Page 38 - End Procrastination Now Get it Done with a Proven Psychological Approach

6 End Procrastination Now!

schedule and avoid procrastinating. The organization gets what it
wants, which is a work product, and you get what you want, which
is payment for your services. When you have a deadline in the
future and the project is complex and requires consistent work,
you may have no alternative other than to start early and invest
significant time and effort in the process. If the process is inter-
nally rewarding, then that may suffice. Otherwise, you’d wisely set
periodic rewards following intermediate deadlines that you set for
yourself following the completion of predefined chunks of work.
If procrastination interferes with a productive long-term work
process, a chart reminder may help you keep perspective on the
purpose, deadline, timeline, and procrastination risk factor:

What is the What is the What is the time- Where is procrasti-
purpose? deadline? line for the criti- nation likely to
cal phases of the interfere in the
project? process?

Remember, being aware and cognizant of your procrastination
habit is the first step in our three-pronged cognitive, emotive, and
behavioral approach to defeat procrastination. Reminders can be
helpful. Human memory is fallible. Some delays are due to forget-
fulness. You can meet some deadlines automatically with mechan-
ical processes, like automatic payments to utility companies and
mortgage holders, that eliminate work. This is also an efficient
thing to do. You can use tickler files, calendar notations, iPhones,
PDAs, and your cell phone to remind you of important dates.

Personal Procrastination

Deadline procrastination is just the tip of the procrastination ice-
berg. A bigger and more serious challenge may involve personal
procrastination. Personal procrastination is habitually putting off