Page 133 - End Procrastination Now Get it Done with a Proven Psychological Approach

Act Decisively 101

A false later is better decision can glide under the radar of rea-
son. When that happens, more procrastination decisions may fol-
low. You decide to coddle yourself by telling yourself, “I’m too tired
to think.” If your performance is later diminished, you can excuse
yourself because you were once fatigued. And when the time
comes to decide again, you self-handicap yourself again to sanitize
a delay.
Thinking about your thinking and connecting the dots be-
tween procrastination thinking and its consequences puts you in
a better position to decide on a productive course or action, and
this is often a first step in asserting control over the procrastination
process.

Contesting Decision-Making Procrastination

APDs are a predictable part of lateness procrastination and other
procrastination styles. Lateness procrastination is when you dabble
with nonessential activities and keep dabbling past the time when
you should get going to arrive at a destination. Dabbling, or doing
such things as dusting, showering, or making phone calls, is your
APD. In drifting procrastination, you routinely put off creating life
objectives and bind yourself to a sense of purposelessness and
APDs such as TV watching. Decision-making procrastination, like
lateness and drifting procrastination, is a distinctive procrastina-
tion style. It also has APDs, but they occur in the context of avoid-
ing decisions.
Decision-making procrastination is a process of needlessly
postponing timely and important decisions until another day and
time. You have a choice of relocating to Boston or Miami for your
job. Both have roughly equivalent advantages and disadvantages.
If you put off the decision until you come up with the perfect an-
swer, you’ve entered the decision-making procrastination trap.
Let’s look at techniques and strategies for ending decision-
making procrastination and building decision-making skills. These
joint methods include singling out what is important, exercising a