How to Stop Procrastinating Right Now

February 2012

in Self-mastery

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Followup to: How to Generally Reduce Procrastination

As I said earlier, defeating procrastination and increasing our motivation is probably the most useful life skill we can learn.

Are there specific things we can do the instant we notice we’re procrastinating? (If you’re impatient, jump right to the advice!)

Hopefully you’ve already read and started implementing some of the stuff in How to Generally Reduce Procrastination. There, suggestions are given – based on The Procrastination Equation by Piers Steel – for making general life changes that will help reduce procrastination tendencies. Some of the tools in this post build off of those suggestions.

This post is for the other side of the procrastination coin: things we can do right now to stop procrastinating.  [click here to keep reading…]

How to Generally Reduce Procrastination

January 2012

in Self-mastery

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Defeating procrastination and increasing our motivation is probably the most useful life skill we can learn.

Recommendations, advice, and methods abound on the internet and in popular self-help books. What should we do? Who should we listen to? What really works?  (Click here if you’re impatient and just want the advice!)

The Procrastination Equation is an awesome book by Piers Steel that accounts for every major scientific finding on procrastination, and draws upon the best current theories of motivation.

This isn’t the place to thoroughly cite the scientific literature on procrastination – that would take a book (i.e. The Procrastination Equation) – this is merely an exposition of what the research shows. ((For a good summary of the scientific research, start with How to Beat Procrastination, which is largely a summary of the more in-depth book by Piers Steel, The Procrastination Equation. Steel’s book explains in much more detail what is known in the scientific literature about what works to defeat procrastination and the underlying neurobiology.)) I want to focus on how we can use it and what we can do to fight procrastination. I extracted as much advice from The Procrastination Equation as I could and separated it into two ‘types’: Things we can do in our lives, in general, to reduce procrastination, and things we can do right now to stop procrastinating right now.

This post focuses on the first of the two – things we can do in general to reduce procrastination.

For example, turning some of our necessary tasks into routines and habits is a useful tool, but takes time and effort to put into place – it’s not something we can do immediately when we notice we’re procrastinating, because it’s just going to keep us from what we’re supposed to be doing.

First, a quick summary of how the procrastination equation works.  [click here to keep reading…]

Mindset by Carol Dweck – Summary

January 2012

in Bookshelf, Notes, Self-awareness

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For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt of yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. – Carol Dweck ((Dweck (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Ballantine Books.))

That is the central message in Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

Dweck and her colleagues’ research has found a very simple belief about ourselves that guides and permeates nearly every part of our lives.

This belief limits our potential or enables our success. It often marks the difference between excellence and mediocrity. It influences our self-awareness, our self-esteem, our creativity, our ability to face challenges, our resilience to setbacks, our levels of depression, and our tendency to stereotype, among other things.

What is this powerful, yet simple belief?  [click here to keep reading…]

Uncertainty by Jonathan Fields – Summary

January 2012

in Bookshelf, Self-mastery

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This article contains my book notes for Uncertainty by Jonathan Fields (2011).

We all suffer from uncertainty and doubt, especially when creating something new. It’s certainly something I have issues with.

Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance is a book by Jonathan Fields that addresses this situation.

If I were to summarize the whole book in one sentence, it would be this:

Your ability to endure, amplify, invite, and exalt uncertainty – then reframe it as fuel – is paramount to your ability to succeed.

Overall, I think Fields’ book does a good job of highlighting the importance of uncertainty – especially feedback and criticism – and the value of behavior changes (such as exercise and changing your mindset). It has some good general advice for using uncertainty to your advantage as fuel.

I found the book to be short on clear, actionable things to do. For example, being told to have “triggers” to signal to yourself when you need to take breaks sounds like a great idea, but how should I do that? An more detailed example or suggestion would be helpful. This could be a smart thing in that he may be intentionally avoiding advice that is too specific and that won’t work for everybody. So, in terms of general changes to make, it has much advice.

There is a lack of footnotes, endnotes, and bibliography, which is a big downer for me, and raises my suspicions of false popular psychology, rather than real psychology, making its way in there. Even when specific studies are referred to, there is no full citation, merely the name of the scientists or the University where study was conducted. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t have good advice, both from personal experience in the creative industry and from others he knows in the industry. I’m probably just spoiled from reading journal articles. :-)

With those caveats out of the way, what follows is a summary of the key ideas and suggestions in the books. Note that the word “uncertainty”, as used in this book, is sort of a container that includes the “three psychic horsemen of creativity”: uncertainty, risk of loss, and exposure to criticism.  [click here to keep reading…]

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