Procrastination theory and practice

I thought the topic procrastination wasn't really an interesting topic. It's just there...whether you like it or not. It's so natural that you don't know how to fight it. Like...living in Indonesia and it's okay if we're late 15-30 minutes because some other will get there even later. In my colleague's term, it's a condition we cannot change, so we have to find ways to be better with the given condition. For my case, it will be just go with the flow...if for example you have to be in class at 8am and the class was always full at around 8.30, you will get in the class at 8.30. That's the norm, double fullstops.

Yesterday I reminded the students to be in the class at 8 o'clock sharp for a guest lecture. I got prepared early in the morning so I will get in the class exactly at 8am to introduce our guest to the students, but something stopped me in the middle! d'you know what really stopped me? a nice conversation with friends at the table while having breakfast. I ran from home at 8 something and got in the class at 8.30. To my surprise, most of the the students were already in the class, talking to the guest lecturer! shame on me...really...

Usually I'm not a kind of promise-breaker person (yet always a deadliner), but lately I'm a pain in the ass for some people. What's really happening to me? Just trying to understand the given condition by trying to understand the word "procrastination". Procrastination comes from the Latin pro, meaning for; and cras, meaning tomorrow. It's rooted in the problem of emotion (hot emotion). 

When we promise to save money, we are in a cool state (flat emotion). When we promise to be there ontime, we are in a cool state either. But then the lava flow of hot emotion comes rushing in: just when we promise to save, we see a new blackberry that we must have. When we promise to be somewhere ontime, we're involved in an engaging conversation with some old friends. How can we resist that?  Giving up on our long-term goals for immediate gratification, to Dan Ariely, is procrastination. It's very natural, and hedonic as well (Victor Frankl said deep down we're all hedonic creatures).

So the procrastination problem is related to self-control problem. If we are allowed to set our deadlines ourselves, we have to control ourselves. If "me" is giving order to "me" that "me" has to be in the class at 8, "me" will question "me"-self: does "me" really mean it or it could be 8 something? "me" is bargaining with "me-self"...It ended up no good at all. But what about most of the students? Why could they make it at 8am? Prof Ariely geniously (I always have a thing with pretty smart people) stated that when an authoritative "external voice" gives the orders, most of us will jump to attention.  To some extent, we are most effective when we are given dictatorial treatment.

Wow....sorry for hurting democracy this time. I conduct a slightly extended experiment based on the experience above. While ending the class, I ordered the students to be in the class at 8am the next week. Let's see how they perform (and how I perform either).