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82 End Procrastination Now!

This is how I’ll benefit: ____________________________________.
This is how I’ll persist: ____________________________________.

Challenge language thinking has nothing to do with inspira-
tional statements, such as, “You can do it. You’ll succeed.” If plat-
itudes and slogans were effective, we’d all use them, and there
would be no procrastination.

Proactive Coping to Meet Positive Challenges

When you proactively cope, you prepare yourself to meet chal-
lenges before they occur. This proactive approach helps prevent
last-minute procrastination rushes and can promote a low-stress
and high-productivity approach to meeting work challenges.
Is proactive coping a new idea? Hardly. It’s been part of the
organizational lexicon for generations. However, the label and the
process invite research initiatives. The preliminary results are en-
couraging. This forward-looking approach to managing goals
(challenge outlook) appears to be effective in promoting positive
results and less stress. Positive striving through taking proactive
steps appears to be associated with a sense of well-being.
When you proactively cope, you appraise the situation using
the information you have available. To fill gaps, you research key
points. You figure out what you can accomplish. This self-regula-
tory format is used for addressing challenges before they become
stressful.
You are scheduled for a problem-solving meeting on how to
maintain ongoing performance review records and increase their
accuracy and value. You’re nervous about the meeting. Your usual
procrastination decision is to think that you’ll get to this planning
stage later. Then you let time run until immediately before the
meeting and rush to finish.
Keeping on top of performance review information is appeal-
ing. You don’t relish the thought of a flurry of last-minute effort to
get performance reviews done, using the last two weeks or so for