End Procrastination Now! (7 page)

Accommodation
is the cognitive integration phase of change. It's my favorite part of the process. Here you play with juxtapositions, incongruities, and paradoxes between productive and procrastination points of view. For example, tomorrow views and do-it-now views have many contradictions. You don't
do it now
tomorrow.

Positive Actions for Change
. Accommodating new ways of thinking, feeling, and acting first involves testing new feelings, thoughts, and actions. It normally takes a while for the brain to adjust to new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving.

• Contrast procrastination and do-it-now views. What do you gain by thinking that later is better? What do you gain by following a do-it-now path? What makes later seem so hopeful when reality tells a different story?

• Is it possible to change procrastination goals to avoid effort and work to productive goals? Can the productive goal include observing a strong procrastination process to identify its weaknesses and vulnerabilities?

• Can you convert complaints that support procrastination to positive goals? For example, “This is too complicated for me” may be converted to “I can handle the first step.” If you first see an action as too complicated, yet you can handle the first step, you've found a procrastination paradox.

• If you tell yourself that you work better under pressure, why not plan to put something off until the very last minute? If you tell yourself that you work better under pressure and then swear that you won't put yourself through this type of emotional wringer again, can you have it both ways?

• What might you learn by locating and examining procrastination paradoxes? An example of a procrastination paradox is that you work better under pressure, yet you want to work smarter next time by starting earlier. The odds are that you don't work better under pressure; rather, you are more likely to start when you feel pressured.

Acceptance
is the phase of change in which you take reality for what it is, not what you think it ought to be. Acceptance supports tolerance, and this frees up energy that is ordinarily sopped up by blame and doubts and beliefs that promote fears. Acceptance is cognitive, but it is also an emotional integration phase of change. Acceptance has a quieting effect, but also a positive energizing effect when you translate this view into a willingness to experiment and satisfy your curiosity about how far you can stretch and grow.

Positive Actions for Change
. Acceptance involves the recognition of variability. What parts of your life are working well, and what have you done to establish that state? In what phases of your life do you fall short of ably regulating your actions? Is it possible for you to accept this state and still consider productive actions to improve your condition? Ask yourself these additional questions:

• If you procrastinate, so be it. Now, what can you do to change the pattern and get better if you choose to do so?

• Do you live in a pluralistic world that involves adaptability to different situations or a world in which a systematic and procedural approach and scheduling resolve all difficulties? Is there room for both views?

• What have you learned from considering this emotional integration phase of change?

END PROCRASTINATION NOW! TIP

The CHANGE Plan

C
onquer a procrastination challenge by breaking it down to manageable parts.

H
ang in with your positive do-it-now plan until it becomes automatic.

A
dapt to altering conditions while keeping your eye on opportunities to follow a do-it-now plan.

N
egate distractions by acting on what is most important and pressing to do.

G
ain from the experience by reviewing what you did well that you can repeat.

E
nvision your next do-it-now steps to move forward to achieve new productive goals.

Actualization
is often portrayed as a mysterious process in which you have oceanic or peak experiences. It may be a Buddha-like desireless state. It may be a state of mind in which you experience a conceptual and emotional sense of connectedness with all of humanity across cultures, time, and dimension. You can also view actualization as stretching your abilities and resources enough to promote meaningful changes in your life in those areas where such efforts are meaningful and important. That's how I prefer to use the concept.

Positive Actions for Change
. Follow-through is to actualization as water is to plant growth. What actions can you take to rescript your life narrative to include the results of experiments in stretching to find the boundaries of what you are able to accomplish that you'd value? Additional questions to ask yourself are:

• What ideas or actions have you found effective in one phase or zone of your life that you can apply to procrastination zones where you are experiencing stagnation?

• Does organizing and regulating your ideas and actions promote stretching and accomplishing?

• What do you learn about yourself by taking a few extra steps to stretch in the direction of actualization?

Change can be something you just do. Let's say you want to alter your appearance to initiate change, or maybe you'd like to take a vacation for a change. But some changes take time and a process that can compete with an old habit that you wish to change.

Changing from a pattern of delays to a productive pattern is rarely a finger-snapping act. Getting yourself disentangled from the cognitive, emotive, and behavioral dimensions of procrastination
typically takes a process of pitting reason against the unreason of procrastination thinking, learning to tolerate tension without easily giving in to urges to diverge, and establishing behavioral patterns where you act against behavioral diversions by engaging in productive actions.

In working through this process—and as you practice, practice, practice—there will come a time when you'll find yourself shifting your efforts into productive pursuits as automatically as you once avoided many of them. You can apply the five phases of change again and again to help promote that outcome.

