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Flex Your Emotional Muscle to Overcome Procrastination 57

yourself that you’ll register later, after you’ve read a book or two on
the topic. Taking the easy route, in this instance, is the emotional
goal. It’s not that you are secretly against your intellectual goal.
Avoiding discomfort as a possible result of your mental projects
means more.

Procrastination and the Double-Agenda Dilemma

The double-agenda dilemma is a conflict between stated and im-
plied goals. The first agenda is your stated goals, and this is the
rider’s interest. You want to register for the strategic planning
course. The second agenda is a reflection of the horse’s view. You
don’t want to feel uncomfortable and intellectually inferior. So,
essentially, you want the benefits but dislike the process.
With the double-agenda problem, hassle avoidance comes into
play in different ways. Hassle avoidance is just what the phrase
sounds like: you go out of your way to avoid what you believe is an
annoyance or difficulty. Let’s say you have a competitive analysis
to do and a deadline to make. You’d like to get the analysis done
ahead of schedule. You don’t like to engage in a process that in-
volves intense concentration. You view the assessment as requir-
ing a lot of concentration. Working at making a competitive
analysis takes many steps, including trial-and-error steps and rec-
ognizing new opportunities to explore. There is no guarantee that
you’ll get it completely right. You risk error. The time it takes to do
the analysis detracts from pleasurable pursuits. You struggle with
reactance, and reactance wins. So, it seems easier to take flight.
You start late and barely make the deadline.
You will probably intellectually endorse your stated agenda
because it’s rational to desire goals that you associate with accom-
plishment, health, and long-term happiness. Nevertheless, the
second agenda may have a greater appeal. So, when you put off a
purposeful and productive process, it’s not that you don’t want the
benefits. It’s that you want something else more, which is to avoid
the complexity or discomfort that goes with the activity.