If we begin with the notion that procrastination is not the basic “problem” but rather an attempted “cure” for fears, self-doubts, and dislike of work, then it is obvious that most procrastinators will have to focus on the real problems–underlying fears, attitudes and irrational ideas–in order to overcome the procrastinating behavior.

After accepting this idea, the next step is to figure out what the “real” underlying problem is for you. Start by asking, “Am I a relaxed or a tense procrastinator?” Tense procrastinators suffer from strong, sometimes mean, internal critics (see chapter 14); relaxed procrastinators have bamboozled their self-critic by denying reality.

From this point, each procrastinator must deal with his/her own unique emotions, skills, thoughts, and unconscious motives. Below are some self-help procedures that should be of help to relaxed and tense procrastinators.

But it is possible that you have never learned to organize your time or simply have been rewarded for putting things off, e.g. someone else “let you quit assignments” or did your work for you. In this case, if you want to change, simply stopping the rewards should solve the procrastination problem. You might want to try this easy approach first, so I will mention some simple behavioral methods for reducing this problem.

If these methods don’t work or don’t appeal to you, then make use of methods given below for the tense or relaxed procrastinators.

Methods for a quick, simple behavioral approach

For perhaps a third of all student procrastinators, a To-Be-Done List, a daily schedule (chapter 13), and a simple record-keeping and reward procedure (chapter 11) will do wonders.

Changes may occur immediately; often they start going to the library or some special place to study with a new friend. I’ve seen hundreds of students become more serious and responsible about studying. They experience relief just going to class more often and being prepared for exams; some even start to find the material interesting and challenging; they start working for “A’s;” a few actually decide to become dedicated students. I love to see a good brain be used.

Like dieters, though, many find it hard to maintain their new study habits and backslide within two or three weeks. Most people have to overcome procrastination gradually. Studying, like drinking, is usually in binges. Almost no one has trouble studying (a little) the night before a big exam. But without the pressure of an exam, many students find it easy to forget studying.

I’d suggest breaking big jobs down into manageable tasks and working on “getting started,” perhaps by tricking yourself by saying “I’ll just do five minutes” and then finding out you don’t mind working longer than five minutes. This is called the “five minute plan.”

The key is to learn the habit of getting started on a task early, i.e. the procrastinator needs to learn to initiate well in advance studying and preparing for papers and exams. Practice starting studying several times every day. As with exercising, getting in control of starting and making it a routine are the secrets. Some students also find it helpful to keep a journal in which they record in detail their thoughts and feelings associated with studying. This helps them see how their fears, excuses, competing needs, and habits divert attention from studying. Based on this insight they can devise their own self-talk (will power) to take on scary tasks and do them promptly. Others ask friends to nag and push them, maybe even fine them a dollar if they aren’t on their way to the library by 7:00. More techniques are given at the end of this chapter and in chapter 11. Also see McWilliams & McWilliams (1991).

Many procrastinators, however, resist these methods. As one student told me, “I can easily ignore schedules and reminders. Rewards and penalties are the worst of all – I just take the reward without doing the work and I forget to punish myself.” A truly dedicated “relaxed” procrastinator will need more internal motivation, maybe a new philosophy of life (chapter 3) or simply more worry and tension, i.e. a much stronger self-critic.

Behaviorally, the role of negative reinforcement in procrastination is easy to see, i.e. some behavior or thought enables a person to escape some unpleasant but necessary work. That escape–procrastination–is reinforced. (Besides, the pleasure from playing, partying, and watching TV could easily overwhelm the pleasure from studying.) Each procrastinator develops his/her own unique combination of escape mechanisms, such as emotions (fears, resentment, social needs), thoughts (irrational ideas, cognitive strategies, self-cons), skills and lack of skills, and unconscious motives, perhaps. Remember, we anticipated this complexity in chapter 2.

