It's Like Your Mama Always Said

I find that much of the advice I'm getting these days from highly esteemed professionals whose services I pay for is pretty much in line with what my mother always said. The problem was that I didn't listen to my mother much of the time, and even when I did listen, I didn't usually do what she said.

The latest one is the Premack Principle, or Premack's Principle, which “suggests that if a person wants to perform a given activity, the person will perform a less desirable activity to get at the more desirable activity.” [wikipedia] The idea is that if you have two tasks that you need to perform, and one is more desirable to you than the other, you should do the less desirable task firsst because this will keep you from procrastinating on the less desirable task, since you really want to get to the desirable task.

I procrastinate a LOT. This is, in fact, a skill that I picked up from my mother, both genetically and experientially. My mom can procrastinate with the best of them, although I think that I have perfected the activity into an art form. Maybe both my mom and I should've listened when she said, “If you don't eat your peas and carrots, you aren't going to get dessert.” When we are young children, this is the most common way that we hear Premack's Principle stated. If you don't do [undesirable] Task A, then you won't get [desirable] Task B. Growing up, we also hear it stated as “No TV till you've finished your homework,” and “You're not going anywhere with your friends till you've done your chores.”

So, it turns out that the strategies that my mom used to motivate me to do anything as a child is not only valid, but it has been proved valid in funded studies engineered by highly qualified psychology professors and graduate students. If only I had listened to my mom, I would not be paying professionals to give me this advice.