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Stop Procrastination
Stop Procrastination
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Table of Contents
................................
Introduction
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. .. .. .. .. ... . . . . . . . .
4 “This
. ...................................
Needs to Stop”
10 Chapter
Is Organized
1: Know Thy
20 Chapter 3: The
Paradox
Problem
What
of Getting
Is the Cure
Productivity
........
Started
Gurus Won’t
— Why
27 Chapter
Tell
the
You
4:
...................................
About Procrastination — Why Time
Management Is Only Part of the Solution
46 Chapter 6:
Carrots
School…
Chapter
&
7:
Sticks
Why
—
Your
They
Granny
.........
May Be Old
Doesn’t
53
...............................
Technology, Distractions, and
Procrastination
59
What to Do Instead
69 Chapter 9:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. ....... ...
The Art of Emotion Surfing — How to Do
................................
What Needs to Get Done… No
Matter What.
79
. ........................ .. .. .. .. .. ....................
110 Thank You
. .................................
114 About
15
the Author
(not sexy)
INTRODUCTION
Let me guess: You’re the kind of
person who sincerely wants to
“THIS NEEDS
TO STOP”
A little over two years ago, I moved
out of my parents’ home and into a
new apartment with my brother Jonas.
It was ugly.
HOW THIS
BOOK IS
ORGANIZED
First of all, I’ve tried to keep this book
as short as possible.
parts.
KNOW THY
ENEMY —
HOW
PROCRASTINATION
WORKS AND
WHY YOU
CAN’T STOP
What exactly is procrastination,
anyway?
Why do we do it?
starts revolting.
That’s a nutshell —
procrastination in
a battle of impulse versus willpower,
emotion versus reason, automatic
versus controlled, experiential versus
rational, and short-term pleasure
versus long-term happiness.
often.
with emotions.
tomorrow.” • “I
This
resistance is coming from the
monkey’s desire to avoid what feels
bad, and to avoid negative emotions.
worrying that…
about them
AWARENESS
— THE FIRST
STEP TOWARD
CHANGE AND
WHY YOU’RE
AHEAD OF 99
PERCENT OF
YOUR FELLOW
PROCRASTINATORS
The first step toward any serious and
game.
he’ll fare.
you want to
The point is this: If
overcome procrastination, you need
to increase your awareness of its
many aspects. You need to pay a little
more attention. You need to become a
curious scientist — constantly
watching, studying, and tweaking your
own behavior.
The good news is that you’ll
automatically increase your
awareness simply by reading this book
and learning more about the topic of
procrastination. Once you know some
of the science and theory behind it,
you’ll start detecting patterns in your
life.
I wanted to study on
Sunday, but my friends
urged me to go partying
Studying for an with them. I went, got
exam completely hammered,
woke up with a hangover,
and couldn’t get myself to
study in that condition.
out of it.
we get better.
Chapter Summary
THE PARADOX
OF GETTING
STARTED —
WHY THE
PROBLEM IS
THE CURE
What do the tasks you procrastinate
us.
Fascinating, right?
overwhelmed.
Ridiculous Standards
High standards are bad news for
Two-Minute Rule
Invented by productivity expert David
Allen, the two-minute rule states that if
a task takes less than two minutes to
complete, do it immediately.
process.
Chapter Summary
The tactics
Focus on the next step, not the
next thousand steps. Use your
willpower to move your attention
away from the overwhelming aspects
of a project and narrow it down to the
next actionable task you can get
started on.
WHAT
PRODUCTIVITY
GURUS
WON’T TELL
YOU ABOUT
PROCRASTINATION
— WHY
TIME
MANAGEMENT
IS ONLY
PART OF THE
SOLUTION
Some people will tell you that
procrastination is primarily a time
management issue.
Onwards!
1. Exercise
2. Cold shower
3. Meditate
The tactics
A SIMPLE
PLAN
— HOW TO
PROGRAM
YOUR
UNCONSCIOUS
MIND TO
AUTOMATICALLY
PROCRASTINATE
LESS
Wouldn’t it be great if you could
program yourself to act in any way
you like in the future?
act tomorrow?
Well, good news — you can do
“If
________.”
You
with
are
a
part). “As
immediately
linking
desired
soon as
intentions,
in chapter
recall, implementation
are if-then plans that
how you
a cue
behavior
which we’ve
two. As
will act in
future situation. They look like
I wake
cue,
the real magic starts happenin
You decide now how you’re going to
up,
get out of bed.” “If I’m
I’ll
a
wash
This allows you to make decisions
from a place of calm and rationality.
Why Do Implementation
Intentions Work So Well?
It’s fascinating what happens in our
brains when we’re forming these
implementation intentions.
