Summary: how to get things doneHere's a summary of the main conclusions from all the studies discussed:To avoid procrastinating on a task, focus on its details and use self-imposed deadlines.To stick to a task, while actually carrying it out, now it is beneficial to keep the ultimate, abstract goal in mind.When evaluating progress on a hard task, when the chance of failure is high, stay focused on the details of the task.Once tasks are easier or the end is in sight, a more abstract, goal focus is once again the psychological approach to choose.

We had also agreed that we would produce such a paper to inform the work of the European Union Mature project which is looking at knowldge maturing and developing Personal and Organisational Learning and Management Environments. It is a longish paper and covers such issues as: new ways of learning using Web 2.0 schools deschooling society workbased learning and the social shaping of work and technology organisational networks and communities of practice Personal Learning Emvironments the future of universties informal learning knowledge development and sharing We were given a wide brief to look at what might happen up to 2025 and what developments we thought were likely and what were desireable. We have used the opportunity to think a little more freely than is often possible within the scope of traditional academic papers.