Entangling your own rope

Classical economics follow the initial assumption that humans (both as individuals and as groups) make decisions solely based on their own interests, but this is fortunately wrong because it would be incompatible with many commonly welcome human activities. For example nobody would be contributing to charity, since giving to the poor would not mean any improvement for them. Many professional careers, such as science and public service, would be significantly understaffed, since industry is in general much more profitable. Even child rearing would be in trouble in view of the costs that it currently carries and the fact their support in your late years can be easily replaced by a savings plan and an assisted living facility. Luckily, all these activities that are, in a certain way, uneconomical are still a regular part of our lives.

There is however another sort of uneconomical behavior that is not so welcome but is equally part of human nature: procrastination. In all the cases mentioned above one could intuitively see some kind of non-monetary reward: from the warm glow of giving, to the services provided to the community by dedicated workers, or just how interesting it is to see your children grow. And in view of these intangible rewards it is somewhat understandable that we still regularly choose the "illogical" option. But what is for us in procrastination? The root probably lies in our lack of knowledge about ourselves: we hope (without any actual reason for that hope) that tomorrow we will have an easier time to do the task, so instead of spending the whole day thinking that we should be doing it (and suffering all the way), we just "reschedule" the activity with a small pang of remorse but then allow ourselves to forget about it for another day, devoting ourselves instead to other activities that we find immediately rewarding. The problem happens when tomorrow comes and we do not feel even a little bit more inclined to complete the task than the day before, and instead we now have one day less of margin.

Photo: Seán Ó Domhnaill

Procrastination can be, to some extent, regarded as a perverse Nash equilibrium: if the benefit obtained from doing the task (e.g. the peace of mind) is not greater than the cost of doing it, it makes "logical sense" to postpone it (with very low effort and, in most cases, not much additional worry). The equilibrium eventually flips naturally as the deadline approaches once the costs of not doing the task (the increase in worry) outweighs the required effort. For activities that depend only on us and can be reasonably completed in a dash this typically means waiting to the last hour or minute. Other tasks, which require the help of others normally have you asking for expediency even if your collaborator had no part in the late initiation.

This reflection came to me last night, when I realized that we are only a couple of weeks away from our holidays and, although all the basics are covered (hotel, flights, rental car), there were still a number of paperwork items that needed to be completed. It is remarkable how daunting these kind of worries can be: you lie in your bed, trying to fall asleep again, and the task list just keeps circling around in your mind. When I was younger and lived on my own, it was very easy to get out of bed, do as many of the pending tasks as possible and then go back to sleep with the assurances that the list had gotten shorter and that I was definitely not going to forget about (or postpone anymore) the rest of the items. But now I know that my family would be terribly worried if they found me at my laptop at 3 a.m. Instead, I prepared a detailed mental list to ensure that I had all the bases covered and this morning I solved everything I was able to, and the rest got, at least, set in motion and is very likely to be completed in time.

It goes without discussion that it is my fault only if my rope gets tangled, but chances are that I am not going to learn from this experience and instead I will continue to procrastinate just as much. Perhaps confessing my weaknesses here will raise the stakes (albeit very slightly) and push the change of the Nash equilibrium a couple of days earlier. It could also be that I learn to check my task list before bed so that I give myself the opportunity to accomplish a few items more and sleep better. One way or another, I can only embrace my own human nature and, as usual, hope for the best and be ready for the worst. And to wish you all a happy week.