Page 221 - End Procrastination Now Get it Done with a Proven Psychological Approach

Sample Therapy Script for a Procrastination Scenario 185

reviews, then ducked this discomfort by sidetracking himself into
less pressing pursuits. However, you can practically always find
complications that weave through a problem process. Bringing
them up and dealing with them may be the most direct route out
of a mental jungle filled with diversionary dead-end pathways.

Continuing the Process

Ted’s perceptions of the performance reviews included a combina-
tion of a discomfort dodging, perfectionism, and procrastination
in which each amplified the others. Ted’s goal was to stop getting
into hot water over his procrastination and to keep his job. His
do-it-now solution was to attack procrastination and perfectionism
at cognitive, emotional, and behavioral levels. As a by-product, he
anticipated boosting his tolerance for his discomfort about the
performance reviews.
Ted broke his complex procrastination habit into three chal-
lenges: (1) address his tendency to expect perfection from himself
and make his worth depend on others’ approval of his perfor-
mances, (2) overcome his tendency to sidetrack himself when he
felt uncomfortable about a timely task, and (3) behaviorally pursue
the performance goals by refusing to divert himself.

• Meeting the first challenge. Ted seemed to enjoy resolving par-
adoxes. (1) He considered that John was okay even without
100 percent approval, so why should he treat himself differ-
ently? (2) He explored why he was able to accept that he
could not turn 100 percent of his sales calls into sales, but he
felt that he should please 100 percent of the sales staff with
perfect performance reviews. Examining two potential con-
tradictions showed a shift from a self-absorbed perfectionist
view to a more self-observant one.
Ted knew many reasons why you can’t be 100 percent
perfect in selling. A potential customer may have an