GTD Anti-Procrastination Workshop thread [!ANTIAVOIDANCE]

kewms

Registered
CosmoGTD said:
This is exactly what I just went through with my recent project.
I really thought it would take 5 hours, and it took 16 hours! That blows my mind I could be off by 3x.
This is a very common occurrence. Some part of our brain knows its a 16 hour job, whereas we think consciously its a 5 hour job. No wonder we resist it.

I think this is why some people recommend breaking projects down into actions that will take an hour or less (some say 30 minutes or less) to finish. The more granularity you have, the better the chance that you've estimated the time accurately.

My own solution to the problem has been to keep track of how long things take. I don't bill by the hour, but keep track of time as if I did. That helps me see how much time gets chewed up by administrative tasks or marginally useful stuff (like the Web!), and how much is actually available for client work. At the end of a project, I can compare how long I thought it would take against how long it actually took and (hopefully!) improve my estimates for the next project.

Katherine
 
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ActionGirl

Guest
msherring said:
I've read most of the posts on this thread. Maybe time for another topic.

I've been flirting w/ GTD for about a year or so. I was very gungho early on. Spent 2 days gathering everthing. When I was finished, I had over 300 N/As. Looking back not all of them were truly next actions. I couldn't avoid stopping my mind from thinking ahead 3 or 4 actions and listing them for fear of forgetting them. I would work off the list, but often the list was so large, and I had so many things that seemingly screamed to be done now, that I didn't do any of them. I've read the book, but have had a difficult time visulizing exactly how to organize my n/a vs. projects vs areas of responsibility.

Don't hold this against me, but I'm an attorney (sounds like the beginning of an AA meeting). I've got about 60 files or cases. Each one, depending on complexity, may have 10 to 15 projects with seveal n/a's for each project. Early in a case, I'll brainstorm about everything that needs to be done, the result of which can create numerous projects. Often there are no hard deadlines, save a trial date with corresponding discovery/deposition cut-off, etc. Between the time suit is filed and trial may be 9 months to a year, so its easy to put off the projects.

The overwhelming number of n/a's that don't have a deadline, but all of which seem to need to be done at the same time often leads to procrastination and my doing simply whatever fire pops up in front of me.

Questions:
How to organize an immense number of n/a's?

Aside, from upcoming hard deadlines, how to decide what n/a's or projects to handle?

What to do and where to keep projects v. n/a's, especially where I have seveal that are equally important on a particular case?

How to get past being frozen by the shear volume of projects and n/a's.

Thanks in advance for your time in responding.

msherring, this topic probably deserves its own thread! There have been a number of lawyer specific topics in the past, but the other lawyers here may miss your questions if they are buried in this long thread. :)
 
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msherring

Guest
Sorry, didn't mean to post twice

Just meant to do a little editing before I posted.
 
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msherring

Guest
Thanks, I'll do that as well

However, while some of my concerns may be better addressed by lawyers, I figured many of my concerns seemed in line with the intent of this thread.

Lawyers often get into a rut on how to do things, and I was also looking for outside advice for general problems with implementing GTD, though I certainly appreciate your advice. :smile:
 

Busydave

Registered
Try “The Motivated Mind” by Raj Persaud. His chapter on procrastination (“Is time running out? Time to get ahead”) is worth the price of the book … no wait; make that worth ten times the price of the book.

Dave
 
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CosmoGTD

Guest
I would search this forum for "lawyer" as I do recall threads about lawyers and GTD at various times, which I neer read!

Lets see, 60 cases x 10 Projects x 3 NA's = 1800 Next Actions!
:)
No one can manage 600 Projects! Somethings gotta give! That's outta control.

Aren't there "case management" software for lawyers?
There have to be some brainiac lawyers who have figured out how to manage that kind of thing. Each case would be a type of Project, and it could have subprojects perhaps, like project manglement software.

I don't know enough about lawyerin', but to me this does not seem like a procrastination problem, it seems like a technical information management systems problem.
Just reading what you wrote makes ME FREEZE!
I don't think you can have 10 projects for 60 cases. That is too much, in my view.

