We all procrastrin to a greater or lesser extent: we put off something we should do out of laziness. However, it seems that we are more decisive if they do not give us a delivery deadline or if that deadline, if established, is very short. Both modalities work .
This is what a new study carried out by the University of Otago concludes.
Respond to an online survey
In the study, participants were invited to complete an online survey in which a donation went to charity. They were given a week, a month, or no deadline to respond .
The study found that responses to the survey were lowest for the one-month timeframe and highest when no timeframe was specified. The absence of a deadline and the week-long deadline led to many early responses, while a long deadline seemed to give people permission to procrastinate and then forget about it .
According to the authors, it is possible that not specifying a deadline could have led participants to assume that there is an implicit deadline.