Helping the relaxed procrastinator

The work-avoiding, pleasure-seeking, reasonably comfortable type of procrastinator will not feel much pressure to change, unless he/she is confronted with reality by some event (such as, flunking out of school) or by serious thoughts about where his/her life is headed (as with an alcoholic, denial usually keeps this from happening). In short, this type of procrastinator needs a crisis.

The question is: Can the relaxed procrastinator provide the pressure he/she needs to straighten out his/her life? (See “closing the crap-gap” in the motivated underachiever section above.) Both types of procrastinators dislike the chores they are avoiding. How does “work” become so disliked? Ellis and Knaus (1977) and Knaus (1979) suggest that, as procrastinators, we create much of our own misery in the first place by:

• telling ourselves the task is really awful (“I hate all this reading”) or by putting ourselves down (“I’ll do a terrible job”) or
• by telling ourselves something is very unfair (“The exams are ridiculous, I can’t stand that instructor”) or
• by setting impossible goals (“I’ve got to get all A’s”).

Then we procrastinate to avoid our own self-created emotional dislike of the job at hand.

One solution, of course, is to reduce our dislike for and anxiety about the work we need to do, for instance by building self-esteem (method #1, chapter 14) or by using Rational-Emotional imagery (chapter 12).

We might simply ask ourselves when did we get a guarantee that life would always be easy and fun? Or, who said hard work is terrible or that you must get an A? Or, do you know for certain that you can’t stand to be bored? Or, what is your scientific proof that a 10-page paper with 10 references is outrageous? We can change our thinking–our views of things (method #3, chapter 14) so that we like our work better.

As a relaxed, fun-loving procrastinator, we need to see clearly how pleasure seeking may, in the long run, lead to unhappiness, rather than to our ideal life. Procrastination occurs because we are able to fool ourselves into believing it is okay to have fun now and put off our work. Exactly how do we do this? Very much like the underachiever uses excuses. Procrastination is a well-learned habit; it happens without much awareness. When we procrastinate, we quickly shift our attention away from the work that needs to be done in such an automatic and slick way that we feel good about avoiding the work–until later. That’s a self-con! It’s denial. Facing reality is the only solution. We have to see what is happening moment by moment, and stop fooling ourselves.

Eventually, the procrastinator can face the facts, namely, that in most situations a take-it-easy, live-for-today, let’s-have-fun philosophy will usually not get him/her what he/she wants out of life (if you often start projects but fail to follow through, see Levinson & Greider, 1998). Don’t buy the old I’m-not-in-control saying, “The future will take care of itself.” That’s crap. You have to take a lot of responsibility for your future. Think realistically about your future…all the time. What are the procrastinators’ favorite self-illusions (and, thus, self-harms in the long run)? Knaus (1979) describes three kinds of common diversions, i.e. ways of avoiding the tasks that need to be done:

1. Action cop-outs. This is doing something that isn’t a priority. Examples: Watching TV, eating, playing, sleeping, or even cleaning. Once we are engrossed in the diversion, we block out the anxiety, self-doubts, anger, or boredom associated with the work we are putting off but should be doing.

2. Mental excuses.

There are three main types:

(a) “I’ll do it tomorrow” or “I do my best work late at night, I’ll do it then.” Since you have promised yourself that you will be good, you can escape work and enjoy guilt-free play.
(b) “I’ll go shopping now so I can study all evening” or “I’ll call them just as soon as I think of something clever to say” or “I’ll fix up my apartment, then I’ll make friends.” Some unimportant activity takes priority over the main but unpleasant or scary event.
(c) “I want an ‘A’ in statistics but Dr. Mean would never give me one” or “I want to go out with Brian/Barb (who is handsome/beautiful) but he/she would never look twice at me.” This is a Catch 22 situation. It’s impossible, so why should I try? In fact, a person with this defeatist attitude might never take any action.

3. Emotional diversions. Taking drugs, listening to music, reading novels, and even getting involved in friendships, love, flirtations, or religion could, at times, serve as an escape from unpleasant but important tasks. Sometimes worrying about a speech or some other activity is an excuse (“I worried so much about it!”) and a poor substitute for working on the important task. Ask yourself if you do any of these things. If so, don’t let yourself get away with it.

