Forgive Yourself for Past Procrastination: You Will Perform Better Next Time

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

Comments

[Duddy]

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.

[Procrastination Free Living]

Nice you have another definition to idea to avoid the word procrastination.. thanks

[TheLeaderLab]

Great study. One more reason to forgive. Thanks for sharing.

[Cindy O'Keeffe]

Very timely! I just tweeted about the difference between percolating and procrastinating as a result of some conversations with clients.

[Jon4t2]

The link under "delightful little study" is broken. No URI, just plain text.