But that being said, we can only do ONE thing at a time, and there are only so many work hours in the day.
But with that type of complexity, there has to be some type of system to figure out what to do each day. Unless you enjoy staying up until 4am the night before the trial, like my friend the lawyer does sometimes. (Then the judge throws it all out in 3 minutes)
;-)

Again, search for the word "lawyer" in this forum, and maybe revive some of the old lawyer threads, and maybe some good ideas will come up.

Again, off the top of my head, this does not sound like procrastination to me, it sounds like information overwhelm. Its like trying to build a skyscraper without serious project management software these days. Its not going to work.

Maybe DavidCo has a coach that has a specialized GTD structure for lawyers?

ok, my brain is jumbled now from just thinking about this, so I feel your pain.

msherring said:
Don't hold this against me, but I'm an attorney (sounds like the beginning of an AA meeting). I've got about 60 files or cases. Each one, depending on complexity, may have 10 to 15 projects with several n/a's for each project.

The overwhelming number of n/a's that don't have a deadline, but all of which seem to need to be done at the same time often leads to procrastination and my working on simply whatever fire pops up in front of me.

Questions:
How to organize an immense number of n/a's?

Aside, from upcoming hard deadlines, how to decide what n/a's or projects to handle?

What to do and where to keep projects v. n/a's, especially where I have several that are equally important on a particular case?

How to get past being frozen by the shear volume of projects and n/a's.

Thanks in advance for your time in responding.
 
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CosmoGTD

Guest
I agree with both points, break it down into workable chunks, and follow-up reviews. Very important.

One other thing that got me too, is PERFECTIONISM. I could have done the project crappily in 5 hours, but perfectionism can kick in, and sometimes you just can't let it go. I happen to think perfectionism is NOT a good thing, and that can cause procrastination as well.

The solution to that for me is to learn how to enjoy doing things badly.

I made an issue of this particular project in this thread, as it was personal, emotional, and extremely difficult. It wasn't "work", it was something very difficult in the personal life. I don't want to say what it is, but suffice it to say its about as bad as it can get in this life. Very close to as tough as it can get, I think.
But I brought it up to make a point, to myself mostly.

Most professional projects can be much less "emotional", and thus are easier to manage.
But sometimes in life, we have to deal with very rough personal "projects" (things that gotta get done), and the intense emotion, and the fact that its a "one off" can really make it tough.
The great thing about GTD, is that its not just about "work". Its also about personal stuff.

So in this case, the fact that almost every factor in what I was doing was unknown, and it was of the most difficult emotional things one might have to face in life, for me makes it an interesting project to examine.
Even in that type of serious, emotional, personal "project", the same principles also apply.

Its kind of a paradox, but I am finding that the best way to deal with the most difficult, complex, emotional, harsh "projects" we can imagine that life gives us, is to make things as simple as possible.
-open the word processor and move your fingers.
-pick up the phone and start dialing

Sometimes just taking the Next Action, even if its the WRONG action, is the best we can do, and just stumbling forward is just fine.
Its like if someone wanted to be a great poet, the reality is that they are going to have to write endless reams of junk, while not having the faintest clue of what they are doing.

Some asked Einstein "how to you work?"
He said, "I grope".

For me this is becoming the solution to all forms of procrastination. To simply begin to move forward imperfectly, to grope, try stuff, and push oneself to begin to move forward.
Its the most simple, primal bottom up behavioral approach.

It reminds me of what DA said in GTDFast when he would walk into an Executive's Office filled with reams of paper chaos, and simply pick up ANY random paper and say What Is It? and go from there, until everything was dealt with.
That is bottom-up behavior based action.

The only thing I am adding to this, is if there ain't no "pull" to the NA, then its up to me to provide the "push". And the push can create a pull, once we start it moving.

kewms said:
I think this is why some people recommend breaking projects down into actions that will take an hour or less (some say 30 minutes or less) to finish. The more granularity you have, the better the chance that you've estimated the time accurately.

My own solution to the problem has been to keep track of how long things take. At the end of a project, I can compare how long I thought it would take against how long it actually took and (hopefully!) improve my estimates for the next project.

