with strict instructions to refuse you if you ask for a french fry? It may seem an obvious way of making yourself feel guilty, but it can also be highly effective. Share your goal online as well. Post it on Facebook. Ask your connections to support you if you make your goal, or criticize you if you don’t.
The Procrastination Nutshell
Procrastination is the unspoken slayer of dreams. We all have different reasons and excuses for why we procrastinate. We all suffer from the consequences of procrastination in some area of our lives. It may sound a bit ironic, but now is the time to deal with your procrastination. You won’t be able to fix it easily or forever with one attempt. However, if you keep seeking to understand and fix your procrastination, you’ll soon jump-start many areas of your life.
----
GIVE YOUR MIND A WORKOUT
----
Beginner: Procrastination Mastery
If you are procrastinating over a situation, write down the task that you need to get done. Then work through the following questions to see if you can come up with a solution:
• Why is it important to get this done?
• How does the thought of starting to work on this issue make me feel?
• How does the thought of completing work on this issue make me feel?
• Which procrastination attitudes are getting in the way? Why?
• What tactics could I use to get over this?
• When will I get it done by?
• Who will be my witness?
• When will I review my progress?
Advanced: Change Your Habit
The beginner exercise was about a particular task; this exercise is about the whole picture—the procrastination habit itself.
Grab a paper and pen before starting.
1. Why do you procrastinate? Go back through the five main reasons for procrastination and figure out which you are most guilty of. Pick your top three reasons and list them in the order in which you use them.
2. Get specific. Write down exactly what sorts of things you procrastinate about and what you say to yourself to justify procrastinating.
3. Identify your beliefs. If you know what underlying beliefs you hold about the reasons you procrastinate, you can try to change them. Use “The Six Steps of Arguing with Yourself” method beginning on page 40 (chapter 2) to help you change the root belief that is holding you back.
4. Change your language. Now that you’ve started changing your beliefs, write down a different way to talk to yourself about the tasks you habitually avoid. Imagine your most effective self. What would he or she say to your procrastinating self?
5. What is the first action step in changing your procrastination habit? Arguably, changing how you think and talk to yourself about this habit is the very first step. But take a moment here to decide on the first tangible action step you can take. This will vary depending on your core reason or justification for procrastinating. For instance, if your core reason is action illusion and you mostly procrastinate at work, then the first action step for you might be to regularly document at the start of every task what counts as real effort and what counts as procrastination.
6. What’s the reward? Habit changing succeeds when rewards are built into it. Pick a reward that will motivate you to change your procrastination habit.
PART THREE
Deepen Connections
S HE WANTS to slow down. He wants to jump in.
He rolls his eyes. She crosses her arms.
We all know that relationships are complicated. But should we just resign ourselves to complications? Or should we really dig in to create stronger, more enriching, and rewarding relationships—that don’t have so many complications? Can we create healthy relationships that are energizing instead of depleting? Can we build relationships that are fun to work on instead of something we feel obligated to work in?
Whether you want to deepen connections with friends, family, colleagues, or a
The Procrastination Nutshell
Procrastination is the unspoken slayer of dreams. We all have different reasons and excuses for why we procrastinate. We all suffer from the consequences of procrastination in some area of our lives. It may sound a bit ironic, but now is the time to deal with your procrastination. You won’t be able to fix it easily or forever with one attempt. However, if you keep seeking to understand and fix your procrastination, you’ll soon jump-start many areas of your life.
----
GIVE YOUR MIND A WORKOUT
----
Beginner: Procrastination Mastery
If you are procrastinating over a situation, write down the task that you need to get done. Then work through the following questions to see if you can come up with a solution:
• Why is it important to get this done?
• How does the thought of starting to work on this issue make me feel?
• How does the thought of completing work on this issue make me feel?
• Which procrastination attitudes are getting in the way? Why?
• What tactics could I use to get over this?
• When will I get it done by?
• Who will be my witness?
• When will I review my progress?
Advanced: Change Your Habit
The beginner exercise was about a particular task; this exercise is about the whole picture—the procrastination habit itself.
Grab a paper and pen before starting.
1. Why do you procrastinate? Go back through the five main reasons for procrastination and figure out which you are most guilty of. Pick your top three reasons and list them in the order in which you use them.
2. Get specific. Write down exactly what sorts of things you procrastinate about and what you say to yourself to justify procrastinating.
3. Identify your beliefs. If you know what underlying beliefs you hold about the reasons you procrastinate, you can try to change them. Use “The Six Steps of Arguing with Yourself” method beginning on page 40 (chapter 2) to help you change the root belief that is holding you back.
4. Change your language. Now that you’ve started changing your beliefs, write down a different way to talk to yourself about the tasks you habitually avoid. Imagine your most effective self. What would he or she say to your procrastinating self?
5. What is the first action step in changing your procrastination habit? Arguably, changing how you think and talk to yourself about this habit is the very first step. But take a moment here to decide on the first tangible action step you can take. This will vary depending on your core reason or justification for procrastinating. For instance, if your core reason is action illusion and you mostly procrastinate at work, then the first action step for you might be to regularly document at the start of every task what counts as real effort and what counts as procrastination.
6. What’s the reward? Habit changing succeeds when rewards are built into it. Pick a reward that will motivate you to change your procrastination habit.
PART THREE
Deepen Connections
S HE WANTS to slow down. He wants to jump in.
He rolls his eyes. She crosses her arms.
We all know that relationships are complicated. But should we just resign ourselves to complications? Or should we really dig in to create stronger, more enriching, and rewarding relationships—that don’t have so many complications? Can we create healthy relationships that are energizing instead of depleting? Can we build relationships that are fun to work on instead of something we feel obligated to work in?
Whether you want to deepen connections with friends, family, colleagues, or a
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