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32 End Procrastination Now!

from fact. Consider the Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu’s
(604–531 bc) oft-quoted perspective that the journey of a
thousand miles begins beneath your feet.
• Is self-handicapping inconsistent with your expressed long-term
goals? If so, what needs to change? What can you do to
prepare differently in the next situation where self-
handicapping beliefs surface and fog reality? For example,
by recognizing self-handicapping procrastination thinking
as a consistent but correctable error, you’ve put a special
form of procrastination thinking into the spotlight.
• Will awareness alone thwart a self-handicapping process? Aware-
ness is a start. You can normally advance this awareness by
contrasting handicapping self-statements with do-it-now
thinking and behavior. We’ll get into how to create and sup-
port a productive do-it-now idea later in this chapter.

Counterfactual Thinking

Counterfactual thinking is about what didn’t happen but could
have happened had you acted differently. One form is an upward
counterfactual because it points to what you could have done to
promote a better outcome. This thinking can extend into self-re-
crimination if you tend to blame yourself, or it can be useful in-
formation for future planning.
If there is an upward counterfactual, you can bet that you can
find a downward counterfactual. This is about what could have been
worse had you not acted as you did.
Unless you are careful about upward counterfactuals, you may
get down on yourself. If you allow for no past, present, or future
errors, counterfactual thinking can be a terror. If hindsight turns
into an examination of what you should have had the foresight to
see, this view can be dysfunctional
Downward counterfactuals are upward in the sense that you
both have distanced yourself from the event and can feel better
because things could have been worse.