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172 End Procrastination Now!

interest in relocating. However, even though Ted had made many
promises to himself and others to do the reviews, he hadn’t started.
When he thought about starting, it was as if he had come up
against a wall. Ted was eager to get help with his performance
review procrastination.
The following interaction was edited to eliminate background
information and diagnostic checks, to change identifying informa-
tion, and to improve readability. It is broken out into two sections:
(1) the therapeutic interaction and (2) comments on the CBT ther-
apeutic process. Thereafter, you’ll find a summary of additional
steps that Ted took, and the outcome.

Interaction Process Comments

Bill: Ted, tell me about the performance reviews. Obtain client’s per-
ception of the pre-
senting problem.

Ted: Dextron (not the real name of the company)
keeps me hopping. I’m too busy to get to
the reviews. Besides, everyone knows that the
reviews are a crock. They’re just busywork.
They’re a waste of time. I can sell and my people
can sell, and that’s what’s important. But I want
to keep my job. I can’t believe that I let it go
this long.
Bill: That doesn’t surprise me. Procrastination is Provide educational
an automatic habit that can go on like it has a information.
life of its own. This is one of the more challeng-
ing problem habits for people to deal with. Destigmatize
procrastination.
Practically everyone has at least one area in
which he feels burdened by the habit and feels Treat the issue in a
baffled about why he can’t just do something to matter-of-fact way.
start and finish. This may happen when a change
takes place, and for some, adjustments can Affirm the reality
prove challenging. In your situation, the change that procrastination
was the introduction of the performance review can be a tough habit
system. to break.
Ted: I’m relieved that you said that. I thought it
was just me.