She adds:
divider)
The tactics
mind,
your own
program your
happens,
CARROTS
STICKS —
THEY
MAY BE OLD
SCHOOL…
life and
opportunities
plans. Once
use the
you
following
behavior: _
you will find
to use if-then
have something
formula
“If
then I will do ________.”
&
to
in
BUT
THEY WORK!
In this chapter, we’ll look at the
motivational powers of carrots
Yourself a Reward
If you promise yourself a million
dollars for finishing your work project
by Friday, chances are you’ll get it
done by Friday, if not earlier.
trick as well.
As an example, you can promise
yourself a delicious protein smoothie
Chapter Summary
The idea: The monkey in your brain
operates on the simple principle of
approaching what feels good (the
carrot) and avoiding what feels bad
(the stick). We can use this knowledge
to our advantage by making desirable
activities more attractive while making
distractions and time-wasters less
attractive. The result? Less
procrastination.
The tactics
WHY YOUR
GRANNY
DOESN’T
PROCRASTINATE
— THE
ALARMING
LINK BETWEEN
TECHNOLOGY,
DISTRACTIONS,
AND
PROCRASTINATION
Robin Sharma, a leadership coach
and bestselling author, sums up
modern world perfectly:
procrastination?
worse.
Environment
You’ve probably heard of priming
before.
Chapter Summary
The tactics
THE POWER
OF NICE —
WHY
SELF-CRITICISM
WON’T GET
YOU
ANYWHERE
AND WHAT
TO DO
INSTEAD
Do you ever criticize yourself for being
Nope.
self-criticism.
What Exactly Is
Self-Compassion?
To understand self-compassion, we
to more procrastination.
Why Self-Compassion
Leads to Less
Procrastination
Research has shown over and over
again that self-compassion increases
motivation, performance, health,
success, and almost any other aspect
of life in multiple ways.
Self-compassionate people
experience far less fear of failure than
their self-critical peers. They basically
know that they’ll be fine in spite of
failure. They don’t need to
fear self-punishment because they
don’t engage in self-punishing behavior.
When they fail, they forgive and
console themselves. They build
themselves back up. They support
Research
negative emotions, it’s
shows that self-compassionate
people see failure as something
positive, as a learning opportunity.
They simply take it as feedback,
applaud themselves for trying, and
get back on track.
forgive yourself.
Chapter Summary
The tactics
THE ART
OF EMOTION
SURFING —
HOW TO DO
WHAT NEEDS
TO GET
DONE…
NO
MATTER
WHAT.
The more I observe procrastination in
my life, the more I realize just how
much it has to do with emotion
management.
thing.
or difficult. Furthermore, we
procrastinate the most when we’re in
If we want to overcome
procrastination, we need to get better
at emotion management. We need to
make a drastic change in our
relationship with emotions and instead
of being at their mercy, we need to
get back in control.
to behavior.
sound.
As far as procrastination is
concerned, the action tendency is
Emotions
Let’s say you come home from work
and decide to write some more of
your novel.
put.
Don’t react.
technique.
awareness.
Sound familiar?
games!”
Of course the monkey wants to watch
TV, go on Facebook, and play video
games. Of course it will tell you to
abandon your dreams and aspirations
of a better future. We can expect that.
yours.
Chapter Summary
The tactics
Surf Your Emotions: Next time you
experience negative emotions and feel
the urge to run toward immediate
gratification, stop and slow down.
Don’t do anything. For 30-60 seconds,
THE SCIENCE
OF
WILLPOWER
— WHY IT’S
THE SECRET
TO
OVERCOMING
PROCRASTINATION
AND LIVING
A HEALTHY,
HAPPY, AND
SUCCESSFUL
LIFE
Procrastination can be defined as a
form of willpower failure. We can also
procrastination.
struggle a lot.
Why Is It So Important?
Willpower is the #1 predictor of
low
energy levels) predict a wide range of
willpower failures. Both diabetics and
hypoglycemics are struggling to resist
their impulses and delay gratification.
regularly.
do?
give it a try.
go
First of all, start small. Don’t try to
from zero to hero. Don’t aim to get up
early, go for a morning run, take a
cold shower, and then meditate for 20
minutes. Unless you’re already very
disciplined, this is a recipe for failure,
discouragement, and self-criticism.
Chapter Summary
The tactics
FINAL
THOUGHTS
Well, there you have it.
taking action.
addict.
(caption on same page as image)
discouraging at times.
—Nils Salzgeber
P.S. Speaking of Taking
Action…
If you haven’t already, now is the time
Action Guide.
THANK YOU
Before the two of us part ways, I’d like
to say thank you for purchasing and
reading my guide.
Thanks so much!
ABOUT THE
AUTHOR
Hey, I’m Nils.
bio.
—Nils Salzgeber
P.S.: Got questions or feedback? I’d