The Procrastination Equation Read Online Free

from his frequent-flyer program. The only detail left is to reserve a room at a hotel, but that can be done at anytime. But what can be done at anytime is often done at no time. As the months slip by, Tom pushes the task forward to each sub-sequent week or forgets about it altogether. There is always something more pressing to attend to, like his favorite television show. Finally, as he thinks about what to pack, he realizes that there are no more weeks to push the task forward into and that he has left it far too late. He goes online and, finding little available, makes a hurried and haphazard reservation. When his plane later sets down in the Dominican, he hopes that his hotel is as beautiful as the island. It isn’t. It’s too far from the beach, his room is decorated with dead mosquitoes, adjoins a disgusting bathroom, and the hotel dining gives him food poisoning.
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    Eddie, Valerie, and Tom are all procrastinators but they are not identical. Just as a car can stop running because of an empty gas tank, a blown tire, or a dead battery, there are a multitude of causes for procrastination—even if the outward behavior is the same. Eddie, Valerie, and Tom all procrastinated for different underlying reasons and each one represents a facet of the Procrastination Equation, the mathematical formula I derived that describes irrational delay. Understanding why Eddie, Valerie, and Tom put off their respective tasks is the essence of this book. To this end, we are going to do a little more assessment. In the last chapter, we established the degree to which you procrastinate. In this chapter, we are going to find out why you put things off. Are you an Eddie, a Valerie, a Tom or some hybrid of all three? Take this test by circling your response to each of the following 24 items and find out:
    Stands For:
    1. VERY SELDOM OR NOT TRUE OF ME
    2. SELDOM TRUE OF ME
    3. SOMETIMES TRUE OF ME
    4. OFTEN TRUE OF ME
    5. VERY OFTEN TRUE OR TRUE OF ME
    ----
    1.   When I put in the hours, I am successful.
       1   2   3   4   5
    2.   Uninteresting work defeats me.
       1   2   3   4   5
    3.   I get into jams because I will get entranced by some temporarily delightful activity.
       1   2   3   4   5
    4.   When I apply myself, I see the results.
       1   2   3   4   5
    5.   I wish my job was enjoyable.
       1   2   3   4   5
    6.   I take on new tasks that seem fun at first without thinking through the repercussions.
       1   2   3   4   5
    7.   If I try hard enough, I will succeed.
       1   2   3   4   5
    8.   My work activities seem pointless.
       1   2   3   4   5
    9.   When a temptation is right before me, the craving can be intense.
       1   2   3   4   5
    10.   I am confident that my efforts will be rewarded.
       1   2   3   4   5
    11.   Work bores me.
       1   2   3   4   5
    12.   My actions and words satisfy my short-term pleasures rather than my long-term goals.
       1   2   3   4   5
    13.   I am persistent and resourceful.
       1   2   3   4   5
    14.   I lack enthusiasm to follow through with my responsibilities.
       1   2   3   4   5
    15.   When an attractive diversion comes my way, I am easily swayed.
       1   2   3   4   5
    16.   Whatever problems come my way, I will eventually rise above them.
       1   2   3   4   5
    17.   When a task is tedious, again and again I find myself pleasantly daydreaming rather than focusing.
       1   2   3   4   5
    18.   I have a hard time postponing pleasurable opportunities as they crop up.
       1   2   3   4   5
    19.   I can overcome difficulties with the necessary effort.
       1   2   3   4   5
    20.   I don’t find my work