Self-Help Strategies

April 28, 2008 9:42 AM

I’ve just finished reading The Now Habit, an incredibly useful and inspiring book on overcoming procrastination. What’s the best approach to implementing and then retaining the strategies presented in this, or any other, book?

Because I’ve been a procrastinator for so long, I’ve never completed a long term project like this, where I read a self-help book and attempt to implement all of its strategies. So, I’m looking for suggestions from anyone who’s done this before.

I’m considering:

Rereading the book entirely
Copying down all of my underlines in a separate notebook
Creating flashcards of the most useful passages
None of the above

posted by mizrachi to education (9 comments total)

How about just doing the things it suggests? The various steps you listed (as well as posting on MetaFilter) just seem like ways of procrastinating...
posted by decoherence at 9:51 AM on April 28, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Rereading the book entirely
Copying down all of my underlines in a separate notebook
Creating flashcards of the most useful passages

Err, that sounds like procrastination to me... just do it, then do it again.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:55 AM on April 28, 2008

(Disclaimer: I didn't read this book. But I'm good at follow-through.) If you have a planner, enter specific "appointments" with yourself to do specific things as follow-ups from the book. "Re-read Chapter 1" is too vague. You should schedule specific, small tasks that are doable in an hour or less. Also, break down the tasks whenever possible. For example, if the goal is "Visit my nephew more," you should write in a time to schedule a phone call with your nephew or his parents to identify a time that will work for both of you. Writing in "Visit my nephew," is likely to cause you to see the note, realize that you need to make a phone call first, and then not do it.

If you don't have a planner, buy one (today, obviously).
posted by dreamphone at 10:01 AM on April 28, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

How about just doing the things it suggests? The various steps you listed (as well as posting on MetaFilter) just seem like ways of procrastinating...
I think this is a valid question. Long-term habit change is hard, even if you know what you "should do", or what the book says.

Understanding that really changing your ways is a difficult and long-term process, I would recommend building some sort of system to stay accountable to your goal of procrastinating less overtime. Right now your excited and energized about it, but how will you feel a month from now once this has all faded? If I were doing this, I might schedule weekly "check ins" with myself (and even go so far as putting them on my calendar) and keep a journal of how I'm doing keeping procrastination at bay. This would serve as a constant reminder of my goal and give me a chance to think about what’s working and what’s not. The point is, you need to see how implementing these strategies works for you in a variety of situations, and the only way to do that is to practice them over time. You also want to have some sort of way of dealing with the small "failures" that will inevitably happen while your trying to change your ways. You want to learn from them, rather than just get discouraged.
posted by dyslexictraveler at 10:17 AM on April 28, 2008

I'm voting for "none of the above".
If you've read the book, you probably already have the gist of what is necessary.
Say what you want about Nike as a company, but that phrase "Just Do It" seems highly appropriate right now.

This is coming from a fellow procrastinator. I have to remind myself to get out of my head, get out of the planning stage and get going on the doing stage.
There's time for planning and time for action.
Don't confuse the two.
posted by willmize at 10:40 AM on April 28, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

It might be helpful to think about your particular way of doing things, and adapt the book's strategies to ways that you know you like to do things, ways that you have successfully done things in the past.

For example, I know that I stick to things best when I don't have to think about them before I do them. So if I decide to implement a plan, whether that's for work or studying or a diet or to learn something, I take a day to figure out a schedule or "rules" for myself and write those down. That way I don't have to ask myself every morning what I should be doing, I know that I have to eat an egg or study 10 pages or return calls. Similarly, I might spend a whole day running errands and cooking eggs and buying the materials I need so that I don't have to think about those things for a week. I might set up work-stations for projects so they're all ready to go.

Someone else might be more free-form and want to prepare to periodically recharge their motivation. That person might benefit from putting up a big goal sign, and setting up rewards or appointments that keep them on track.

Personally, I wouldn't reread the book in order to write down abstract anti-procrastination tips, but I would skim it and cull out the specific strategies from the book that I'm going to use. Then I'd think about it for a little while and decide how to use the strategies, go shopping for the necessary notebooks and calendars, set them up, and begin using them.
posted by xo at 10:52 AM on April 28, 2008

here's how to fight procrastination

have an itemized to do list and prepare it every morning

one inbox

when something comes accross your desk, if you can do it in 2 minutes do it then, otherwise, file and create a to do to deal with it.
posted by Ironmouth at 10:58 AM on April 28, 2008

Start with this question: What new thing are you go to start doing in the next 48 hours as a result of reading this book? Then do it.
posted by winston at 6:46 PM on April 28, 2008

I’ve just finished reading The Now Habit

That book is pretty straightforward. Follow the directions in the book.
posted by bigmusic at 7:41 PM on April 28, 2008