The intention-behaviour gap: A useful theory for understanding procrastination

If you have been struggling with exercising more or eating more healthily, this podcast is for you.  In this interview with Dr. Peter Hall (University of Waterloo), we are introduced to a way of thinking about what influences our behaviour. Peter is a clinically trained psychologist who does research on health behaviours. He and his colleague Geoffrey Fong have proposed an important new theory to explain the processes that affect our behaviour choice including our intentions, habits (pre-potent responses) and self-regulatory capacity (executive function). Please, don't be put off by the theoretical focus or the terms here! Peter does an excellent job of explaining the theory, as well as how we can make sense of our own procrastination from this perspective. He includes strategies for change as well. You can read the paper "Temporal self-regulation theory: A model for individual health behavior" as a pdf at this link. If you want to learn more about procrastination, see procrastination.ca or check out my new book at The Procrastinator's Digest: A Concise Guide to Solving the Procrastination Puzzle