Procrastination: Why You Do It, What to Do About It Now

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Guilt and self-pity are self-indulgent. It’s all about Me, Me, Me. Nobody cares about your feelings and nobody thinks they’re that important. Get over yourself, move on, and do what needs to get done regardless of how you feel. Sometimes even fear of success and dealing with the subsequent changes in our lives can have a similar impact. The one underlying cause of procrastination. Yes, there’s only one, and it always comes down to your emotions and the problem of two selves. Now I’d love to hear your opinion on those books. Have you read any of them? Are there important ones missing?

The fun-driven procrastinators. Novelty-seekers or fun procrastinators are willing to do anything apart from the task. While getting excited about new ideas is an excellent personal quality, it can interfere with the ability to take the time to do what needs to be done.

Getting Things Done by David Allen

Pychyl is a psychology professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, and for more than three decades, he has been trying to solve the procrastination puzzle! The Now Habit by Neil A. Fiore Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. This book provides research-based insights into human motivation. In particular, it examines what it suggests are the three key elements of motivation—autonomy, mastery, and purpose—and explains how we can use our understanding of them to motivate ourselves to get things done using a variety of techniques. Unclear goals or time limits. Vague or abstract goals are often why we can’t muster the will to start working. Setting measurable, realistic, and worthwhile goals is the best way to avoid this.

Award-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us on an exciting journey of scientific discoveries and explains the importance of creating habits. It’s all about short-term mood repair. Procrastination happens when what we want to do makes us feel bad and we end up doing something that feels better. It’s all about emotions. And it’s all about feeling good. Tracy then provides 21 techniques for becoming more productive, including breaking down goals into smaller tasks, setting deadlines, and avoiding distractions. That's what Kevin Kruse suggests in his book, 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management. The title isn’t directly related to our topic, but overcoming procrastination is only possible when we free ourselves from the spell of idleness. Hyperfocus by Chris BaileyExtreme perfectionists often will indefinitely put off the task until they make sure they can do it perfectly and flawlessly. Sometimes we feel entirely paralyzed to do certain things, and sometimes we feel the same when we start other things. In general, and particularly if the issues that you’re dealing with are severe, a CBT intervention based on a book won’t be sufficient compared to one led by a licensed professional, and you’re encouraged to seek help from a professional if you believe that you need it. Nevertheless, research has shown that even self-guided CBT can be beneficial when it comes to dealing with your procrastination, so it can be worthwhile to give it a try, even just as an initial step.

Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University and a prominent authority on the emerging field of “science help.” This procrastination book is both concise and powerful. It presents the reader with simple principles and exercises to help boost productivity and accomplish long-term goals. A lot of this book includes motivational tactics that are not necessarily revolutionary, but they are written in a fun and interactive way to help the reader be engaged in the process and become motivated to follow in the author's footsteps. He interviewed some of the world’s leading experts, from Charles Duhigg to David Allen, and conducted extensive research on productivity. John Perry examines the tortuous relationship between procrastination and perfectionism and suggests a different approach to this universal character flaw: Acceptance.Ludwig first defines procrastination as the act of delaying tasks despite knowing they need to be done. There are many ways to force you to pay the costs of procrastination sooner rather than later. For example, if you are exercising alone, skipping your workout next week won’t impact your life much at all. Your health won’t deteriorate immediately because you missed that one workout. The cost of procrastinating on exercise only becomes painful after weeks and months of lazy behavior. However, if you commit to working out with a friend at 7 a.m. next Monday, then the cost of skipping your workout becomes more immediate. Miss this one workout and you look like a jerk. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. This book is one of the best-known books on personal productivity. The tips and techniques outlined in this book can be useful to procrastinators, by helping them manage their time and deal with tasks in a way that reduces the likelihood of procrastination. A common criticism of this book is that while the system that it presents is simple, the book itself is too long, so consider just looking for a summary of the GTD system online. Research has shown that you can change your habits if you want to, even if it concerns procrastination. Want to stop hearing people say you are lazy? Dive into this book and get to work. The Thief of Time: Philosophical Essays on Procrastination