In summary, what can the pleasure-seeking procrastinator do?

1. Stop turning little inconvenient mole hills (like having to do something unpleasant) into giant “ain’t-it-awful” mountains,
2. Be on the look out for any self-con or cop out by which we deny the need to work right now,
3. Start to think more rationally–you don’t have to go to every party, you can get interested in a textbook,
4. Make detailed, realistic plans for achieving your long-range goals, and
5. Don’t avoid work, DO IT NOW! Use the behavioral techniques mentioned above. See McWilliams & McWilliams, 1991.

I’m afraid this kind of advice to a procrastinator will do little good if he/she continues to effectively use the self-cons mentioned above and remains relaxed and self-satisfied. It is like a doctor telling an obese person to lose weight or a smoker to stop. Ordinarily, such advice doesn’t help, unless the person has just had a terrifying heart attack!

Likewise, with the procrastinator, perhaps in a sober moment, he/she will think, “Oh, my God! I’ve tricked myself into this stupid self-defeating behavior–just like a drunkard or a fat person or a smoker. That scares the hell out of me and makes me mad! I’m going to get in better control of my life, starting at this moment!”

I suspect these kinds of remarkable changes in our life style will only occur when there are powerful and sustained emotional forces inside our gut (like a life threatening heart attack) to provide the motivation to persevere in becoming a different person. This fear of the future must surely be created by the procrastinator him/herself–others have probably tried many times and failed (“Clean up your room, you’ll grow up to be a total slob” or “You have to study, you’ll never get into college.”)

Good luck in changing, but even if you continue to procrastinate, I hope you have the happy life you are trying for.

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” -Charles Kingsley

Helping the anxiety-based procrastinator

According to Fiore (1989), if the work pressure is already too great, exhorting the tense procrastinator to “try harder,” “get yourself organized,” “this is a tough job, so don’t put it off,” or “no friends and no fun until this work is done” is counterproductive. Such typical advice only increases the pressure and unpleasant feelings about the task to be done. This kind of procrastinator has to reduce the unpleasantness of the task and then he/she will get it done.

Specifically, Fiore recommends that

1. The procrastinator should reduce his/her fear of failing by

(a) seeing that his/her worth is not totally determined by an assignment at work or by a term paper grade,
(b) having alternate plans B and C for succeeding, in case plan A doesn’t work, and
(c) using self-talk, such as “If I fail, it won’t be awful; I can handle it.” See Roberts (1989).

2. The procrastinator should keep a record of his/her avoidance of important tasks:

• What excuses were used?
• What thoughts and feelings did he/she have?
• What was done instead of the work?
• What was the outcome (including thoughts and feelings)?

See the five types of anxious procrastinators described above to understand yourself.

3. The procrastinator can change procrastinating ways of thinking to productive ways:

4. By changing these thoughts and habits, you are reducing the dread of work and taking responsibility for directing your life. You are saying “I can enjoy hard, responsible work. It is part of a good life.”

5. For the over-achiever, the workaholic, the ambitious perfectionist, avoid the tendency to live entirely in the future –“it will be wonderful when I am a doctor… a millionaire… on the honor roll… in the big leagues…” They aren’t living in the now; they are working or feeling guilty because they aren’t working. Such people can learn to love each day if they have a mission in life (see chapter 3). What a lucky person who can say “I love my work.” Part of this process for most people

involves setting aside time each day to play, to socialize, to exercise, and to have free time for relaxation. Charles Garfield (1989) in Peak Performance says productive people need to take vacations and play (without guilt)! Insist on your fun.

6. Turn worries and self-doubts into assets by asking:

• (a) What is the worst possible outcome?
• (b) What would I do if the worst happened? How would I carry on?
• (c) What strengths and skills do I have that would help me cope? How will I forgive myself for messing up?
• (d) What alternative plans could I develop for having a good life?
• (e) Can I do things now to help avoid this awful outcome I fear?
• (f) Having prepared for the worst, how can I use my worries to prepare to become stronger and more capable?

