The Unschedule Planning Method

Abstract

The proposed research seeks to examine the effectiveness of a novel application of scheduling called an unschedule. In an unschedule, the emphasis is paradoxically on scheduling enjoyable activities before scheduling work. According to the promoter of this method, Neil Fiore (2007), when we neglect to prioritize enjoyable activities, as often happens in traditional scheduling, our workload becomes tedious to the point of procrastinating. In this study, undergraduate participants will begin with a two-week baseline period in which they record the amount of time they spend studying. Participants will then be assigned to one of three conditions: (1) a control group that will employ the traditional method of scheduling their studying first, (2) an unscheduled group that will schedule their fun activities first, and (3) an unscheduled plus 30-minute group that will use unscheduling as well as short 30-minute study sessions (which Fiore also suggests in order to reduce task aversiveness). The hypotheses are that the participants who are in the unscheduled conditions, and especially those in the unscheduled plus 30-minute condition, will increase their time spent studying and report being less distracted by temptations, thereby, decreasing their overall tendency to procrastinate. 

Discipline: Psychology Honours

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Russ Powell