If you tend to postpone the decisions, do not blame the lack of willpower. Scientists have found out that procrastination is inherited.
Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today – many of us have known this saying since childhood. However, some people persistently fail to follow this rule, no matter how much they want it. This feature is called procrastination – a tendency to postpone unpleasant thoughts and work for later.
Until recently, it has been assumed that procrastination is just a character trait showing a lack of willpower. Scientists from the University of Colorado conducted a study involving identical and fraternal twins to test the hypothesis that procrastination is transmitted with the genes.
All people tend to procrastinate at certain moments, but the aim was to find out why for some people procrastination becomes a way of life, while others, on the contrary, tend to make quick decisions without thinking about the consequences. The answer to this question should help not only to understand the origin of procrastination, but also to teach people how to minimize its impact.
Identical twins were involved the study because they had the same DNA, and if one of the twins showed a tendency for procrastination and another did not, it would mean that this phenomenon is not genetic. However, it turned out that a habit of postponing is really transferred with the genes. Now we only have to understand how to cope with it.
