Present bias for effort: why Thursday shrinks.
Present bias for effort means you plan work evenly in advance, then push it later on the day itself. In one study, people shifted about 9 per cent of their work onto the next date. Nothing changed except where they stood when asked.
Greek text, Tetris and seven weeks.
In 2015 Ned Augenblick, Muriel Niederle and Charles Sprenger published a study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. Instead of money, their work now or work later study asked about effort. The jobs were boring rather than hard, for example transcribing meaningless Greek text. Students at the University of California, Berkeley, also finished partial Tetris games across seven weeks.
Zero per cent, then eleven.
When people allocated work in advance, they split it fairly evenly between two dates. However, on the first work date itself, they pushed about 9 per cent more onto the next day. Measured in advance, the weekly discount rate was around zero per cent. On the day the work started, it was around eleven per cent. Same people, same weeks, same Greek.
Why present bias for effort describes you.
In the money version of the design, the researchers found virtually no present bias. So these people were impatient about effort not money, and that fits you well. You have waited years for this business, so waiting is not your problem. Instead, what you cannot do is the Tuesday. As a result, laziness is the wrong label, since laziness would have shown up on Sunday too.
Spot present bias for effort in your own week.
Write down what you planned on Sunday for this week, then what actually got done.
Mark which tasks moved once the day arrived, and note that the work itself never changed.
From the book.
That is the thing, and notice how badly it describes you. You're not somebody who wants everything now. You've waited years for this business, and waiting is the one thing you have comprehensively proved you can do. What you can't do is the Tuesday.
I Want to Start a Business but I Never Actually Start, chapter 8: Why later always wins
Questions about present bias for effort.
Is present bias for effort the same as laziness?
No. Laziness would show up when you plan on Sunday too, but this gap only opens once the work is in front of you.
Were the people in the study impatient about money?
No. In the money version of the same design, the researchers found virtually no present bias at all.
What tasks did the participants actually do?
They transcribed meaningless Greek text and finished partial Tetris games. The tasks were boring rather than hard, by design.
Read the whole chapter.
This lesson covers one section of chapter 8, “Why later always wins”. The book goes further, with the full evidence, the stories and every exercise.
Lessons in this chapter.
- 01 Present bias for effort: why Thursday shrinks.
- 02 Hyperbolic discounting explained: model, not data.
- 03 Commitment device psychology: why 59 per cent chose it.
- 04 Does caring more cause procrastination: no one knows.
- 05 Are entrepreneurs more impatient: about time, yes.
- 06 Accountability partner for goals: one line tonight.
- 07 What if I still don't do it: read the result.
- 08 Augustine on akrasia: the garden and the Greek.