Katherine
 
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CosmoGTD

Guest
I am going to continue to post some related materials in this thread, and for those of you who are not sick of this thread, it would be great if you continued to post procrastination problems here, and then follow-up it up with how you tried to handle it with the GTD tools, or other tools, and if you were able to overcome it. It can be very instructive.

I had some decent results with this of late.
One thing I also tried last week was some MYF. (move your fingers). I had about 9 calls that I had put off for no real reason, and they had just sat there on the list. So what I did was open the calls list, and without even thinking, I started dialing one of the numbers, without even knowing what I was going to say, and without having any support material open! As soon as the call started, I was able to focus, and of course everything went fine. So I think this is also a good procrastination strategy. Just Move Your Fingers to do what you want to do, without even thinking about it.

For myself, I have at least 2 areas of "procrastination" I want to deal with in a better way.
One type, is procrastination of things that are "behind". These are some of the examples I have listed here so far, various things that generally due to their "unpleasantness" tend to get put off.
The ONLY strategy I have found to work with this, is to isolate the Next Action, redefine it as best as I can, clarify the project, do some CBT on the thoughts-emotions around it, schedule the Next Action, and then follow-through on it and push myself to do that Next Action behavior to get it moving.
Personally, I literally cannot think of another way to deal with this type of thing. I have just a few more things like this on my lists, and those will be handled this next week.

A larger area of "procrastination" though for me, is not doing things that I REALLY want to have done, as quickly as I would prefer. They are not behind schedule per se, they are things that are self-generated, but they tend to start to lag, and some of them truly are stuck.
A couple of examples for me are, buying a new car, and buying a new home.
I can analyze WHY these are not moving as quickly as I would like, and it makes sense. They are expensive, and they can be a "huge hassle" for me to do things like that, shopping around, and moving, painting, and all the rest of it. Its not something I enjoy, and probably will never really enjoy.

What is interesting is if I were as rich as Oprah, those types of things would NOT cause a problem for me at all. I would simply get a representative in, tell them exactly what I want, and get it handled in hours. For a new house, I would just bring in a house designer, have some meetings, and get the process rolling. So I would be able to Delegate quickly, and actually ENJOY following up and monitoring those types of things, as long as I did not have to do the "grunt work"! (no I was not spoiled or born rich, quite the opposite!)
So 'money' is definitely part of the block around these types of things, due to the fact I am not as rich as Oprah at this time. (Of course, we can make projects and objectives to move ourselves in the direction of creating more personal wealth).
But also, or perhaps more, the real block for me is having to do the countless hours of "sweat labor" for a project like buying and moving to a new house. I know some folks who really ENJOY that type of thing, and remodel their house, and talk about floor tiling, carpets, and drywall and such. Personally, I find it all a huge "hassle and waste of time" and even revolting, and this is why I don't Get It Done, even though I want it Done!

So other than becoming as rich as Oprah, and Delegating all this "crud" to my hoard of sycophantic underlings, there is only one way, again, for this to move forward. Even if you were Oprah, you would still have to DEFINE the projects and Next Actions, although I suppose you could hire someone to do that too! ok, you could simply define your Outcomes, and then get others to Do them. Sounds like fun.
But back to reality, again, the only way I can possible think of moving these types of things forward that I WANT to have done, but don't really want to do, is to carefully define the project, and the Next Actions, and make sure I do this as precisely as possible.
But the bottom line is its going to come down to the same thing.
Isolating those Next Actions, and then somehow, one way or another, getting them done, one step at a time.
For something like buying, moving, designing a new home or "Dream Home" the reality is that this is going to involve many hundreds/thousands of next actions, and goodness knows how many hours of sweat labor and grunt work. (but I still refuse to spend my Sat mornings #%&*@! with bathroom tile!).

But again, as far as I can see, for every single project I have out there, which I have created, literally the only way to get them moving faster, is to get the Next Actions moving faster, either by Delegation, or by getting myself to do them. That's it!
And there are many ways to get ourselves to do the NA's that are out there, from redefining the NA, to scheduling them, using a Buddy System, and any other tricks one can think of.
But in the end, it seems to me that giving ourselves that little or strong "push" for these types of NA's that involve risk or "hard work" is the only way to move forward. Thinking realistically, I cannot think of an exception to this.

