I've been doing some interviews with colleagues for my iProcrastinate Podcasts. Most recently, I interviewed a clinician who is very well known for his work on procrastination, Dr. William (Bill) Knaus. You can tell he's had years of experience, as he was able to state the obvious so simply. Here's one clear example.
My colleague Bill Knaus spent an hour on the phone with me yesterday talking about procrastination. His expertise has been developed over decades, with his first academic paper in 1973 and his first book co-authored with Albert Ellis (Overcoming Procrastination) published in 1977. There have been many papers and books since then, as well as countless hours counseling procrastinators in his clinical practice.
Of course, given this depth of experience, I can't even begin to summarize everything he had to say (the podcast will provide some further background). Instead, I want to focus on one simple idea related to developing self-awareness. Self-awareness is a crucial first step in learning to change your procrastination habit.
As I've written previously about Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy and procrastination (see for example Discomfort Intolerance: Why we might give in to feel good), there are many irrational thoughts that can initiate and maintain our procrastination. These include perfectionism and fear of failure for example. Perhaps the most basic and most accessible, or at least most testable, is the belief that tomorrow will be a better day for the task at hand.
As Bill puts it, "When we face a task that creates even a whisper of affective discomfort, we're very likely to divert ourselves from the task." I like how he depicts "The Wheedler" who sits on our shoulder and offers up alternative activities and excuses for not engaging in the task at hand. I think the Wheedler's most classic mode of thinking is to convince you that "you'll feel more like it tomorrow." So, you put it off until tomorrow. The thing is, we can easily test this hypothesis and in doing so potentially challenge one of our irrational thoughts and build some self-awareness of how irrational our task delay is.
It's simple, isn't it? The next time you put off a task until tomorrow, telling yourself tomorrow (later) is better, then simply note the next day whether you now believe that tomorrow is better. Chances are, it's not. If anything you may feel more guilt and pressure related to the task at hand and yet not have any more motivation to do the task.
This self-observant approach is elegant in terms of its simplicity. You're monitoring your thoughts, feelings and actions so you can "connect the dots." Doing this will build self-awareness and this is the first step in making change in our lives.
The second step is even more simple, and it's one that Bill and I agree on completely. Just get started.
Enough said. Stop reading now. Go find a task that has been particularly troubling in terms of needless delay and get started . . . right now.
Want to learn more? procrastinatorsdigest.com
Blogger note:
Bill has another book (in addition to 5 other titles) to be published by McGraw Hill this spring, "End Procrastination Now." You can pre-order now at Amazon.
