EXTERNAL DEADLINES HELP OVERCOME PROCRASTINATION

Most people know they have a tendency to procrastinate but routinely
underestimate how much they put off doing until tomorrow what ought to be
done today.

New research published in the May volume of the journal Psychological
Science says that people set "sub-optimal'' deadlines for themselves and
would dramatically improve performance if they instead sought deadlines set
by someone or something other than themselves.

In a study that should be music to the ears of every boss, psychologist Dan
Ariely at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a colleague said
people performed best when they were given evenly spaced deadlines and
monitoring. "People need to figure out some external precommitment
mechanisms,'' Ariely said. "You could give a friend $50 and say if I don't
finish this'' task, "don't give it back to me.''

Ariely cited the example of a drug clinic in Denver that asked addicts to
write letters admitting their addiction and address them to people who
would be hurt most if they found out. The addicts then agreed that the
clinic would mail the letters if they failed random drugs tests.

"It is a binding mechanism,'' Ariely said. "The best deadlines are things
that people don't fix themselves.''