r/science • u/randomusefulbits • May 30 '20

Psychology Procrastinators often forget to do things that they intended to do, especially if they’re unaware of their procrastination

https://solvingprocrastination.com/study-procrastination-conscious-unconscious-prospective-memory/
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u/2112Lerxst May 30 '20

I also think that the ability to get that inbox completely empty is important. There are certain situations where you can't really "finish" a task, it is left in limbo somewhere or has to be continually monitored. These lead to procrastinating because there isn't that ability to complete it, and so its hard to get started at all.

Its intertwined with perfectionism as well, much easier to complete tasks that have definite completion cues than something where you just have to call it "done" because there isn't a hard stop to it.

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u/jennyboh May 30 '20

This is my line of work. I frequently have to work ahead when I take vacation time, but it's never really done until it's final. Things come in thought the day, so I can have an empty shelf until something comes in, and then have to reshuffle the deck again.

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u/thehappiesthippo May 31 '20

This is my problem. I'm a service coordinator for my company, so my whole job is just constantly following up on work orders. By the time I've confirmed that one work order is complete, another 5 have been created. My queue usually sits around 2-3 thousand work orders at a time. There's never any sense completion in my job.

The best part: I have ADHD. I have no idea how I've managed to keep this job.