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114 End Procrastination Now!

sions become the bigger problem. You feel depressed. Rather than
addressing the depression, you substitute drinking for coping, and
problem drinking turns into alcohol abuse, which circles back to
worsen the depression. If you are unaware of this cycle, you may
not be aware that the drinking is a diversion. But you now have
another significant problem habit that tracks with procrastination.
Eating excessively can be a behavioral diversion from addressing
anxieties, or used to fill hollow hours. After a while, you stop taking
medication for preventing a coronary. It is inconvenient, and you’d
rather eat chocolate instead.
Diversionary practices were known even in ancient times.
Aesop had many fables to tell, such as about a rabbit who napped
while a turtle passed by to win a race and about a grasshopper who
fiddled the summer away while hard-working ants prepared for
the winter.
If you are not diverting from your most pressing and impor-
tant activity, you are not procrastinating. In this chapter, I will show
you how to end behavioral diversions and use the time you gain
to produce and prosper. You’ll see how to sidestep behavioral diver-
sions, make better use of time management information, apply an
arsenal of cognitive and behavioral productivity techniques, boost
your self-regulation skills, and harness the power of grinding it
out when the going gets tough. Let’s begin.

Behavioral Diversions That
Lead to Procrastination

Behavioral diversions are a classic sign of procrastination. When
you behaviorally divert, you substitute avoidance for productive
actions. Instead of studying for tomorrow’s test, you go to a party.
Instead of dealing with an unpleasant conflict, you shop. Instead
of overcoming your fear of making presentations, you decide to
do some leisurely reading.