Even wanting to live healthier is going to come down to specific projects, and then actually cooking and eating healthy food in the MOMENT, which is a Next Action behavior. Also, for exercising, its the same thing. The bottom line is that joining clubs or buying gear is not going to work, but actually moving your legs in the MOMENT to go for a run, or picking up those barbells is going to start the process. Its all about the behavior.

From my POV, its really the same solution to NA's that are behind schedule, and also Projects that are not moving as quickly as I would like, or are stuck.
It comes down to really isolating that GTD defined NA, and then getting ourselves to actually DO it. Without the DO part, all we have are some fancy lists on a computer. I do think sometimes, for some of us, all these lists can actually be an impediment to DOING and getting things done, as some of us can get stuck in fancy planning, and then feeling relief when we put something on a list.
But just because its on a list, does not mean anything is being done about it. Often this can literally be avoidance of actually doing it. This is one reason I think some folks who don't do much planning at all can be very effective, as they just do stuff, and work it out as they go. That is 100x better than overplanning out of avoidance.

So for me, the solution to all forms of procrastination, as well as the "key" to GTD, is getting ourselves to actually, and behaviorally DO the Next Actions in the moment, especially the NA's that we do not feel like doing. Those are the ones that block us.
I think its worse in our personal lives, as we don't have as many external deadlines, and things like colleagues waiting for our work, which drives us forward, and that little thing called making a living to motivate us, like we do at work.

Anyway, I really do think that, at least for me, this entire GTD system, as well as how to deal with all forms of procrastination, literally comes down to the moment when we actually get ourselves to DO those NA's. That is the point of power and leverage. And what blocks us from this is usually emotional. I cannot think of an exception to this, at this time. We isolate those NA's and then DO them, in whatever way works for us as an individual.
There are many ways to get ourselves to do something in the moment, and I would think each person is somewhat unique.
But for me, it comes down to giving myself a soft, or a very strong PUSH, no matter how I might "feel" and then basically without exception, the ball starts to roll. We have to rinse and repeat this countless hundreds and thousands of times in our lives.

I don't know, to me, this seems to be the key to basically getting everything we want done in our lives, professional, but just as important, personal.

So stepping out of the philosophy of it, I am going to continue to use this thread to isolate these NA's, and then monitor their progress. Its funny, as soon as I resolve to do this for a few key projects, I can just feel the emotive resistance start to kick up, which is the very thing that has kept some of these projects from moving forward! But thankfully, I think GTD does give a system to deal with this, but for me, my weakness has been the systematic implementation of the NA's, for certain complex or difficult projects.

So my next step is to somehow boil all this down into a very clear idea, algorithm or technique, and then figure out how to make sure this can be applied realistically in the moment....
 

TesTeq

Registered
Isn't it just an excuse?

CosmoGTD said:
What is interesting is if I were as rich as Oprah, those types of things would NOT cause a problem for me at all. I would simply get a representative in, tell them exactly what I want, and get it handled in hours. For a new house, I would just bring in a house designer, have some meetings, and get the process rolling. So I would be able to Delegate quickly, and actually ENJOY following up and monitoring those types of things, as long as I did not have to do the "grunt work"! (no I was not spoiled or born rich, quite the opposite!)
So 'money' is definitely part of the block around these types of things, due to the fact I am not as rich as Oprah at this time. (Of course, we can make projects and objectives to move ourselves in the direction of creating more personal wealth).
Isn't it just an excuse? There is no way to become rich if you are a chronic procrastinator (unless you've inhertited millions of dollars or won the lottery). Money is not the solution - it is the result.
 
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CosmoGTD

Guest
TesTeq said:
Isn't it just an excuse? There is no way to become rich if you are a chronic procrastinator (unless you've inhertited millions of dollars or won the lottery). Money is not the solution - it is the result.

Yes, it would be a self-defeating excuse if a person were saying, "if only I were richer, then I would do X".
I THINK the point I was making, was more along the lines of, its not that I don't WANT to buy/design a new Dream House right away. I do. If I were 'Oprah', I would immediately get it going, and would be in that house in a short period of time.
The reason for this, is that I could simply Delegate all the crud I hate, like painting, and all the rest of it.

