Dr. Joseph Ferrari's new book, Still Procrastinating? The No Regrets Guide To Getting It Done , was published this week by Wiley. Today, I interviewed Joe about his book. He describes his philosophy behind the book and provides an outline of the various chapters. You can learn more about procrastination at procrastination.ca or download The Procrastinator's Digest: A Concise Guide to Solving the Procrastination Puzzle...
Sep 30, 2010•27 min
This week the tables are turned. I'm interviewed by Alan Kearns, Canada's Career Coach, of careerjoy.com . Alan asked me to discuss the role of optimism, confidence and managing emotions in the career search process. We did this interview quite awhile ago, but Alan had problems with the sound, so he hadn't posted it. I think this is a good follow-up to last week's podcast about fear of failure and how competence/confidence is important in understanding our response. Do we procrastinate to cope w...
Sep 03, 2010•33 min
This week, we review a recent study on fear of failure and procrastination. Mohsen Haghbin, a senior doctoral student in our research group, explains research that he helped Adam McCaffrey complete as his honours thesis (and which Adam presented this past spring at the Canadian Psychological Association conference). Their study shows that our sense of competence and autonomy are important to consider, as these basic human needs affect the relation between fear of failure and procrastination. Thi...
Aug 27, 2010•53 min
A very short podcast this week with some reflections about how any strategy for change must be evaluated in terms of your own personal context and needs. Although one strategy may work for some of your procrastinated tasks, just the opposite strategy may be required in other areas of your goal pursuit. To learn more, visit procrastination.ca
Aug 20, 2010•10 min
This week, I interview Emrah Eren, a graduate student in our program at Carleton University. Emrah discusses his recent research about intentions, temptation and procrastination. His results are very interesting in terms of what can actually break the link between temptation and procrastination. To learn more, visit procrastination.ca . To order my new book The Procrastinator's Digest: A Concise Guide to Solving the Procrastination Puzzle , use this direct link to Amazon.com or visit procrastina...
Aug 13, 2010•37 min
If you have been struggling with exercising more or eating more healthily, this podcast is for you. In this interview with Dr. Peter Hall (University of Waterloo), we are introduced to a way of thinking about what influences our behaviour. Peter is a clinically trained psychologist who does research on health behaviours. He and his colleague Geoffrey Fong have proposed an important new theory to explain the processes that affect our behaviour choice including our intentions, habits (pre-potent r...
Aug 05, 2010•50 min
In this podcast, I respond to a listener who wrote, ". . .when I'm deep into procrastination, I don't do things that make me feel good, sometimes I seem to fly deep into some sort of personal crisis to avoid my work. Often I don't even realize I'm doing it. . . I think some of my friends see this trait in themselves as well." Today, I discuss why we might do this with a focus on emotions and procrastination. To learn more about procrastination: procrastination.ca or The Procrastinator's Digest: ...
Jul 30, 2010•20 min
Today, I interview Professor Mark D. White (Professor, Department of Political Science, Economics, and Philosophy, College of Staten Island and The Graduate Center, CUNY). Mark discusses his chapter in the recent book The Thief of Time: Philosophical Essays on Procrastination . His chapter is entitled "Resisting Procrastination: Kantian Autonomy and the Role of the Will." Using examples as common as the temptation to eat a donut, Mark does an excellent job of explaining how current theorizing fr...
Jul 23, 2010•53 min
Today, I summarize an excellent new piece of research by Jeffrey Paulitzki (University of Waterloo). Jeffrey just defended this research for his doctoral degree. He did an outstanding job. The focus of his research, and my podcast, is how we need to understand both habits and self-regulatory ability in goal pursuit. Although intentions do predict behaviour, both our habits and our executive function (self-regulatory ability) are crucial to our success. I also introduce listeners to Temporal Self...
Jul 16, 2010•25 min
My new book - The Procrastinator's Digest: A Concise Guide to Solving the Procrastination Puzzle - is now available at procrastinatorsdigest.com . In this podcast, I explain the history of the book as a project for my sabbatical including why I created such a short book and how it is structured. I also add some important notes for non-U.S. orders. I invite your comments at [email protected] Learn more at procrastination.ca...
