Page 67 - End Procrastination Now Get it Done with a Proven Psychological Approach

Defeat Procrastination Thinking 35

• A stands for an aversive or activating event; it can range
from giving up your favorite treats in order to lose weight, to
a career reversal, to managing a difficult project.
• B refers to what you believe about the A. Beliefs include eval-
uations and can range from dispassionate to alarming. They
usually come in irrational and rational forms. Irrational pro-
crastination beliefs include later thinking. Rational beliefs
may include do-it-now thinking. How you go about resolving
a conflict between later and do-it-now thinking will help
determine whether you will tend to move along a procrasti-
nation path or go a do-it-now way.
• C refers to the emotional and behavioral consequences that
are the by-product of a belief about an unpleasant upcoming
responsibility.
• D stands for disputing procrastination thinking and replacing
these thoughts with fact-based rival beliefs.
• E is the socially and personally desirable effect from ques-
tioning, challenging, and disputing procrastination thinking.

By questioning procrastination thinking, you help make this
type of thinking less automatic. The questions that have the most
impact are (1) specific and require concrete answers: when, where,
what, and how of experiencing, (2) scientific because they require
a concrete answer, and (3) open-ended and flexible to pull more
than one answer. The following questions apply to disputing pro-
crastination later thinking:

• Later Thought: I’ll call home now and worry about getting the
schedule done after that.
Sample question: What would be the result of writing out
the schedule now and calling home later?
Sample answer: I’ll have broken a link in the procrastination
chain and will have gotten the task off my back.