Page 135 - End Procrastination Now Get it Done with a Proven Psychological Approach

Act Decisively 103

tant and pressing ones, then you can assume that you are procras-
tinating on the priority.

Exercising the Do-It-Now Choice

Is it the situation or what you make of it that stirs anxiety over un-
certainty that can lead to decision-making procrastination? The
situation is the stimulus. It is not the cause. Rather, it’s both the
situation and how you view it that influence what you decide. Your
decision may also be affected by what you think about the process
of executing the decision and the results you anticipate. These con-
siderations can lead to dancing around a decision or moving di-
rectly toward making a choice and following through with action.
Although hesitation in uncertain situations is normal, hesita-
tion plus procrastination suggests a complex form of procrastina-
tion. For example, feeling frozen by indecision is a probable
symptom of anxiety over uncertainty.
Table 5.1 gives sample decision-making procrastination dis-
tractions and sample do-it-now choices.

table 5.1

Decision-Making Do-It-Now Choice
Procrastination Position
Decision procrastination position: Alternative do-it-now choice: Chal-
You want to play it safe and avoid lenge yourself to put acceptance
making a mistake. Your think that over indecisiveness assumptions,
errors on your part are awful. So such as that mistakes are awful.
you straddle the fence, awaiting a How can you both accept reality as
guarantee before you act. being filled with uncertainties and
think that mistakes are awful?
Decision procrastination position: Alternative do-it-now choice: Gather
You tell yourself horror stories information that is relevant and
about real or imagined uncertain- make a goodwill effort to decide on
ties and dramatize the fearsome- an action based upon the available
ness of a situation, leading to your information.
feeling overwhelmed.