CHAPTER #4
The Procrastination Cure
Imagine if you could use a mental exercise to finally defeat procrastination.
How different might your life be?
Procrastination Isn’t about Laziness
It’s ironic, but I’m procrastinating right now as I write this chapter. I’m
supposed to be doing research and customization
for a speaking engagement I
landed with a giant energy company. But instead I’m writing this chapter. It’s
not like the motivation isn’t there. They’re paying me $54,425 to deliver three
talks in three days. So I should be jumping up and down for joy and eager to
dive in. But alas, writing a book on time and productivity is easier and more fun
for me than spending a half day
poking around Google Scholar, reading dry
academic papers, and creating compelling new slides. Besides, I can get to it
tomorrow….
Procrastination is the habit of putting off important, less pleasurable tasks by
doing easier, more pleasurable tasks.
Things like email, Twitter, Facebook, food,
and TV are excellent ways to procrastinate.
In an interview with the American Psychological Association, Joseph Ferrari,
PhD, shared some of his research findings:
We all put tasks off, but my research
has found that 20 percent of U.S. men and women are chronic procrastinators.
They delay at home, work, school, and in relationships. These 20 percent make
procrastination their way of life…Let’s place the 20 percent in perspective—
that’s higher than the number of people diagnosed with clinical depression or
phobias, two tendencies many people know about.
To beat procrastination once and for all, you have to understand it. You don’t
procrastinate because you’re lazy. You procrastinate because:
1.
You lack enough motivation, and/or
2. You underestimate the power of
present emotions versus
future
emotions when you set your goals or make your task list.
We tend to procrastinate a wide variety of things. You might procrastinate
doing that school report,
or making those cold calls, or firing someone who
clearly has to go, or cleaning out the garage.
For me, my weak spot is exercise. In every other area of life, once I’ve
decided on the goal, I’m able to execute it without procrastination.
But working
out? That’s a whole other story. So let me use exercise and fitness as our
example in the following procrastination busters.
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