(recent read) The Now Habit
The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play by Neil Fiore
I procrastinate a LOT. There is a joke that it is my middle name. This book was nice in that instead of just saying “don’t” he gave some practical tips. I don’t know if it’ll work, but I can say while reading this book I actually made my first dentist appointment in 6 years. I go this afternoon. Please keep me in your thoughts. I really don’t like the dentist and I didn’t even bother to schedule “just a cleaning” when she asked me what I needed done I laughed for a good 5 minutes. They left me a message reminding me of my appointment and asking if I could come a half hour earlier.. did they look in my mouth when I wasn’t looking?
There are two short “lists” of thought I came away with which I’ll share here.
Language is important … flylady talks about a defeating attitude. I’ve heard it other places, and I recently came across a study (maybe someone blogged on it?) which said that brooding on the past and negative generated more negative, but thinking positive lead to positive. Part of me wants to say, well, d’uh.. but Theory and Reality are completely different.
Negative Positive 1. I have to. I choose to. 2. I must finish. When can I start? 3. This task is so big! I can take one small step. 4. I must be perfect. I am human. 5. I don’t have time to play. I can and will play!
If afraid of failure:
- What is teh worst that can happen?
- What would I do if the worst really happened?
- How could I lessen the pain and continue with as much happiness as I can if the worst happened?
- What alternatives are there?
- What can I do now to lessen the probability of the worst-case outcome ?
- What can I do now to increase my chances of success ?
Ok. Let’s see what other things I can cross off so I can go play next week.