Jul 09, 2010•33 min
This is the last podcast of my sabbatical year. Don't worry, I will continue my regular schedule for the summer. This week, I am summarizing a key idea from a chapter in a recent book entitled The Thief of Time: Philosophical Essays on Procrastination . Chrisoula Andreou, a philosopher from the University of Utah, argues that we can use self-control in one area of our lives where we don't procrastinate to help us achieve goals in other areas of our lives where we seem to lack self-control. I exp...
Jun 30, 2010•24 min
Donna Karlin , Founder of A Better Perspective , has pioneered the specialized practice of Shadow Coaching with global political, business and senior organizational leaders in the public and private sectors. By entering the client's environment, she works with them in translating awareness into practice, essentially fostering the emergence of the Shadow Coach in the clients themselves. In this podcast, Donna and I talk about one of my favourite topics, giving in to feel good. Our conversation pr...
Jun 25, 2010•54 min
It's easy to put off goals for which we don't feel a strong commitment. This is part of the procrastination problem. We can lack strong goal intentions. In this podcast, I discuss how we might strengthen goal intentions and why this is important. I provide some common examples of how this happens in our lives, and I stress the importance of strengthening goal intentions within the context of other strategies that we use to ensure more effective goal pursuit such as implementation intentions and ...
Jun 18, 2010•27 min
JOIN ME LIVE IN A CONVERSATION ABOUT "GIVING IN TO FEEL GOOD." In this very short podcast, I announce an exciting upcoming Virtual Conference and a FREE pre-conference conversation session . These events are being sponsored by The DESARA Group . The DESARA Group specializes in business process improvement, and during this time when we're all asked "to do more with less" and to "work smarter, not harder," the DESARA Group is providing an opportunity to step back and "reset" ourselves and how we a...
Jun 09, 2010•12 min
This podcast is a little different than my typical post. Today, I use a personal example to discuss the nature of distractions, the subjectivity of procrastination and how the irrationality of procrastination can affect our perceptions of self. Be forewarned that this is me rambling a bit as I think out loud about how we manage our goal pursuit as we muddle through our day-to-day tasks. In the end, I think you'll see that I integrate a great deal of the principles that underlie self-regulation f...
Jun 08, 2010•26 min
Here's another new book! The author, Dr. Bill Knaus, has been a regular guest on iProcrastinate Podcasts . Today, he discusses his newest book Fearless Job Hunting: Powerful Psychological Strategies for Getting the Job you Want We discuss how we can become our own worst enemy in the job hunting process from the preparation of the resume through to social networking and interviewing. If you want to read more about Bill's book and his perspective on this "fearless job hunting," you can read this b...
May 28, 2010•49 min
This week, I interviewed Dr. Joseph Ferrari of De Paul University (Chicago) about his upcoming book entitled, Still Procrastinating? The no regrets guide to getting it done . Joe, a colleague and friend, turned the table on me at different points to interview me about my upcoming book, my podcasts, blog and teaching . To learn more about procrastination, check out procrastination.ca...
May 25, 2010•27 min
Here's an interesting study about how the characteristics of a task affect our procrastination. I summarize this interesting new study, providing a summary of how task characteristics (e.g., task difficulty) as well as our motivation (e.g., I do it only because I have to) and self-control (e.g., I am good at resisting temptation) help explain why we might procrastinate on the task at hand. You can learn more about our research and resources at procrastination.ca...
May 17, 2010•27 min
A short podcast this week about a new book, The Procrastinator's Guide to Getting Things Done (by Dr. Monica Rameriz Basco, The Guildford Press). I explain how it may be useful as a guide to a cognitive-behavioral approach. I also review one of my points of disagreement with the focus on "types" of procrastinators. To learn more about procrastination, see our research group at procrastination.ca ....
May 03, 2010•15 min
This week, I interview someone who is becoming a regular guest on the podcast, Dr. William (Bill) Knaus. Bill has just published his new book End Procrastination Now: Get It Done with a Proven Psychological Approach (McGraw Hill). We discuss what readers will find in his book as well as specific tips on how to deal with procrastination. For more information about procrastination, see our Research Group at procrastination.ca ....
