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86 End Procrastination Now!

the proven relationship between arousal and performance that you
can use to put threat and challenge into a visual perspective while
adding an undermotivated dimension (see Figure 4.1).
The slope at the extreme left of the curve shows low arousal
and motivation. The slope at the extreme right shows the effects
of negative thinking. The region between the two dots in the mid-
dle shows an optimal range of arousal. However, some productive
activities involve different levels of arousal. Answering a phone
and finishing a Masters in Business Administration degree take
different levels of arousal. However, the curve is quite okay as an
awareness tool for putting arousal into perspective.
If you have a low arousal level for a high-priority activity, your
challenge is to either push yourself to start and finish or find an
incentive. Pushing yourself is a form of arousal. A possible moti-
vating incentive is to get an unwanted task off your back.
If your mind is filled with threat stress thoughts, you’ll prob-
ably have trouble solving a complex problem. When tension is at
the extreme, it can be so distracting and disorganizing that you
seem to have little time and energy to do anything else. The chal-
lenge is to “take a breather,” such as a walk around the block. Plan
to shift to a self-observant perspective, perhaps by recording and

FiGure 4.1
The Yerkes-Dodson Curve

High

Performance

Low High
Arousal