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136 End Procrastination Now!

experimenting, observing others, and so forth. Self-regulated
learning is a proven path to higher levels of accomplishment.

Early Learning and Aversion

Harvard psychologist B. F. Skinner saw diversions—inattention,
daydreaming, and escape in the form of truancy—as responses to
learning as aversive. He saw student escape and avoidance behav-
iors as emotionally charged with fear, anxiety, and anger.
You go through a long socialization process of learning to fit
into your culture. This socialization process is necessary for an
orderly society. However, it can have casualties, especially in the
form of blame aversion procrastination.
You’re an infant. You repeatedly hear sharp, emotionally toned
corrective words like no. That desist term is directed toward correct-
ing your behavior. If you heard the word bad, this is a judgment
term that is directed at your character. Can early experiences that
involve the internalization of negative words influence your per-
ceptions and your willingness to learn? It depends on you, your
perceptions, and the situations you may associate with learning
adversities.

• Some judgment phrases may come across as forms of
blame: “don’t do that,” “you should know better,” “were you
raised in a barn?” “how could you be so stupid?” “don’t you
ever listen?” A consistent barrage of judgment phrases can
affect the way you act in certain learning situations. Behav-
ioral diversion may be a solution for avoiding situations that
you associate with defaming.
• A coercive “you should do this” or “you should do that” can
grow out of early learning experiences. This coercive instruc-
tion may lead to compliant actions. However, depending on
the situation and your perceptions, internalizing this coer-
cion can lead to progressive malfunctioning in which you
behaviorally divert from producing knowledge products.