, impulsiveness, delay) and explains why people procrastinate, with concrete levers, for readers wanting grounded answers.
Common criticism: One critic found it ignored key factors in procrastination
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…realistic timekeeping * avoid feeling overwhelmed * allows you to experience success * deadlines are self-imposed * new-found free time I also recommend another book (by another psychologist): "The Procrastination Equation" by Piers Steel. The second book is partly at odds with the first, so I leave it to you to see which better describes what you observe. Summary of The Procrastination Equation: Perfectionism does not…
on “Procrastination is Not Laziness” ↗The best thing I've read on this topic is The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel (http://www.amazon.com/Procrastination-Equation-Putting-Thing...). He concludes that different people procrastinate for different reasons and that those reasons boil down to: - learned…
on “The Procrastinating Caveman: Human Evolution and Procrastination” ↗…find out exactly how far we've come in understanding these things - and it's also pretty exciting how recent most of it is. There are more practical books out there, drawing from the same research. "The Procrastination Equation" by Piers Steel is the best I've found so far.
on “The Only Way to Get Important Things Done ” ↗Also good seems to be The Procrastination Equation [1]– the key insight is that there are (at least!) 4 variables involved in why we don't do things that we say we want to do: * Expectancy, which is your own estimation of how likely you are to complete…
on “Screw motivation, what you need is discipline” ↗This quiz is based on the The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel, which is perhaps the best book I have read on the topic.
on “Show HN: Why Do I Procrastinate? – Web MD for Procrastination” ↗I don't know if there is a way to be transformed overnight. But I have definitely achieved incremental improvement after reading a good book like The Procrastination Equation. You just keep iterating, like any skill.
on “How to minimize procrastination” ↗I found the Procrastination Equation to be a better read. The Now Habit can be summed up as "don't be a perfectionist", whereas the Procrastination Equation says there are three types of procrastinators, and perfectionism isn't actually…
on “How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating, and Love Letting Go” ↗I'd recommend reading The Procrastination Equation. It sets out a simple model of how your brain makes these choices, and makes it clear what all the levers are to help you "game" your brain. It explains why shorter productivity cycles are so powerful,…
on “Ask HN: Is it 'normal' to struggle so hard with work?” ↗I'm reading The Procrastination Equation right now, and it has the following (excellent, IMO) advice: Find tasks of any sort at all that you can do. Do them, noting your success. Do this every day. Again, pay attention to successes. Recognize…
on “Ask HN: Low self confidence and self esteem. How to improve?” ↗There's a great book called the Procrastination Equation that addresses this, and offers a different equation than Fogg. Motivation = (Expectancy + Value) / (Impulsiveness + Delay) It's useful to know what each of those terms means. Your motivation is for…
on “How to stop procrastinating by using the Fogg Behavior Model” ↗"The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9514605-the-procrastinat... It motivated me to get things done ... right in the middle of the book and…
on “Ask HN: Which book have you read, but do not recommend?” ↗> unless there's a physiological difference in people like me I think there is: different people have differently tuned reward-centres in the brain. The book "the procrastination equation" by Piers Steel tries to capture those differences in equation form. Although it's probably faux-math, the key idea seems good to me: procrastinators are more sensitive to the time-until-reward dimension…
on “Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?” ↗…working on a computer that had no Internet, RMS talked about using only a computer with no browser, and limited graphical capabilities. There's a book written about the science behind motivation called The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel: http://www.amazon.com/The-Procrastination-Equation-Putting-G... The following has a pretty good summary: https://alexvermeer.com/how-we-use-the-procrastination-equat...
on “Ask HN: Can't concentrate to focus, until it's last minute or later” ↗Relevant: http://lesswrong.com/lw/3w3/how_to_beat_procrastination/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/jyg/outline_summary_the_procrastinat... http://www.amazon.com/The-Procrastination-Equation-Putting-G...
on “Why Wait? the Science Behind Procrastination” ↗Somewhat related, I've seen a similar equation for motivation: E*V M = --- I*D Motivation = (Expectancy * Value) / (Impulsiveness * Delay) Which comes from "The Procrastination Equation" by Piers Steel, an academic focused on motivation. I haven't finished the book since it's pretty self help-y, but I do like the equation. Here, expectancy is perceived likelihood of finishing the task,…
on “Stamina Is a Quiet Advantage” ↗