The French psychologist and educator Jules Payot thought, “The aim of the great majority is to get through life with the least possible outlay of thought.” If you want to differentiate yourself from others immediately, start a course of voluntary change in which you reach out and expand your capabilities to overcome procrastination!

Voluntary actions for personal change may be among the challenging variety. That's because there may not be a clear starting point. There are no deadlines because the change is an ongoing lifetime process. The process involves self-observant directed effort. This effort is a necessary step. Have you ever accomplished something of merit without effort? It is your turn next to test the process to see if you can change procrastination events:

Mythologist and Columbia University Professor Joseph Campbell saw this pattern in tales of heroes. There is a challenge. An ally fills in information. The hero discovers how to apply the knowledge. Are you up to the challenge?

Change, even the most positive kind, normally involves periods of adjustment and accompanying stress. When you anticipate changing a practiced routine, this anticipation can evoke stress. You might procrastinate. If you view some discomfort as a natural part of life and change, you are more likely to progress.

What three ideas for dealing effectively with procrastination have you had? Write them down.

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What are the top three actions that you can take to shift from procrastination toward productive action? Write them down.

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What things have you done to execute your action plan? Write them down.

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What things did you learn from applying your ideas and action plan that you can use? Write them down.

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In
The Folly of Procrastination
, first published in the 1800s, the unnamed author tells of two young brothers, Edward and Charles Martin. One procrastinated; the other didn't. Edward started his work early and finished early. Charles marched to a different tune. After school, he put his books aside and told himself, “Oh, there is time enough; I'll learn my lessons this evening.” Then he started to play. When evening came, he felt sleepy and told himself, “Oh, I can learn them before school time in the morning.” When morning came, Charles put it off again. As time ebbed, Charles found that he didn't know where to begin. Nevertheless, he sketched out a few quick answers to his “hated” work and then rushed to school.

The “I'll get to it later” mindset is like a promissory note. It amounts to paying later for the privilege of playing now. However, you will normally find usurious interest charges before and when the loan comes due.

We see this
later illusion
played out in many scenarios, like the workplace, the home, at college—practically any place where you will find procrastination. This thinking serves as a cognitive diversion because it detours you away from the pressing activity, along what seems like a safer path.

Like a chameleon, procrastination thinking may change with the type of delay and where it happens. Professors who put off writing articles may say, “I had to do more research.” In a business setting, you may hear, “I had too many e-mail messages that I had to answer.” You may hear passive-voice explanations, such as, “People were slow getting back to me.” The passive voice can be like a cloaking device to hide the specific reasons for the delay.

When procrastination is on the move, self-cons are not far behind. You think, “I deserve a rest, and will get to it later.” When you keep these diversions to yourself, they normally go unchecked.

Join me as we explore how you can defeat procrastination thinking. Together we'll look at the forms this thinking takes, where it leads, and your options for changing the process. Let's start with examples of procrastination thinking. After that, you'll find multiple solutions for putting this thinking to rest while you go about operating like the efficient and effective person you know you have the power to be.

The singer/actor Dean Martin captured the spirit of
later thinking
in the song
Manaña
. In this song, Martin sings about a broken window, a dripping faucet, and other results of procrastination. He repeated a line saying that “manaña is soon enough” for him. The lyricist understood the effects of a classic form of procrastination thinking. Not much gets done when later seems better.

Procrastination thinking is a mental diversion, or a way of sidestepping a timely and important activity. This kind of thinking has different twists, but the message is the same. Thoughts like “I need to let the idea simmer longer” or “I'll get to it after I take a nap and feel rested” probably signal that procrastination is in process. And while taking a nap may be a good idea if you are fatigued and can't concentrate, it gets suspicious if, on the way to your nap, you perk up if you have a chance to talk with a friend.

The manaña trap is elaborate. However, you might take this thinking to another level. Under the cloak of “I'll do it tomorrow” thinking, you make one task dependent on doing another first. Then you put off the contingent activity. With this form of conditional thinking, you can chain one contingency onto another and delay them all.

You want to get an MBA degree. You can see the benefits, and you want them. You think the knowledge you will get from the courses and the status you will get from the degree will open a promising career track and you can get a significant pay raise. However, you tell yourself that first you need to gather and digest information about every possible MBA program to make sure that you are getting the best program possible. Then you put off gathering the material. When you get it, you put off reading it. That's the beauty of a contingency manaña plot. By finding new diversions, you avoid the challenge.

In another form of contingency thinking, you make feeling motivated and inspired the contingency. Feeling good is your green light for action. So, unless your back is to the wall, you'll be tempted to put off doing anything unless you feel good about doing it.