Apr 28, 2010•48 min
Here's a podcast that summarizes why we procrastinate. Earlier this month, I was a guest instructor for the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization ( NSGCD ). This study group is part of the professional development important to members of the National Association of Professional Organizers ( NAPO ). During this one-hour teleclass, I did my best to summarize what we know about procrastination. I think this summary has relevance for anyone interested in knowing more about procrastination....
Apr 21, 2010•59 min
Sometimes when we procrastinate on one thing, it seems to prevent us from doing anything at all - at least anything we think we should be doing. This week, I share a listener's story about how the most detrimental effect of his tendency to procrastinate is that it makes him put everything else on hold. I discuss the potential role of anxiety in this process as well as our sense of agency and the importance of making conscious choices. You can learn more about our research at procrastination.ca...
Mar 10, 2010•20 min
With the recent upgrade in the system software at LibSyn, it seems that my first interview with Dr. Bill Knaus was lost in the transfer. I'm posting it again. This interview from January 9, 2010 was Dr. Knaus (Bill) introducing iProcrastinate Podcast listeners to his work on procrastination. It's an excellent interview for which I have received many positive reviews. Bill is the author of over 20 books, including one of the first on procrastination with Dr. Albert Ellis in the 1970's.
Mar 04, 2010•1 hr 9 min
This week, I invited Dr. Bill Knaus to talk about his work with and writing about procrastination. He has provided a lengthy podcast covering a great deal of important material. He focuses specifically on how we can learn to challenge our absolutist beliefs (such as perfectionism) and he moves us towards a "do it now" perspective on our lives. Note that my introduction to the podcast seems to have a strange echo in it. I will correct this in future podcasts. The majority of the podcast is record...
Mar 01, 2010•1 hr 5 min
Tips and techniques are never enough. What we often need to do to enhance goal pursuit success is to ensure that our goals matter to us. If we don't value a goal, if we don't have a strong commitment to a goal, we're unlikely to pursue it. Today, I discuss an approach to strengthening goal intentions, and, in doing this, I comment on how we can falsely internalize goals that may in fact lead to procrastination.
Feb 15, 2010•27 min
This week, the focus is on a topic that many listeners have asked to learn more about - anxiety. Dr. Bill Knaus brings his clinical insights to this discussion. Dr. Knaus presents a case study, explains various types of anxiety, relates anxiety to perfectionism (and other types of irrational thoughts), and summarizes strategies for change. If you want to learn more about Dr. Knaus' work, check out his latest book End Procrastination Now . As well, The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Anxiety: A...
Feb 08, 2010•50 min
When you're going to set an intention to complete a task, do you: (a) start at today and look forward to the first available opportunity to act, or (b) start at the deadline and look backward to choose a date? I asked this question of my Psychology Today blog readers. They provided some insightful answers that I discuss today in relation to our planning and procrastination. If you want to learn more about our research, check out procrastination.ca ....
Feb 01, 2010•44 min
I'm often asked what someone should do to reduce procrastination. One of my most common answers is, "It's not enough to have a goal intention, you need to have an implementation intention too." Today, I explain what an implementation intention is and how it works to overcome four common problems in goal pursuit. Here is an Amazon link for The thief of time: Philosophical essays on procrastination If you want to more about our research, see procrastination.ca...
Jan 25, 2010•34 min
When we don't get the results we expect or hope for, we can imagine different outcomes, both better and worse. These are known as upward and downward counterfactuals. In the podcast today, I interviewed Dr. Fuschia Sirois from the University of Windsor (Ontario, Canada) who has explored the relation between counterfactuals and procrastination. I've written about one of Fuschia's studies on my Psychology Today blog. You can find it here at Avoiding What Might Have Been . You can learn more about ...
Jan 18, 2010•30 min
This is an extra podcast for the week. The focus is on listener feedback, particularly replies to whether or not I should podcast less frequently. The feedback was unanimous, keep it weekly, at least while you're able to on your sabbatical. I will. Although I'm posting this to address the issue of podcast frequency, the listeners' comments and my feedback may interest you in terms of strategies for dealing with procrastination. You can learn more at procrastination.ca...
Jan 16, 2010•35 min
