There's a Scientific Reason You Always

Overcommit to Future Plans

SHANA LEBOWITZ, BUSINESS INSIDER
1 FEB 2019

It happens to me more often than I care to admit. I check my calendar for the following
workday and see a call I scheduled weeks ago, when I was busy and overwhelmed and
couldn't take on any new assignments.

The only issue? Right now I am also busy and overwhelmed and can't reasonably take on
any new assignments. I'd assumed that, by now, things would have slowed down. I was
mistaken.

Apparently, and somewhat hearteningly, I'm not the only victim of this delusion.

Reading an article in the Harvard Business Review by Harvard Business School professor
Ashley Whillans, I came across the term "future time slack."

It's the belief that you'll have more time in the future than you do in the present. That's why
so many of us are inclined to postpone commitments for weeks or months, when we
assume we'll have more leeway in our schedules.

The term "future time slack" was coined by Gal Zauberman and John G. Lynch, Jr. in a
2005 study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

In a series of experiments, the researchers demonstrated that people think they will have
more time in the (relatively near) future, but roughly the same amount of money.

As the researchers put it, you think you're unusually busy now and will be less busy soon;
but you don't assume you're unusually broke today.

Another implication of future time slack, that Whillans points out, is stress.

Whillans writes, "We decide to make some sacrifices now with the promise of enjoying
more time later. Of course, when the future comes, we don't have more time. We just
repeat the same mistake."
You might skip your friend's party to stay late at the office, thinking you'll be freer to spend
time with her next month. Then next month rolls around, and the pressure to work is the
same.

Yet research suggests that people who value time over money tend to be happier, possibly
because they work fewer hours and spend more time on activities they enjoy.

There isn't an immediate solution to this problem, except perhaps being aware of your
tendency to put off certain commitments until you'll presumably have more time.

You won't, and your future self (or at least my future self) will be glad to see an empty
calendar.

1. What is future overcommitment?

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2. Write a very short summary of the article (only the gist of it). Write 2-3 sentences, a
maximum of 30 words.
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3. How is future overcommitment present in your life?

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4. What can you do to resolve the issue?

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