| [00:01.467] |
You really should finish compiling that boring spreadsheet, |
| [00:04.482] |
but you just can't bring yourself to do it. |
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Maybe it can wait a little longer. |
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Or it might just disappear if you ignore it long enough. |
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You know the feeling. |
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According to Professor Piers Steel, |
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of the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary,Piers Steel |
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95% of people postpone important tasks at some point.95％ |
| [00:26.843] |
But for some, procrastination isn't occasional, |
| [00:30.393] |
but incessant and disruptive. |
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Professor Joseph Ferrari, of DePaul University Chicago, |
| [00:36.734] |
found that 20% of the population of the world are chronic procrastinators. |
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Sadly, delaying our duties isn't very good for us: |
| [00:46.481] |
task-avoiders are less happy, less healthy and less wealthy |
| [00:50.832] |
than people who tackle tasks immediately. |
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We like to tell ourselves that we work better under pressure, |
| [00:58.013] |
when a deadline is looming. |
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But the truth is that working at the last minute is counterproductive: |
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we make more mistakes, our behaviour annoys other people |
| [01:07.842] |
and we end up feeling guilty and ashamed. |
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Worse still, we risk wasting a significant portion of our life |
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putting off tasks that will only come back to haunt us later. |
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As the poet Edward Young wrote: |
| [01:21.375] |
"Procrastination is the thief of time".“ |
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Piers Steel gives us some advice to help us confront important tasks. Piers Steel |
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He suggests breaking it into smaller chunks |
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and taking baby steps until the task at hand has been completed. |
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Or you could give a friend ￡50 |
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and tell them that if you don't go through with it, |
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they can give it away to a cause or a political party you dislike. |
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Those who are highly-organised and efficient |
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won't need to take heed of this advice. |
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For everyone else: |
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will you start following these tips |
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and confront those urgent tasks that await you today? |
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Or will you stop procrastinating tomorrow... or perhaps the day after? |