This kind of planning helps us face the inevitable risks that lurk ahead for all of us.

7. Fiore suggests a unique scheduling system. Schedule your fixed hours (classes, meetings, meals, etc.) and your play time. That’s all, no work! Make the playing mandatory, not the work. Focus only on starting to work, not on putting in hour after hour each day. If you start a project and concentrate on it for 30 minutes, record this on your schedule… and give yourself a reward. Start as many 30 minute work periods as you can. The idea is to build the habit of frequently getting to work and to build the desire to work. Work becomes more enjoyable when it isn’t seen as hard, boring, endless chores that have to be done.

8. Other methods are prescribed: a calendar based on when projects are due, a set of realistic goals, an approach to work in a relaxed state of concentration, and a quick, optimistic response to setbacks. In the final analysis being motivated and productive is a result of liking yourself. Thus, building confidence and self-respect is at the heart of this program.

A couple of other self-help books focus on overcoming serious self-doubt and fears that lead to procrastinating or blocking (Sykes, 1997; Boice, 1996). Blocking often involves delay and panic and is especially likely to happen when the finished product involves an evaluation or public scrutiny, such as a term paper or a book.

A different approach to escaping the unpleasant internal critic is taken by White (1988), who says that a behavioral approach, such as teaching time management or study skills to this kind of procrastinator, often increases his/her resistance to work rather than helps.

White helps her students understand the unconscious mental struggles that often underlie perfectionistic procrastination. She asks them to imagine certain internal parts (common in children from perfectionistic families), such as “the NAG,” “the CRITIC,” and “the CHILD.”

The nag constantly reminds you of what must be done. The critic tells you that you’ll mess it up or look foolish or be rejected. The child tries to get you to avoid the threatening, unpleasant work (“I don’t want to. You can’t make me!”) by seeking fun (“Let’s party! Turn on the music and where’s the beer?”). As the child runs away, the nag shouts orders, and the critic attacks even more. A miserable existence!

Sometimes, the perfectionistic procrastinator is pretty successful even though miserable. Occasionally, he/she is traumatized (“If I can’t be perfect, I won’t do anything but be upset”). Getting in touch with the interactions among these inner characters is designed to shed light on the purposes and intentions of each character.

Each is trying to help us: to get us motivated (Nag), to get things done right (Critic), to get some peace (Child). After getting to know these parts well (listen carefully to the internal voices for a week or so), the idea is to learn (several more weeks) to use each part so we can be rational in our planning, highly motivated to achieve our values, and still able to enjoy our life.

Examples:

Orders (“You must…”) are turned into “I want to accomplish (some goal) in this way…”

Attacks (“You are so stupid”) are converted into helpful suggestions and an urge to be original or creative. Your frightened child is cuddled and protected and reassured by your “adult” who can see the world more realistically (see chapter 15).

Make friends with each part, name them, visualize them, value them, help them help you, and interact with them. White is a therapist but the students do the fantasies on their own. You could too, if this approach appeals to you.

Sometimes, you need to go deeper than time management, self talk, and rewards. White’s use of fantasy is a good illustration of a different kind of self-help method. It is designed to give us insight into our internal dynamics, emotions, cognitions, and unconscious factors.

Even with insight, you will probably need a To-Be-Done List, a daily schedule, and a system of rewards until the intrinsic satisfaction in the work is a sufficient motivator. Recent publications are Bruno (1997), who has several small books about self-help, and Woodring (1994).

Finally, brief mention should be made of books that address the educational process and the increasing of students’ incentive to learn and confidence in their learning ability.

A textbook by Bandura (1997) presents his theories and research about self-efficacy (“I can do it”) followed by many suggestions for changes in education, business, and health care. Other psychologists have specialized in helping students overcome failure (Covington & Teel, 1996) and in developing confident, self-regulated learners (Zimmerman, Bonner & Kovach, 1996).

These are mostly classroom strategies for teachers.