Maths and psychology

I was quite intrigued by this article about procrastinators. I can do task avoidance with the best of them but I would never have made the association promoted here that procrastination is due to being a perfectionist. As far as I am concerned, and speaking personally, it's all down to laziness or just not being in the right mood!
Or is that just too simple?
Mind you, the maths equation is interesting. U=EV/ID.
The 'U' stands for utility, or the desire to complete a given task. It is equal to the product of E, the expectation of success, and V the value of completion, divided by the product of I, the immediacy of the task, and D, the personal sensitivity to delay.
OK, maybe not...

5 comments:

Kate said...

What a coincidence- see my post today! Very interesting read, thanks.

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Fascinating! I know that for me blogging and visiting other bloggers' blogs has been a useful distraction from stuff I really should be doing.... You know how words stick in your head? One day at Stirling University I was strolling along and I heard a woman student yell from a window "Procrastination is the Spice of Life!" Perhaps she was right!

Jennytc said...

Thanks for visiting, Katherine. I just looked - forget that cards, I'd say. ;)

YP, on your final day at your school, maybe you could lean out of the window and do the same. ;)But I agree, surfing blogs can steal hours from your life.

Dale said...

A timely post, Jenny. I'm a member of The Mimico Procrastinators Club. We meet every Thursday evening. Or Friday morning. Late Friday morning. Say, 11:00. If not, then straight away after tea ...

Jennytc said...

Mimico Procrastinators Club eh, Dale! :)

Plaster board and dust

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