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124 End Procrastination Now!

4. Delegate: hire someone to clean and take care of activities
that cost you more to do than to farm out.
5. When feasible, order items online and have them delivered.
6. Schedule time for matters that require concentration when
you are least likely to be interrupted.
7. If you are inclined to “forget” certain items nested within
your system, use a reminder system. An elastic band on
your wrist can serve as a reminder.
8. Avoid overorganizing or overscheduling your activities.

Behavioral procrastination can follow the development of an
organizing system: you gather the information and set the system
in place, then don’t use it. Sometimes you have to push yourself
to the next level of efficiency to get past a behavioral procrastina-
tion barrier. However, if you continue to bog down with this form
of stop-start approach, ask yourself what you think is the underly-
ing cause. Ask what you can do to move forward.

Self-Talk to Follow Through with Your Goals

When you talk yourself through the paces, you give yourself verbal
instructions about what you’ll do first, what you’ll do second, and
so forth: Now I will spell out my goal in concrete and measurable
terms. Now I will lay out a plan to achieve the goal. Now I will take
the first step in the plan. Now I will take the second step in the
plan, and so on. Now I will review what happened and decide on
adjustments. These instructions are covert, such as silently talking
to yourself.
Using covert self-instruction accomplishes several results. You
act to stop behavioral diversions. You substitute a proactive learn-
ing process for a procrastination process. You start sooner and
finish faster. You benefit from improved performance.
Self-instruction may apply to improving sports performances.
Sports psychologists John Malouff and Coleen Murphy found that