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About the Book
Twenty-five years ago, we wrote Procrastination: Why You Do It; What To Do About It. Our book described the reasons behind procrastination and offered practical techniques designed specifically to help procrastinators overcome this self-defeating behavior. We had no idea that this book, born out of our own struggles and our counseling experience with many procrastinators, was going to become a “classic” that sold over 150,000 copies.
WHY WE DECIDED IT’S TIME FOR A REVISED EDITION
So much cultural change has taken place since 1983 that procrastination has become a bigger problem than ever. Current estimates are that chronic procrastination is a problem for one out of every four people. With the advance of the Internet and all the ways to access it—smart phones, laptop computers, and whatever invention is coming next—it’s now possible to procrastinate 24/7! (Are you procrastinating right now?)
At the same time, society has become more competitive, and the current economic climate makes procrastination in school or at work a risky practice. We want to address the current explosion of procrastination possibilities and make suggestions that work for the way we live today.
Increasingly, people move across the country or to other countries, experiencing social ruptures that can contribute to procrastination. We want to include information that helps procrastinators who are going through cultural challenges.
In 1983, there was almost no research in the area of procrastination. Since then, there have been hundreds of research studies focusing on many variables related to procrastination. We want to present the most significant findings from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics.
WHAT’S NEW IN PROCRASTINATION: WHY YOU DO IT, WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
NOW
Our book has two parts: Part One, Understanding Procrastination, has 10 chapters that consider the complex factors that lead people to procrastinate. Part Two, Overcoming Procrastination, offers a smorgasbord of techniques designed especially for procrastinators, helping you be more realistic and more aware of time, and laying out the steps that lead to action. Every chapter in our book has been updated with new information, new examples, and new suggestions.
We have added completely new chapters on
- the procrastinator’s relationship to time
- the relevant new ideas in neuroscience
- the relationship between your brain and procrastination
- suggestions for using your body to reduce procrastination
- information on attention deficit disorder and executive dysfunction that relates to procrastination
- the cross-cultural issues that can contribute to procrastination
- twenty-five years of research on procrastination from the fields of psychology, biology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics, with full references.
THE TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROCRASTINATION: Why You Do It, What To Do About It Now
Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note to Our Readers
Part I
UNDERSTANDING PROCRASTINATION
Chapter 1 Procrastination: Nuisance or Nemesis?
Chapter 2 Fear of Failure: The Procrastinator on Trial
Chapter 3 Fear of Success: Hello Procrastination, Good-bye Success
Chapter 4 The Procrastinator in Combat: Fear of Losing the Battle
Chapter 5 The Comfort Zone: Fear of Separation and Fear of Intimacy
Chapter 6 Do You Know What Time (It) Is?
Chapter 7 Current Neuroscience: The Big Ideas
Chapter 8 Procrastination and Your Brain
Chapter 9 How You Came to Be a Procrastinator
Chapter 10 Looking Ahead to Success
Part II
OVERCOMING PROCRASTINATION
Chapter 11 Taking Stock: A Procrastination Inventory
Chapter 12 Setting and Achieving Goals
Chapter 13 Learning How to Tell Time
Chapter 14 Learning to Say Yes and No
Chapter 15 Techniques for Using Your Body to Help Your Brain
Chapter 16 Tips for Procrastinators with ADD and Executive Dysfunction
Chapter 17 Neither Here nor There: Procrastination and the Cross-Cultural Experience
Chapter 18 Living and Working with Procrastinators
Epilogue
Appendix A: Procrastination: Twenty-five Years of Research
Appendix B: A Short List of Techniques for Managing Procrastination
Appendix C: Notes and Sources
Index
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