The Now Habit

A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play

by Neil Fiore (24500)

Despite the fact that procrastination is a known drain on personal and organizational productivity, very few people ever take the time to define precisely what procrastination is.

A good working definition of procrastination is: “Procrastination is a mechanism that people use to cope with the anxiety or stress involved in starting new tasks or completing old ones.”

When you adopt this definition, it then becomes clear that the key to overcoming procrastination isn’t the usual collection of cliches:
“Just get out and do more.”
“Try harder.”
“Get better organized.”
“Stop being lazy.”

Instead, to genuinely overcome procrastination you’ve got to deal with your more deeply seated inner dialogues and your own personal definitions of “failure,” “perfectionism” and “work ethic”. Instead of a collection of how-to advice and tactics, you need to have a strategic system in place that will give you the tools you need to mentally shift gears intoa higher level of functioning. Once you take more control over the way you think about your work and motivate yourself, you will then naturally become more efficient and productive.

1. Create a mental safety net
2. Use positive self-talk to reprogram your attitudes
3. Use the symptoms of procrastination to trigger the cure
4. Strategically schedule some guilt-free play time
5. Use three-dimensional thinking and reverse calendars
6. Make worry work for you rather than against you
7. Create and use an unschedule on a daily basis
8. Set a few realistic goals that deserve your attention
9. Learn how to work in your most productive flow state
10. Turn setbacks into opportunities to move forward

The Now Habit