There isn't much doubt about it. We pay for our procrastination. As Monica has written, this payment can be quite literal, a "procrastination tax" for late payments in the form of interest, or a tax in the form of higher rates for last-minute bookings. With such punishing consequences, you'd think we'd learn. Why don't we?
I have quite a few colleagues who take a strong behavioral approach to procrastination. They argue that too often procrastination is rewarded and this is part of the problem. For example. Dr. Joseph Ferrari (Depaul University) has noted that discounts get better closer to Christmas, rewarding last-minute shoppers with better sale prices. However, Monica has correctly pointed out that procrastinastion very often costs us cash. Delayed bill payments, last-minute bookings, putting off medical appointments all lead to unnecessay costs. Isn't this a form of punishment? Why isn't the behavior extinguished?
Our procrastination may not stop despite the "procrastination taxes" because it's being rewarded in other ways. I'll take one example to explain what I mean, procrastination on bill payment. A bill arrives at your home on October 10th. It's clearly stated on the bill that "payment is due on receipt" and that after October 22nd a late penalty will be charged, including compound interest. The thing is, you might not have even read this, as the envelope got tossed on a pile of similar mail for "later." What's the reward here? It may be a number of things, including: 1) not dealing with financial issues that cause you stress because "there's never enough money to pay bills," or 2) it may be simply rewarding not to have to take the time now to do the work of paying the bill. In the first case, the reward is "giving in to feel good." That is, we escape having to deal with the negative emotions that bills might precipitate by putting it off. Similarly, in the second case, not taking the time to pay the bill now allows us to continue whatever else we're doing that has to be more fun than financial stuff.
It's not even that irrational; surely the bill can wait a day. Unfortunately, the next day the same decision arises, whether it be avoiding the negative emotions or simply the tedious task itself, it can wait another day. In fact, after a few days unless you've left the bill somewhere quite visible as a reminder, you may simply forget about it.
Two key attributes of procrastination are apparent in this example. First, many people who procrastinate do so to avoid the negative emotions associated with a task. Avoiding the task is an effort at emotional regulation or even emotional repair. This is very rewarding, at least in the short run. And, it would seem given Monica's example, that this delay is much more rewarding than the procrastination tax is punishing. Second, lack of conscientiousness, defined as self-discipline, orderliness and organization, is a key personality trait that is highly correlated with procrastination. When you put these two things together, the initial desire to avoid paying bills because they're seen as aversive plus the lack of organization in one's life, you have a recipe for the procrastination tax. You avoid the bill when it arrives and you quickly forget you even have bills to pay because they're buried somewhere on your desk.
I'm sure Monica will have a lot more to say about how to clean up your desk. You can learn more about the other attributes of procrastination and why we pay procrastination taxes at my Don't Delay blog. By the way, the bill that arrived at my house today was paid minutes after I picked up the envelope from the mailbox. Heck, with Internet-based banking, there's really no excuse not to. The key thing is "just get started!" Well, another key strategy is to have some organization, and for me it's that any bill goes directly on top of my computer keyboard. It only takes a minute to logon and to pay the bill, even with a little sagacious delay of post-dating the payment until later in the month to enhance my own bank interest while avoiding a late payment. It's wonderful when technology can work for you!
