Why Do We Procrastinate?
It's nearly the new year and we all know what that means: A list of resolutions like losing ten pounds, learning Italian, and drinking fewer vodka martinis will be decided upon with enthusiasm, put off a few times, and abandoned altogether by February 1st, at which point you'll loathe yourself a little more than before. Just in the nick of time, an "international team of psychologists" has finally revealed why everyone procrastinates.
No, it's not sheer laziness (or not only): It's because we tend to think of future activities in the abstract rather than concretely—for example, "I'll lose weight then maybe someone will have sex with me," instead of "tomorrow I'll eat egg whites then run ten miles"—and we're mentally wired to postpone vague, abstract tasks. That's the gist, anyway. You'll get a better idea by reading the whole article, which you can always do later on if you don't have time right now.