But since I am not Oprah, I pretty much have to do everything myself, including the things that I do NOT like doing, and even DESPISE doing, like things to do with paint, carpets, tiling, and all that stuff. My brain is just not interested in that type of thing, it feels like a 'waste of time' to me.

So I THINK these are the very things that are stopping me from moving this large project forward. My brain computes, "dear god, carpets, tiles, painting x100...arrrgggg....PUT IT OFF!", so it doesn't get done.

But I know if I had enough $ to delegate most of it, I could literally get it going this week, as I enjoy the higher altitude stuff, and I like the results, of course. Who doesn't.

What is interesting, is I know a girl who does not have money to burn, and she LOVES getting her new house together! She has spent MONTHS selecting carpet, paint, and all the rest of it. She loves it! It gives her life meaning, she literally enjoys every minute of it.

I took those psyche-tests in the past, and for me "working with my hands" came up at about 2%, and doing Mental Creation was like 99%. So for some reason I don't like that type of stuff, where you do things with your hands.
BUT, I gotta do that stuff to "get more of what I want", even though I don't like doing it.
So my point is that I can't see any other way to get this type of stuff done, other than simply making myself do it, as I have mentioned. I am never going to like selecting carpets or paint, but I like the result!

So other than making myself do certain things I don't like to do on a genetic level, I can either wait until I marry Oprah, or, I guess I could marry someone who enjoys doing things I hate!

So its trying to figure out what is blocking my progress on this project, and then figuring out a way to overcome these blocks.
I want the new house, but my emotional brain really dislikes all the details that go into it, for some reason. I think it goes down to the personality level.
I love the technical details in other areas, but for some reason these 'domestic' details do not interest my brain. It just does not compute.

So either I push myself to do them to get them done, or hire someone else to do them. I don't think my brain is ever going to like those types of domestic details. Good thing I am not a Mr. Mom, or I would be a Desperate Househusband.
 

flexiblefine

Registered
The dreaded perfectionism

CosmoGTD said:
One other thing that got me too, is PERFECTIONISM. I could have done the project crappily in 5 hours, but perfectionism can kick in, and sometimes you just can't let it go. I happen to think perfectionism is NOT a good thing, and that can cause procrastination as well.

The solution to that for me is to learn how to enjoy doing things badly.
Perfectionism is one of my personal "problems" that leads to procrastination. If I can't do something right (and sometimes my idea of "right" seems to include "all in one session"), I put it off until I can. Which means some things get put off for a long time.

With a little discipline (a little PYA, anyway), I can get started on these things and come to a decision that getting them done at all is more important than getting them done perfectly.

If we keep waiting to be perfectly prepared to do something, or if we keep waiting until we can concentrate perfectly, or if we wait for anything at all to be perfect, we will spend a lot of time waiting and not a lot of time making progress.

When there is clear urgency attached to a project, my perfectionism seems to fade sufficiently for me to get things done. (That's what happened last week at work, which is why I haven't chimed in here.) The voice in my head that says "gotta get it done now" keeps pushing me to work and keeps pushing other things out of the way.

Without that urgency, I often have trouble keeping things moving on my own, but removing the urgency from so many things is one of the points of GTD -- doing things when they show up, not when they blow up. If I can truly learn to be content with an imperfect, human effort, I should eventually need less PYA to GTD. :)
 
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CosmoGTD

Guest
Pya-gtd-na

flexiblefine said:
but removing the urgency from so many things is one of the points of GTD -- doing things when they show up, not when they blow up. If I can truly learn to be content with an imperfect, human effort, I should eventually need less PYA to GTD. :)

This is an extremely important point you make here.
In REBT and CBT, they very clearly say that its best when we can learn to do things imperfectly, or even badly, and not connect this to our "Selfhood". Its a tricky concept, but it also can create problems for people. For instance if a person is putting their Self-Worth on the line by doing X, of course the "fear of failure" is going to often make them not try it. There is too much risk.
But if its just 'something you do', and not what you 'are', then ironically you are more likely to get it done!
We give ourselves USA (Unconditional Self Acceptance) no matter if we do great, or lousy.

