Snowflake Sprint

"Motivation = Expectancy + Value / Impulsiveness + Delay"

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 16:53:37 -0500

“Motivation = Expectancy + Value / Impulsiveness + Delay”

From Daniel Pink Newsletter

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:42:33 -0500

The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done
By Piers Steel, PhD
Available December 28, 2010
Learn more at http://www.procrastinus.com/

In his new book, Piers Steel, a psychologist at the University of Calgary, says there are three main factors that contribute to procrastination. Which one of these sounds most like you?

You put off a task because you don’t really expect to succeed at it. [Expectancy]
You don’t value the task at hand. It’s boring. There are so many other things you’d rather be doing. [Value]
You prefer immediate, concrete payoffs. You can’t get excited about tasks that contribute to distant, long-term goals. [Time]

Combined with our natural tendency to impulsiveness, these three factors - Expectancy, Value, Time — form the Procrastination Equation.

It may be comforting to know that our brains are actually wired to put things off. The relatively modern prefrontal cortex is able to plan for the future and consider the consequences of our actions, but the limbic system, inherited from our pre-human past, wants what it wants NOW. This accident of evolution sets up the awful tension that procrastinators know all too well. Unfortunately for us, our environment is set up to appeal to our impulsiveness. Opportunities for stimulation, distraction, and entertainment are at our fingertips 24/7.

Steel ends his book with a wide selection of tools to increase our expectations of success, coax us through tedious tasks, and short-circuit impulsivity. The book includes a self-assessment so you can select the tools that are most likely to work for you. “As individuals and as a society,” Steel writes, “we pay a hefty price for our procrastination and have done so since the beginning of history. But we can bring millennia of dillydallying to an end today.”

Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they...

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:42:10 -0500

Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.

Overconfidence

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:28:15 -0500

The Law of Attraction separates positive belief from action, leaving belief free-floating and unconnected. Changes Little engine from “I think I can” to “I think it will.”

Balance this by activating the Reality Principle.

Procrastination & Behavioral Psychology

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:25:04 -0500

matching law
mental contrasting
The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start …
By Piers Steel, Piers Steel, Ph.d
http://books.google.com/books?id=jS2tfkps1o4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Procrastination+Equation:+How+to+Stop+Putting+Things+Off+and+Start+Getting+Stuff+Done&hl=en&ei=QeIYTfTBJYnUtQODy4G5Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Mental Contrasting

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:19:58 -0500

Mental Contrasting

Photo

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:21:12 -0400

Things that make you lose your vision if you live in them too...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:12:55 -0400

Things that make you lose your vision if you live in them too long. (via @rands)

"If there’s one thing I’ve learned about living a life it’s that you need to keep moving, and if..."

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:09:01 -0400

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned about living a life it’s that you need to keep moving, and if there’s another thing it’s that you really should quit your job every once in a while and take on something new, maybe even something that seems crazy and scares the hell out of you.”

- (via jackcheng)

"The algorithms and tag searches and bookmarklets will only get you so far; afterwards, it’s work..."

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:08:56 -0400

“The algorithms and tag searches and bookmarklets will only get you so far; afterwards, it’s work only you can do, work the machine has no need for.”

- Three definitions of “reader” / from a working library (via jackcheng)

"Coveting possessions is unhealthy. Here’s how I look at it: All of the computers on Ebay are mine...."

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 02:08:35 -0400

“Coveting possessions is unhealthy. Here’s how I look at it:

All of the computers on Ebay are mine. In fact, everything on Ebay is already mine. All of those things are just in long term storage that I pay nothing for. Storage is free.

When I want to take something out of storage, I just pay the for the storage costs for that particular thing up to that point, plus a nominal shipping fee, and my things are delivered to me so I can use them. When I am done with them, I return them to storage via Craigslist or Ebay, and I am given a fee as compensation for freeing up the storage facilities resources.

This is also the case with all of my stuff that Amazon and Walmart are holding for me. I have antiques, priceless art, cars, estates, and jewels beyond the dreams of avarice.

The world is my museum, displaying my collections on loan. The James Savages of the world are merely curators.

Snowflake Sprint

"Motivation = Expectancy + Value / Impulsiveness + Delay"

From Daniel Pink Newsletter

Perception is strong and sight weak. In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they...

Overconfidence

Procrastination & Behavioral Psychology

The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start …

Mental Contrasting

Photo

Things that make you lose your vision if you live in them too...

"If there’s one thing I’ve learned about living a life it’s that you need to keep moving, and if..."

"The algorithms and tag searches and bookmarklets will only get you so far; afterwards, it’s work..."

"Coveting possessions is unhealthy. Here’s how I look at it: All of the computers on Ebay are mine...."

Starting things off