“Can you get that to me by the end of the day?” isn’t a request many employees like to hear. But for many people, having shorter deadlines instead of longer ones — “Do you think you can do that by the end of the week?” — might actually help them complete a task and see their work as being less difficult.
Why We Procrastinate When We Have Long Deadlines
Having more time for a task can make it seem more difficult.
August 29, 2018, Updated September 04, 2018
Summary.
When people are faced with a deadline far in the future, they are more likely to think the assignment is difficult. This leads them to procrastinate, spend more money on completing the assignment, and even risk abandoning it completely. These patterns are important for managers and others setting deadlines to recognize, in large part because the author’s research reveals that people’s tendency to procrastinate on long-term assignments and finish less-important but urgent assignments reflects a basic psychological preference. We behave as if pursuing urgent tasks has its own appeal, independent of objective consequences.
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