In 2008, when the financial crisis hit, I wanted to get to the heart of why our leading bankers, regulators, and others were so shortsighted and wreaked such havoc on our economy: why were their decisions so wrong, their expectations of the future so catastrophically off the mark? I also wanted to figure out, for selfish reasons, whether my own tendency to procrastinate (the only light fixture in my bedroom closet has been broken for five years) was really such a bad thing….

The essence of my case is this: given the fast pace of modern life, most of us tend to react too quickly.

From Wait: The Art and Science of Delay by Frank Partnoy. Read the complete introduction now.