It's harder to reform a procrastinator than an alcoholic says psychologist William Knaus.
That's a real problem, considering that procrastinators are less healthy, less wealthy, and less happy than normal folk.
Even worse, procrastination is on the rise. In 1978, only 5% of Americans thought of themselves as chronic procastinators. Today, it's 26%.
Let's face it, there's just too much fun or more pleasant stuff to do, from surfing the web, to checking on email, to playing games, all making procrastination effortless.
I know I should be working on my book, but here I am.
Procrastinators' ranks rise with tempting tech
University of Calgary professor Piers Steel was 5 years late in delivering his research published this month in Psychological Bulletin.
"That stupid game Minesweeper - that probably has cost billions of dollars for the whole society," he said.
The U.S. gross national product would probably rise by $50 billion if the icon and sound that notifies people of new e-mail were to disappear, he added.