#80 Someday Never Comes

Do you ever procrastinate?

Almost everyone does at some point, especially on difficult tasks, like writing, studying, or exercising.

However, research by Suzanne Shu and Ayelet Gneezy reveals that people also regularly postpone enjoyable experiences.  Through five experiments they learned that:

• On average, two-week 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 to cities saw more sites than one-year 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴.

• People were 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 to redeem café gift certificates with two-month expiration dates than those with three-week expiration.

• People were also less likely to use free movie tickets with longer expiration dates, and procrastination 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 with 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 tickets.

As the researchers concluded, “Procrastination occurs because people predict they will have more time to engage in enjoyable activities in the future without realizing the future will be equally busy.” 

So, if you’ve been postponing a special outing until the “right time” . . . stop.  Do it next weekend. Research shows you’ll be better off.