Think ahead to form plans you will perform when the going gets tough(Legrand,
Bieleke, Gollwitzer & Mignon, 2017).
Peter Gollwitzer's theory of action is very similar
to my own graduate advisor's model of project pursuit which preceded Gollwitzer's work.
As readers of my Don't Delay blog well know,
I'm a fan of Peter Gollwitzer's concept of and research about implementation intentions.
Henk Aarts, Peter Gollwitzer, and Ran Hassin have shown that watching
people perform an action often leads us to do the same thing.
As Wieber and Gollwitzer acknowledge, the problem of getting started with procrastination
is that the person has to overcome his or her initial reluctance.
Yes, Wieber and Gollwitzer argue that implementation intentions can play
a role here too(am I whetting your appetite for my next blog entry?☺ )?
In sum, Wieber and Gollwitzer do a nice job of situating the problem
of procrastination within a psychology of action, and, in doing so, they help us identify potential problems that we can address to reduce our likelihood of procrastination.