Also, the REBT concept of 'Musterbation' goes along with this. When we escalate things into MUSTS, then we often make it much LESS likely we are going to do it. Its counterintuitive and takes some time to research and think about, but this Musting and All or Nothing thinking, actually impedes productivity.
If we think, I MUST exercise everyday, this intense internal pressure can actually block us from doing it. (I know this is the exact opposite to certain 'self-help' gurus, but I prefer to listen to professional psychologists with decades of research, and then test it myself, and see that it is correct).

According to both CBT and REBT, what is better is to have a strong, flexible 'preference' to do something, as this means we are going to have less internal resistance to doing it.
Its hard to grasp, and took me a long time, and a lot of reading and experimenting to see that this is accurate.

So that actually fits with your idea that once we can de-escalate the process of getting things done, then it actually becomes easier to do things. The reasons for putting it off are not there anymore.

But that being said, I know for me, that even though the goal is to be more flexible, and more relaxed, that sometimes we also need some PYA.
But again, PYA is really a concept which is as rich and complex as GTD.
Its not about gritting ones teeth, and being miserable, like a drill sargeant. to me, PYA means as much as GTD, in that GTD has dozens of components to it. PYA to me, is about CONSCIOUSLY injecting some physical ENERGY into an area that is stuck, but not in an angry or anxious manner, but in a fun way. To me PYA sorta sums up the conclusions of an entire area of behavior-cognitive therapy. PYA in my mind stands for dozens of books and concepts related to CBT and REBT, and how our cognitions-emotions-behaviors-beliefs all interact.

Of course, its much nicer to be 'pulled' towards our projects and NA's and just have them flow, that is the ideal. Its great when that is what is pulling us forward.
But WHEN that is not happening, I think its important to recognize that for many reasons, there are certain things in life that are not going to have a 'pull' to them. That's fine! All we have to do is provide some 'push' to get it started!

For me anyway, the missing component to GTD is some PYA. GTD has worked really well for me, at times, and yet at other times, it has fallen apart.
This little process I am going through here has made me realize that PYA seems to be the only way to get certain things moving, with GTD.
With PYA, all things are possible.

Right now, I am calling it, PYA-GTD-NA.
GTD provides the 'pull' and PYA provides the 'push' and those NA's are the behavioral action steps which literally move everything forward, from the trivial to the sublime.

I am thinking about implementing some kind of Daily appt with myself, where I focus on PYA-GTD-NA, for a short period of time. (again, this is not for the areas where things are flowing, but for the areas where I want to get it moving. Personally, most areas flow very well for me, its just some areas don't).
For example, even if I did ONE solid NA each day on my Dream House project, the chances are that momentum will start to build on this, and then a "pull" will start.
I think maybe having a good, short PYA-GTD-NA session each day might be very helpful. GTD shows us which NA's need to get done, and can provide a nice 'pull' to them. But some strategic PYA done daily, can really light a fire under that A. Also, for the NA that have "issues", in the end, some type of PYA is basically the only answer.

For example, if I did one solid NA each day on buying a new hybrid car, no matter if I 'felt like it' or not, I would have that car before I knew it. How many NA steps are there in buying a hybrid car? Not that many, if you think about it.

ok, time to do some PYA-GTD-NA's!
Like: processing Inbox to zero.
 

theoconbrio

Registered
This is an excellent thread. CosmoGTD, I think you've really nailed precisely the problem I've always had implementing whatever personal development / organizational improvement / efficiency system I've tried. I procrastinate like mad, I'm perfectionistic, I doubt my ability, I fear success, etc. It's easy to make list after list after list and fantasize about how all this will help me clarify values and so on, but the rubber hits the road at the point where "DO IT" becomes "DOING IT." It is that moment where I usually find myself suddenly drawn to Web surfing, or working on a "more urgent" (read: less scary) project. What I have been looking for is a gentle way to PYA, because I find that if I think of it as an authoritarian "just do it" command, then I am more likely to resist it, even (especially) if it is wholly internal, unrelated to externally imposed requirements and deadlines.

