Page 223 - End Procrastination Now Get it Done with a Proven Psychological Approach

Sample Therapy Script for a Procrastination Scenario 187

• Meeting the third challenge. Ted understood that it was impor-
tant for him to get past thinking and emotional barriers to
boost his chances of permanently stopping procrastinating
on the performance reviews. However, the third challenge
involved putting his muscles in motion and writing the re-
views. This grinding it out phase need not wait until meeting
the first two challenges. He could do all three concomitantly.
Ted’s fear of going over the reviews with his salespeople
was solved with practical new information. He rehearsed by
starting with several positive comments followed by some
developmental areas for improvement. Ted felt more com-
fortable with this structure. So, he applied it in practice.

By taking cognitive, emotive, and behavioral steps, Ted inter-
rupted his procrastination process, redirected his thinking, and
changed the outcome. Ted finished the reviews. He met with his
staff. From his report, the reviews were generally well received.
Ted largely—but not completely—gave up on the idea that a
single performance review had to be meaningful and perfect. Nev-
ertheless, the next time performance reviews were due, Ted fin-
ished first.
Not all situations result in a relatively permanent and positive
outcome. However, by targeting one tenacious procrastination
situation, Ted learned techniques that he could apply to other such
situations. Generalization, however, builds upon repeated applica-
tion of what was learned in one situation to another to which the
same process can be adapted or directly applied. Although oppor-
tunities to reapply what was learned may abound, application op-
portunities may not be clearly seen as separate examples of a
similar procrastination process.
When the rider intentionally gains experience in applying
counter-procrastination measures, the rider may have more to say
about guiding the horse than the horse has to say about the rider’s