Alexis Abraham Homework d1

It was hard for me to get into this article at first because I don’t really identify with procrastination. I’m not a procrastinator, I don’t like waiting until the last minute to do assignments or tasks. Cramming things gives me anxiety, and I don’t like the work I turn out when I cram. I guess that’s why I  found the subject matter boring, I didn’t connect with it. As I was reading it I found myself thinking, “James Surowiecki”, the author is really going in about the psychology of procrastination. As I continued reading what I actually found interesting about the article was the intro about the economist that took 6 months to mail his friends clothes to the united states, “the economist George Akerlof found himself faced with a simple task: mailing a box of clothes from India, where he was living, to the United States”. It made me think people that procrastinate may feel overwhelmed or they don’t want to deal with the hassle like, “George Akerlof” or people that procrastinate are just lazy!

When I finished the article I realized that laziness may not have anything to do with the problem and the purpose of the article was to help individuals that struggle with procrastination in a real way, and to highlight a very significant problem that is universal and can be extremely detrimental to all who deal with this issue. “According to Piers Steel, a business professor at the University of Calgary, the percentage of people who admitted to difficulties with procrastination quadrupled between 1978 and 2002. In that light, it’s possible to see procrastination as the quintessential modern problem.” The subject of procrastination has been researched extensively by multiple philosophers, psychologists, and economists. The article also highlighted the negative financial impact procrastination costs businesses as well as individuals. That was very surprising to me that big business like G.M deal with procrastination which, “exemplified by the bankruptcy of G.M., was due in part to executives’ penchant for delaying tough decisions. (In Alex Taylor’s recent history of G.M., “Sixty to Zero,” one of the key conclusions is “Procrastination doesn’t pay.”)”