This is particularly important in my current job, which requires that I be highly self-motivated, generate my own work, and work without external deadlines. GTD has been a godsend because it's helped me simplify my systems and focus on the lower level. But I still get stuck on "DO IT."

I hope that others will continue to chime in with their own experiences in this thread.
 
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CosmoGTD

Guest
theoconbrio said:
What I have been looking for is a gentle way to PYA, because I find that if I think of it as an authoritarian "just do it" command, then I am more likely to resist it, even (especially) if it is wholly internal, unrelated to externally imposed requirements and deadlines.

Hi there, excellent points and honesty. I appreciate that very much.
All I am doing in this thread is just trying to be as honest as possible. I have a niggling suspicion, that there are many folks who do GTD, who do a Weekly Review once every 6 weeks, and end up running around town with a To Do List handwritten in their pocket, even after trying to 'master' GTD for quite some time. Its human nature. Nothing to be ashamed of or to try and hide.

But it is true that different people have wildly different issues regarding procrastination. Some people don't really procrastinate, and some others procrastinate almost everything, and everything in between.
Myself, when I get external deadlines, I always finish them early, these days. But certain personal Projects get stuck, and certain challenging Objectives seem to not get moving, 'somehow'. Our mind is tricky thing.

But let me throw a clarification out there. PYA is probably a very poor term to use for most people, when taken out of context. I took it from REBT and Dr. Albert Ellis, and REBT is about getting rid of the 'authoritarian' commands in our head. Its really a huge area of research.
So PYA, just taken in the casual lexicon, is probably not a good term. Its works great for me, as I know the background, and it reminds me of Dr. Ellis hilariously screaming it out when I saw him speak.

He did a workshop on procrastination a few years back. There was one guy who only had to do ONE COURSE to get his degree, and he put that off for YEARS, until he had only ONE semester left to do this course, or he would lose his degree.
Now for most of us, we might think, "oh come on, just take the course", but most of us don't understand the pickle people can get themselves into, but Dr. Ellis does of course.
Anyway, he told the guy what to do, which included REI (Rational Emotive Imagery), and a number of other things from REBT.
But in the end, he told this guy, and others, that sometimes ya just gotta PYA! As in, forget the fancy cognitive theories, and your toilet training, and just push yourself!
The reality is that for people who have 'serious' issues in this area, the day is going to come when they gotta face their demons. It can be nerve-wracking, but its possible.

I myself had some anxiety-stress problems years ago, and I was fortunate enough be able to go through a 16 week anxiety clinic, using CBT and Behavior Therapy principles. Its too complex to explain the entire thing, but here is one small point from it.
After some long interviews, the psychologist designs with you a graded hierarchy of all the things that you are avoiding due to anxiety. They space it over about 16 weeks, with the 'worst' fear at the end, and the easiest up front. You do all sorts of cognitive work with them, but you also have Behavioral Homework, where you commit to going out and DOING certain things you are avoiding due to anxiety, and making notes about it.
They tell you up front, if you do NOT do what you commit to do, pretty much each week, they will kick you out of the program. They tell you that point blank. So you can't go in and say, 'well I didn't do X, because of X". You can do that maybe once or twice, but no more. They almost kicked me out for not doing what I said I would do a couple of times. (due to avoidance and anxiety!). They will literally kick you out of the program, and you can't get back in for quite a while, I believe, if ever.

Why do they do this? Because they are mean and evil people?
No, the exact opposite. Its because they want to actually help you.
Research has shown that if people are not 'pushed' through leverage to do these things, they are NEVER going to do them! YEARS, and we are talking YEARS will go by, and people will not do them. That is a fact.
So they get leverage on you, and you literally have to push, and yes even 'force' yourself to do these things you have committed to do.

What happens, is that your brain learns that doing X 'feels bad' when you start, but, once you do it a few times, then it loses its power. It becomes extinguished.

(notice how this is the opposite of 'Rogerian style' therapy? If you came back and told him that you did not do X this week, he might say, 'that's ok, you are still ok, lets talk about it' and on it goes, for years sometimes! The Anxiety Exposure methods were designed to short-circuit that process of avoidance, and even though its stressful, that is how you can overcome these problems).

