There is a delightful little study summarized in BPS Research that shows students who forgive themselves for procrastination in their preparation for past tests feel better about themselves, procrastinate less in the future, and perform better on future tests compared to students who do not forgive themselves. I like this finding because it suggests that beating yourself up for past screwing around and procrastinating is destructive --- it is better to forgive yourself and get on with life. In general, there is a lot of research on the virtues of forgiving yourself and others.
The citation is: Wohl, M., Pychyl, T., & Bennett, S. (2010). I forgive myself, now I can study: How self-forgiveness for procrastinating can reduce future procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 48 (7), 803-808
Great article! It sure does make sense to forgive yourself from past failure or under-performance. It frees up all your mind and emotions to get focused on the task at hand.
Posted by: Duddy | August 18, 2011 at 05:41 AM
Nice you have another definition to idea to avoid the word procrastination.. thanks
Posted by: Procrastination Free Living | June 19, 2011 at 09:23 PM
Great study. One more reason to forgive. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: TheLeaderLab | May 07, 2010 at 09:31 AM
Very timely! I just tweeted about the difference between percolating and procrastinating as a result of some conversations with clients.
Posted by: Cindy O'Keeffe | May 07, 2010 at 08:53 AM
The link under "delightful little study" is broken. No URI, just plain text.
Posted by: Jon4t2 | May 07, 2010 at 03:41 AM