Professor, motivation expert, and authority on procrastination.

Dr. Piers Steel is an internationally recognized expert on human motivation and the foremost authority on why people put things off. A professor of Human Resources and Organizational Dynamics at the University of Calgary's Haskayne School of Business, he has been studying procrastination and its effects for over ten years.

Who among us is not a procrastinator? Who hasn't wondered why we knowingly and willingly put off a course of action despite recognizing we'll be worse off for it? Who hasn't wished they put off less? And no wonder.

People who procrastinate tend to underperform in almost every area of their life, from home to work and from health to happiness. Procrastination creates a legacy of missed opportunities and lost revenue, a surefire recipe for regret.

Dr. Steel's research on procrastination has appeared in magazines ranging from Psychology Today and New Scientist, to Good Housekeeping and Profit. His work has been reported in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, New York Times, and USA Today. Internationally, Dr. Steel's work has recieved coverage in countries such as Asia, Australia, Germany, India, Italy, Russia, and the UK.

So how can we overcome procrastination? How can we change our habits? Is it even possible?

In his soon to be released book, The Procrastination Equation: The Science of Getting Things Done, Dr.Steel sheds new light on irrational decision making practices and how we can benefit if we overcome the habit. With humour, humanity and insight, Dr. Steel dispels the myths and misunderstandings of procrastination and motivation, and shows us exactly how to tame, if not rid ourselves entirely of the habits that are adversely affecting our lives, health, happiness and careers.

EDUCATION
University of Minnesota - I/O Psychology
Doctoral Thesis: "The measurement and nature of procrastination."

University of Guelph - I/O Psychology
Masters Thesis: "The effects of inconsistencies among sex, gender, and job on promotion and pay raises."

University of Toronto - Bachelor of Arts
Completed a double major in psychology and philosophy with a political science minor.

• Motivation: Motivating yourself and others
• Procrastination: Getting things done
• Selection: Choosing the right person

"Prof. Steel has just published what could best be described as the Bible of time-wasting. It took him 10 years to plod through previous studies, reports and 691 correlations on procrastination to narrow down the factors that drive dawdling and to develop a mathematical formula to define it."
- The Globe and Mail - The science of keeping up with yesterday

"After 10 years of research on a project that was only supposed to take five years, a Canadian industrial psychologist found in a giant study that not only is procrastination on the rise, it makes people poorer, fatter and unhappier."
- USA Today - Study is a put off: Scientists research why procrastination is getting worse

"Steel was on a mission. He wanted to figure out what the reams of past procrastination research really added up to. Now, after pooling the data from 216 earlier studies - and incorporating results from hundreds more - he has compiled a comprehensive report that includes, among other things, findings about the damage procrastination can do to health, happiness and bank accounts; who is likely to procrastinate (young people more than older people, men slightly more than women); and on what tasks people are likely to procrastinate (tasks they don't like to do)."
- Los Angeles Times - Might as well read this now

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