So what I am saying is that yes, we do NOT want to be a fascist and try to 'order' ourselves to do things. We will just resist that even more, or sabotage it.
But on the other hand, the reality is that there is no 'gentle' way to go about some of this stuff. For certain serious issues, you might even get to the point of thinking you are going to puke, or 'go nuts', etc. These are dealt with by doing things like, 'ok, get a barf bag, and see if doing X makes you so scared you will barf'. Then, guess what? You learn its not as bad as we feared in our heads.
The reality is that the human is very tough, and we can handle a lot more than we think. Pushing ourselves to do things, is not going to hurt us, as long as we know what we are doing. It will FREE us from our false fears. As a matter of fact, the reality is that we sometimes have to push through it, to get to the other side. According to everything I have learned on this subject, there is no escape from this. But it has to be done in a careful and controlled way. (get advice from highly trained professionals in this area).

Again, there is a lot more to it than this, and its impossible to communicate with plain text properly.
But the point of PYA is a simple, emotional one. Sometimes, we just gotta take a deep breath, and go for it. It could be called TLC-PYA.

But the reality is that just even reading these types of ideas will make some of those who have challenges in this area extremely anxious, or even very angry. We can be so anxious about facing the things we are putting off, that we will discount the very simple and basic idea of starting to face it today, or even facing it today.

I used to have severe stage fright when I was young, as in, 'needed to go the bathroom' stage-fright. But when I was young, I got a job where I has to speak to large audiences 2x a day, 5 days a week! It was a HORROR! I felt nauseous everyday, all day. But I needed the job, so I kept doing it.
One day, after lunch, after about a month of this, my anxiety VANISHED. I just got up there, and felt ZERO angst. My brain learned through exposure that there is nothing to fear. It was just a mental fiction.
I have not had performance anxiety since. Once I start to speak, or whatever, it vanishes.

I know that there is not ONE, not ONE Next Action on my lists that is going to 'hurt me' if I just did it right this second. Not one of them. Zero.
I might 'feel stress' for a while, but its not going to kill me, or hurt me.
So why not just push myself to do it then? What is there to be afraid of? Feeling some stress, or fear or frustration? That's ok, it will dissipate once I get going.

So, that's interesting, and I just thought of it.
What is stopping any of us from picking our 'scariest" NA right now, and just pushing ourselves to do it?
Would it kill someone to call the tax-man, or whatever it is they are avoiding?

Our brain will come up with INFINITE excuses to AVOID doing what it fears. Infinite, and it can go on for years, and years, in an irrational way, for some people.
All I am saying is that after looking at this very carefully for many years, these are the conclusions I have come to.
I am not saying they are for everyone, not at all. Just thinking out loud, as it helps to clarify things. This has been very helpful to me, and hopefully it has also been for some others.

But the harsh fact is that I know of no other way to overcome procrastination, based around anxiety avoidance, than to ultimately have to face it down, and Behave your way through it. As far as I know, there are no magical or easy solutions. (now the hypnotists are going to hate me too...No hypnosis doesn't work either!).
In the end, we are going to have to do it, someday, somehow.

Why not today?
Why not now?

What I have learned is that the only way out, is to learn that facing it down, and feeling 'discomfort' in the moment is not a big deal. As a matter of fact, that is what it takes.

It can be a Catch-22, this is why some folks get trapped.
We don't do what we need to do to get over it, as we fear the 'bad feelings' we might have when we do it. But if the only way to get through it, is to push through those 'bad feelings', and that is the thing that STOPS those bad feelings, then its easy to see why folks can get trapped in this for years and decades. It literally is a Catch-22.

All my experience shows me that they way to get through this, is to simply focus on the Next Action, and then 'push' our way through it. This actually automatically handles the cognitive aspect of it, as it occurs naturally as we do this. As far as I can see, this is really what it all comes down to.

(again, I am just brainstorming, thinking-out-loud, and writing my experiences, and not giving people 'advice', or anything of that nature).
 
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