Don't Delay

Understanding procrastination and how to achieve our goals.

by Timothy A. Pychyl

Avoiding What Might Have Been

By Timothy A. Pychyl, Ph.D. on June 5, 2008 in Don't Delay

Picture of ostrich with head in sand Avoiding thoughts about how things could have been better - an interesting strategy for self-enhancement. "It could have been worst" vs. "I could have done it better." What do procrastinators say?

What if...

Submitted by Benny Greenberg on June 7, 2008 - 4:42am.

You know - I have been reading your stuff for months... The shoulda, woulda, coulda in life are such negative thoughts.

Thanks for showing us the way!

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Shoulda, woulda, coulda

Submitted by Timothy A Pychyl on June 7, 2008 - 5:36am.

I agree Benny. The "shoulda's" are part of the "ought self" and can relate to socially-prescribed perfectionism. The "coulda's" can be part of downward counterfactuals. The "woulda's" can be part of excuse making and rationalizations. We can leave these out of vocabulary and simply do.

I'm happy to hear you've been reading the blog for months. Lots to come yet ;-)
tim

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What if's

Submitted by Benny Greenberg on June 7, 2008 - 4:40pm.

I actually did a post on the "great if and alibi"
Maybe a peek would help the readers? I know that it helped many of mine...

http://ya-ttitude.com/blog/2008/03/10/ya-ttitude-defending-the-if/

These are things that should be read - and then realized and forgotten!

Love your stuff

Ben

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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.

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