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iProcrastinate Podcast — Health
iProcrastinate Podcast

Dr. Timothy A. Pychyl, associate professor of psychology and director of the Procrastination Research Group (Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada), provides a series of short talks, interviews and question/answer podcasts that explain why we procrastinate and what we can do about it. An award winning educator, Dr. Pychyl challenges his listeners to explore their daily choices to act or postpone acting on their intentions. Do we head to the gym as intended, or slouch back on the couch thinking “I’ll feel more like a workout tomorrow”? Do we tackle the task now, or do we avoid it arguing to ourselves that “I work better under pressure”? From losing 10 pounds to changing personal habits, Pychyl, a personality psychologist, focuses on the breakdown of intentional action – a problem commonly called procrastination. This series expands on three main themes: 1) irrational delay that sabotages personal productivity, 2) personality attributes that contribute to self-defeating behaviours, and 3) situational factors that undermine our ability to take or sustain action. Drawing on the research literature, topics include: self-handicapping, anxiety, self-regulation, perfectionism, will power, coping styles, effects on health and well-being, impulsivity, temporal discounting, motivation and even purpose in life. Of course, Dr. Pychyl doesnâ€™t leave his listeners with the problem itself. Once these key factors have been established, he turns his attention to techniques that facilitate self change, habit-breaking implementation intentions, as well as strategies that help each of us to â€œcarpe diem!â€? The emphasis is on self-understanding, practical advice and tools for change. We guarantee that you will find this an engaging series of podcasts that will provide you with tactics to increase personal productivity and well-being.

Copyright: © 2005 Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D.

Latest Episodes:

Listener feedback episode: Comments about the weekly podcast schedule (and other things) Jan 16, 2010

Show notes

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

Approach and avoidance goals: What's the difference in terms of procrastination? Jan 04, 2010

Show notes

Welcome to the first podcast of 2010! Today, I summarize a study completed as part of an M.A. thesis by Matt Dann. Matt explored the relation of approach and avoidance goals, as well as approach and avoidance personality with procrastination. His findings provide some insight into how we might more successfully re-frame our tasks to be approach rather than avoidance goals.You can learn more about our research and access other resources at procrastination.ca.

Decisional procrastination: An interview with Dr. Joseph Ferrari Dec 28, 2009

Show notes

Are you indecisive? Would you rather that someone else choose the movie you'll watch together or the food from a menu? If so, I think you'll enjoy this interview with Dr. Joseph Ferrari (DePaul University, Chicago). Dr. Ferrari is one of the world's foremost experts on the topic of procrastination, and he summarizes some interesting studies about decisional procrastination as well as what we might do to reduce this indecision in our own lives.If you want to learn more about procrastination, check out procrastination.ca.

New Year's resolutions: Why we may fail to act on these intentions Dec 21, 2009

Show notes

The new year looms ahead, and one of the expectations for this time of year is to set a new year's resolution. Do you have one? Do you expect to successfully act on this intention? In this podcast, I share some thoughts about why these resolutions often fail and what we can do to be more successful with change in the year ahead.

Perfectionism (Part 2): The perfectionistic procrastinator Dec 17, 2009

Show notes

Here's the second part of my interview with Dr. Gordon Flett (York University, Toronto). In this podcast, we discuss the relation between procrastination and perfectionism, with a specific focus on the perfectionistic procrastinator. If you want to learn more about procrastination, check out procrastination.ca.

Perfectionism (Part 1): An interview with Dr. Gordon Flett Dec 16, 2009

Show notes

This is the first of a two-part podcast on perfectionism and procrastination. In this first part, Dr. Gordon Flett (York University, Toronto) explains what perfectionism is, why it's problematic and what can be done to help those who are troubled by perfectionism. I thoroughly enjoyed this interview, and I'm sure you will too.If you want to learn more about our research or procrastination, check out procrastination.ca.

A problem with chronic self-appraisal: Self-regulation failure Dec 14, 2009

Show notes

This week, I talk about some research related to impulsivity and anxiety. Interestingly, both are related to chronic preoccupation with the evaluation of self, goals and plans. Impulsivity and anxiety are also related to procrastination, so we need to think about how chronic self-appraisal and criticism may affect self-regulation. I wrote about this study on my Psychology Today blog. You can check out this entry for the reference to the study.If you want to learn more about our research and procrastination, visit procrastination.ca

The "Un-Schedule" as a strategy for successful time management Dec 08, 2009

Show notes

Although I usually note that procrastination is not a time-management problem, it doesn't mean that more effective planning for our goal pursuit won't help. So, this week I present one of my own favourite planning strategies, the "un-schedule." I explain what it is and, using examples from my own life, I explore how it works to create more accurate and honest implementation intentions for our goals.If you want to learn more about procrastination or my research, check out procrastination.ca.

Does evaluation threat help or hinder our procrastination? It depends! Nov 27, 2009

Show notes

This week, after discussing some very important listener feedback, I summarize a study about evaluation threat and its effects on procrastination. The results may surprise you. Whether or not high evaluation threat makes you procrastinate more (which is what we typically might think) depends on whether you're high or low on trait procrastination. You can find my original blog posting about this topic on my Psychology Today "Don't Delay" blog (including the reference for the study if you're interested in reading it yourself). If you want to learn more about procrastination, see procrastination.ca.

Guilt and our strategies to reduce cognitive dissonance for procrastinating Nov 23, 2009

Show notes

&lt;!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:&quot;&quot;; margin-top:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --&gt; When we procrastinate, the most common emotion is guilt. It's an uncomfortable feeling caused, at least in part, by the dissonance between what we intended to do and what we're doing (not what we intended). This dissonance is uncomfortable, and we do a number of things to reduce it including distraction, denial, and trivialization to name a few. This week, I discuss the nature of cognitive dissonance in relation to procrastination as well as the various strategies we use to make ourselves feel better. Of course, I also suggest a strategy that's more effective in the long run.If you want to read about this in addition to listening to the podcast, check out my Don't Delay blog on Psychology Today entitled, "Procrastination, guilt, excuses and the road less traveled."Interested in learning more about procrastination? Check out procrastination.ca.

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