It is said that procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. Others say that procrastination gives you something to look forward to.
According to Jen Agerstrom’s dissertation at Lund University in Sweden, it’s quite possible that procrastination is an act of conscience…a commitment to someone or something made far away in time that triggers abstract thought patterns in the brain, and that as that commitment draws closer and becomes more concrete our feelings about the commitment changes.
In his study, Agerstrom had 1,000 participants think about everything from taking out the trash to helping friends to acting charitably. What he found was that it was easier for people to commit to events that were in the distant future than to events close at hand.
“It turned out that the thought that we might act selfishly in the distant future prompted more feelings of guilt than if we were to act selfishly next week,” said Agerstrom.
The explanation, according to scientists, can be found in the brain. Events far off trigger the superordinate moral value the desire to act morally. As events become closer in nature, the brain is wired to let concrete, subordinate selfish motives dominate. In short, when it comes to how we act, we think of ourselves. When we plan, we think of others.
So when it comes to charity, Agerstrom concludes that it’s best to get people to commit in advance, to have them agree ahead of time to have money automatically deducted from their account at a date set in the future.
However, the present doesn’t have to be so selfish. If you can give your mind some quiet time everyday, you can calm your thoughts and reconnect with your superordinate moral values. You can put other people ahead of yourself. And Brain Wave Vibration is a great way to make this happen. It gives you the time you need to energize your brain and spoil yourself. More important, it gives you the time to remind yourself that the best way to feel good about who you are is to selflessly give yourself to others.