Researcher Studying Procrastination Delays Publication of Procrastination Study
PARIS — Dr. Amelie Vidal’s research on procrastination dynamics — initiated in January with the intention of producing a paper by September — has produced, by October, a comprehensive dataset, 23 completed interviews, and a paper outline whose transformation into an actual paper has been consistently scheduled for “next week” since August. Dr. Vidal is aware of the irony. Dr. Vidal has documented the irony in the dataset. The documentation of the irony is in the paper. The paper is not complete.
“I am in my own dataset,” Dr. Vidal confirmed. “My procrastination on the procrastination paper is the most perfect data point in the study.” She has considered writing the paper about not writing the paper. She has not written that paper either. Both papers are available as intentions. Both intentions are in the dataset. The dataset is complete. The paper is not. The pattern is the finding.
The Loop Mechanism
The “start tomorrow” loop’s mechanism is well-documented: the intention to begin is formed, the beginning is deferred to a specific future moment (tomorrow, next week, after this other thing), the future moment arrives, the intention is re-formed, the beginning is deferred again. The loop’s self-sustaining quality is the research’s primary subject. The loop is now also the research’s primary obstacle. Dr. Vidal’s supervisor has read the dataset. Her supervisor finds it “unusually vivid.”
According to Psychology Today’s procrastination and deadline research, externally imposed deadlines are the most reliable loop-breakers. Dr. Vidal’s supervisor has imposed a December deadline. The paper will be submitted in December. The tomorrow loop ends in December. The irony remains in the dataset. Both will be published.
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