Don't Delay

Understanding procrastination and how to achieve our goals.

Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. is an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, where he specializes in the study of procrastination. See full bio

May 29, 2008, Procrastination

Comments on "Tackling procrastination: A practical counseling approach"

Tackling procrastination: A practical counseling approach

By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on May 29, 2008 in Don't Delay

While we all desire to reach or release our full potential, we often face deep internal struggles with perfectionism, excessive self-doubt, lack of persistence, self-depreciation and procrastination. Here's a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy approach that may help. Read More

Getting on with it

Submitted by thesiswriter on May 30, 2008 - 3:43am.

Thanks for the great blog & podcasts. I have found these last ones especially helpful and will certainly aid to what I am doing. I have had the best success by not thinking... Many times I will obsess in my head that I should do X (thesis related) and think about how much time it will take, how horrible it will be and so on, until I 'don't have time to do it now'. The times I have found it easiest to work is to just follow, almost on automatic pilot, my inner thoughts that I should be working and to basically start immediately.
This allows me to start without focusing on the discomfort of starting.
REBT seems to provide what I am missing - the goals and the idea of persistence. I have not been clearly defining my tasks and only do the above about 50% of the time.

Starting without focusing on the discomfort

Submitted by Timothy A Pychyl on May 30, 2008 - 4:15am.

Hi Thesiswriter,
You really captured the key idea here - start without focusing on the possible (usually imagined) discomfort of starting. I would add that persistence is really just another type of starting; you have to start again (and again, and again) as necessary.

In addition, clearly defining a task makes starting more productive. When I speak with my thesis students, I know that a student is making progress when he or she articulates the writing task very specifically (e.g., "I'm working on the transition from the general lit review to the rationale for the study" or "I'm explaining the results of my second regression analysis"). When a student says something like, "I'm working on my thesis," I can just about guarantee that not much is going on.

Thanks for the feedback and your succinct summary of some key ideas. Good luck with your writing!
tim

Procrastination can be a

Submitted by Tragamonedas Gratis on August 2, 2008 - 2:51am.

Procrastination can be a problem for most people. I, myself, am such a master procrastinator that I can easily get awards for being so good at it. Procrastination is analogous to laziness. You set things aside, knowing that there’ll be lots of time to do them in the next hours, days, or even weeks. Personality-wise, procrastination is not positive! It’s a negative force that results in underutilized skills and dullness.
But, Mr.Timothy A Pychyl i have become fan of your writing skills and would like to thank you for your efforts you have done in writing this post. All should keep in mind these points and never procrastinate.