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Getting rational now or later: navigating procrastination and time-inconsistent preferences for new rationalists

This is a distillation of and reflection on O’Donoghue and Rabin’s “Doing it now or later” (see citation below)[1]. Many people struggle with procrastination or self-control. Critically, we struggle with the mismatch between current preference and future preference. Procrastination arises in situations that are unpleasant to perform but create future...

Feb 26, 2024•1

milo_thoughts

milo_thoughts — LessWrong

milo_thoughts

Message

Getting rational now or later: navigating procrastination and time-inconsistent preferences for new rationalists

Feb 26, 2024•1

milo_thoughts

Getting rational now or later: navigating procrastination and time-inconsistent preferences for new rationalists

milo_thoughts

This is a distillation of and reflection on O’Donoghue and Rabin’s “Doing it now or later” (see citation below)^[1].

Many people struggle with procrastination or self-control. Critically, we struggle with the mismatch between current preference and future preference. Procrastination arises in situations that are unpleasant to perform but create future benefits: they have “immediate costs.” Similarly, indulgent behaviors (e.g. eating unhealthy foods) have “immediate rewards” (they taste good), while stashing away future costs. Both have a mismatch between present-self and the future-self.

The best way to “kick” this issue is to develop time-consistent preferences, placing no special value on what’s happening now–thus our choices around procrastination or indulgence will be more rational and no... (read 2222 more words →)