It's February. Only one month into 2010, and almost half of the well-intentioned are backsliding on their noble New Year's resolutions, according to research. Are you among them? Did you promise yourself to be more organized at work? Did you vow to slim down and eat healthier this year? Or have you even made your resolutions yet, never mind putting them into action?

You're not alone. One in five adults fesses up to persistent procrastination, says Piers Steel, an associate professor at the University of Calgary who studies the science behind shilly-shallying. David Watson, a procrastination researcher who teaches at Grant MacEwan University, calls procrastinating "a basic dimension of personality."

Although procrastination isn't well studied outside North America, Canada has seven active researchers in the field, with three in Alberta. What does that say about us? "Draw your own conclusions," says Steel, who tactfully won't.

If procrastination is the thief of time, modern-day procrastination is turning into grand larceny. According to Steel's research, employees report they spend an average of two hours a day frittering away time at less important tasks instead of true priorities. And while Steel's historical investigation into humanity's love of putting things off shows it's nothing new (early Greek poet Hesiod was chiding sluggish workers as far back as 800 BC), Steel has found through meta-analysis of various studies that procrastination is getting worse. "There's been a five-fold increase in chronic procrastination since the first scientific research started 30 years ago," Steel says.

As we sit at our computers trying to tackle that big project, it's just too easy to tell ourselves we'll only take a minute to check e-mails, to see what's new with friends on Facebook, to watch another adorable kitten romp on YouTube or to surf from site to site in the name of "research." Hours later, the real task remains untouched. "It's a terrible dishonesty," says Tim Pychyl, an associate professor at Carleton University, who started the school's Procrastination Research Group in 1995 to study why we dawdle. "We deceive ourselves that we're still working, but we're not."

Whether or not Canadians - and, perhaps, especially Albertans - need help more than others, no one is immune to the paralyzing trait. Procrastination strikes all ages, occupations, cultures and both genders, although males have slightly higher tendencies.

But is it more common in certain personality types? Researchers have looked for links to psychology's five-factor model, which Pychyl calls "the basic colour wheel of personality." The Big Five is summed up with the acronym OCEAN - openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, neuroticism. Results suggest extroverts are more likely to succumb to procrastination, as are those who score high on neuroticism (translation: worriers who don't deal well with stress). Most chronic avoiders score low on conscientiousness, defined as self-discipline and planned behaviour.

Not surprisingly, the art of postponing is prevalent in students. Up to 90 per cent of undergrads label themselves as procrastinators, reports Pychyl. "Students tell me their houses were never cleaner than when writing their PhDs."

Robert Klassen, a University of Alberta associate professor and motivation researcher, candidly admits, "anyone who spends a lot of time in front of a computer trying to write
experiences procrastination daily."

Steel wryly agrees that sometimes the act of avoiding what we really should be doing is
amazingly productive: "We can do any amount of work except the work we're supposed to be doing." Yet we know we're avoiding the real priority, and that causes extreme stress and guilt. "We view procrastination in quasi-moral terms - that we're doing wrong [and] almost sinning," says Klassen.

Procrastination is a curious flaw. Even while postponing, we remain highly aware of the negative consequences that will almost certainly result from delaying the inevitable. That's clear in Steel's definition of procrastination: the voluntary delay of an intended course of action, despite expecting to be worse off for the delay. The key word is
"voluntary," which is also why procrastination is so hard to lick. "It's rooted in self-deception," Pychyl notes. "You become your own worst enemy. The only thing in your way is you."

So why don't we just get on with it, already? Pychyl believes procrastination to be "the most common form of a failure to self-regulate," driven by the same lack of internal control that underlies addictions like overeating, gambling and drinking. "We can binge on creating other busyness to make work for ourselves, to legitimatize avoiding the task." Steel has a slightly different twist: "Procrastination is complex - a bit of genetics and also learned behaviour.
But the overarching reason is impulsiveness.  We'd rather have rewards today versus rewards tomorrow." Both Pychyl and Steel agree that it's time  to put some common myths to rest. First is the armchair psychologist's belief that procrastination can be cured by time management strategies. Those sometimes help, but the problem is far deeper, says Pychyl. "Most procrastinators are quite capable of organizing the areas of their lives they enjoy. It's not about lack of time. The solution isn't tweaking lifestyles with yet another day-planner." Steel sneers at the typical self-help solutions. "If a procrastinator could do that, would they be procrastinating?"

Secondly, both dismiss the currently popular "arousal theory of procrastination," which postulates that some people postpone tasks until the last minute to experience the adrenaline that comes from getting things done just under the wire. "Research shows that's all wrong," says Pychyl. "These people aren't typically thrill-seekers in other areas of their lives, like spending their time skydiving. The rush comes from the relief of getting the task accomplished, not from the late timing."

Sadly, that destroys the one last excuse inveterate procrastinators cling to: "But I work best under pressure!" Pychyl says that faulty logic should be rephrased to: "But I'll only work when there's pressure." And the shirker's work will suffer as a result, he adds. "There's no time for research, reflection or revisions. And something's always bound to go wrong right at deadline."

   Another interesting myth is that procrastinators are happy, laid-back, lazy lollygaggers. Instead, Pychyl's research finds the deadline-challenged work tirelessly to avoid work, and waste a lot of time bargaining with themselves and creating excuses rather than spending those lost hours having fun. "They experience a slight relief from postponing, but that's negated by the nagging guilt from not doing what they intended to do."

Finally, debunking one last myth gives hope to foot-dragging dawdlers everywhere. It's
not true that once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator. In fact, Steel has written an entire book explaining how one can change, The Procrastination Equation, which will be published by Random House later this year.

"Changing ingrained habits is difficult and requires long-term commitment," says Pychyl. "But it can be done. Don't tell yourself ‘just do it' because you probably won't." Instead, he says, rephrase that to "just get started." He adds: "Like my Grandma always said, ‘A job begun is a job half done.'"