Why tips?
We need tips like this usually because our own analysis of the situation comes up short. With the example above, an individual might not understand why she can't hit a cross-court forehand. She's trying, she's doing everything she knows how, particularly following through across the court, but it's not working. Without belaboring this example with the physics of the forehand in tennis, suffice it to say that she needed the "racquet back sooner" tip to sort this out. When she focused on this - and this is the key point . . . WHEN SHE CONCENTRATED HER ATTENTION ON THIS ONE ACTION - she is better prepared and more likely to hit crosscourt forehand shots.

So, we ask for tips when we can't make sense of something on our own. It's interesting to note that we often ask for tips, not detailed explanations. It's not that we don't want to understand the situation more fully; it's that we want to know where we need to put our focus right now to effect change. In effect, we're asking, "what should I DO differently?" I really want to change right now. Tips are seen as a short cut to change.

Easier said than done
But let's get back to the readers' feedback, which was, to paraphrase, "easier said than done." Some tips amount to saying "if you want to hit more cross-court shots, hit the ball across the court" Is this really a tip? It's certainly not a strategy for change, it's telling the individual to do what he says he can't. In terms of procrastination, some of my readers were saying my advice was the same thing. I beg to differ.

It's worth reminding you that I listed three tips:
1. Just get started.

2. Don't give in to feel good.

3. Be honest with yourself.

In addition, I noted how these tips work together. For example, you could start with the third tip, "be honest with yourself" and in doing that realize that you really don't want to do the task at hand, but using tip #2 you can "suck it up" emotionally for the short term and get started (tip #1). Each of these ARE strategies of where to put your focus. And, I gave a tip for each of three important areas psychologically: behavior or action, emotions and cognitions, respectively.

Tips are only useful if followed
Of course, it is possible, as my readers admonished, that the tip won't work for you or others like you. Telling someone to "just get started" is, as I quoted above from the blog feedback, like telling the alcoholic "don't take that first drink." To be fair, this reader began this comment with, "These are great recommendations if followed . . ."

This is the crux of the matter, isn't it? Tips are only useful if followed.
Going back to my original sports example, if the coach says, "get your racquet back sooner," and you don't focus on this advice and fail to concentrate on getting the racquet back sooner, there is no benefit, no change. Similarly, if you're trying to reduce procrastination and you don't consciously, deliberately (and perhaps uncomfortably) focus on "sucking up the negative emotions you feel," or focus on "being honest with yourself" about how you're doing everything you can to avoid the task, you're not going to make a change.

Tips can't work magic, but tips can induce change if they become a point of focus. This is particularly true in the case of habits or habitual actions where we have to do the hard work of doing something opposite to our habitual tendency - whether that be waiting to the last minute to get your racquet back or going directly to a bar after work even though you say you'd like to drink less. There is no honesty or effort in this.

No, tips can't work magic. In fact, they can only "work" when we use them to help harness our desire for change.

Are tips important?
I think so. An enormous amount of specialized knowledge can be captured by even the simplest tip. I'm sure you can think of many examples from any of your own areas of expertise. In the tennis swing example, the point of contact with the ball and the physics of the swing is affected by getting the racquet back earlier. In terms of procrastination, a great deal of research literature is captured by the three tips I offered.

When do tips work?
When we do. Change takes focused attention on relevant facilitating behaviors (hopefully these are the behaviors captured in the tip), as well as a great deal of sustained effort. We all know how this goes - two steps forward, one step back, two steps forward, three steps back, two steps forward . . . a moment of success . . . then back to the work at hand. New habits are established slowly and they are hard won and well deserved. Anyone who tells you anything else is trying to sell you something, and there's lots of that going around - fitness without real exercise, diet without fewer calories consumed, increased well being without a conscious choice to live differently.

When they don't work, why not?
Apart from the lack of an earnest effort to focus on the behavior suggested in the tip, there are other reasons that tips can fail to work for us. Probably most significant here, and it is the point that at least one reader identified, is that we may lack a necessary sub-skill or ability to execute the tip as suggested. Of course, my example of "getting your racquet back sooner" isn't the best, as most people can execute this action if they try or are reminded. The situation is more complex with regards to psychological change. In the case of the procrastination tips, it may be that the individual seems to lack the self-regulatory skills necessary to "suck up" the initial negative emotions associated with a task. Alternatively the individual may not have developed the self-insight necessary to truly "be honest with self."

In the case where a tip fall shorts because a necessary sub-skill or prerequisite ability is lacking, it is a matter of seeking a strategy (dare I say "tip") at a lower-level; a level that addresses the individual's current status. So, for example, it may be necessary to work on developing delay of gratification and gradually move up to self-regulation of emotion. Yet, without a specific case to consider, all of this is conjecture, and we needn't take it any further. Suffice it to say that a tip can fail an individual if the individual lacks some prerequisite ability. As I noted at the outset, a good coach, whether this be for physical sports or psychological functioning, will choose tips that really address the individual where he or she is currently functioning. This is part of the art of successful coaching.

A closing tip
If you want change in your life, whatever that may be, just get started. You probably already know the "tips" you want to realize (make real) in your life. It's time to act. Make this choice to "just get started" over and over again from moment to moment with an honest and deliberate focus on the strategies you have adopted. It is this journey, the focus on the task at hand and the effort involved that will bring change and happiness.