Do You Have Present Bias
- Advoco
- Mar 4, 2022
- 2 min read
Has this situation ever happened to you? You have something to do, like finish a presentation, write a query (or an a-Minute) or go exercise. You are all set to do it, you have scheduled a time, you have everything needed and everything is a go. But you have five minutes to spare, so you sit down on the couch and turn the television on. You find an episode of a show you wanted to check out, and then decide to watch another one. You keep pushing off what you intended to do until it’s either at the deadline or it’s too late. If you have fallen victim to this, you have had “present bias.”
Present bias is a fancy word for procrastination, but it can have a negative impact on your goals. It is natural to value a reward in this moment as opposed to a reward in the future and that is why present bias is so powerful. You are much happier eating an ice cream sundae right now then running for an hour. Even if exercise will make you feel better in the long term.
So how do you prevent present bias? Here are three strategies:
1. Flexibility: If something is part of your daily routine, then allow yourself to be a little flexible. If you decide you will exercise at 6pm exactly every day, then you will be less consistent because life may interrupt that exact time. Instead, set a goal to exercise when you get home from work, but before you eat dinner.
2. Create personal deadlines (with penalties): Research of college students has demonstrated that when these students chose personal deadlines with actual penalties, their performance increased. Penalties could be no dinners out or putting money into a swear jar for procrastinating.
3. Start with Why: This is my personal favorite. Before you schedule that presentation, think about why you are doing it. Find the value to you before you put it on your schedule. If what you schedule is not valuable to you, then you are unlikely to do it. You are also less likely to do it well. The idea here is to focus on what is valuable to you so that when you find yourself on the couch all you have to do is remind yourself of the Why and you will be more likely to get up and do it.
Until next time…we are Advoco, make every minute count.
About Colin: Colin Whitney is a Solutions Architect with Advoco and looks forward to helping others achieve their EAM goals. He is a graduate of both the University of Iowa and the University of Georgia. When he is not working he enjoys getting outside and watching college football. Questions? Send Colin an email!
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