Overcoming Procrastination

I just read all the getting acquainted mini-essays from my students this term. The number one issue reported by an amazing number of students is procrastination.

It was an issue for me when I was a student. I'd have a paper to write and -- in my first year of college -- would sit up all night before it was due, typing frantically, making it up as I went along. By my junior and senior year, I'd learned to pace myself and get started earlier.

But even in grad school, many maturing years later, if I had a big paper due, I would suddenly get a compulsion to scrub my kitchen floor on hands and knees, or to thoroughly clean the fridge and freezer! Looking back, perhaps this was a way to build my active energy to get started on the paper. I certainly built a level of angst, enough to get me mobilized at last.

Here's a true story they I often share with students when this subject comes up in class. Years ago I wanted to incorporate a non-profit organization and I was referred to a young lawyer named David for the pro bono work. He met with me, gathered the information he needed, and promised to get back with me soon. Based on previous experience with lawyers, I had no idea when that would be. But by the end of that week, he came looking for my signature and my little organization was in business.

I commented on his promptness. David then explained that he used to have a terrible problem with procrastination. It got him trouble in college, in law school, and then with judges who were highly annoyed when he missed court deadlines. But, he said, he changed his life with three words.

I eagerly asked his magic secret.

"Do it now," he said. He told himself these words thousands of times daily for a quite a while. After a bit, he started moving his body to do the things that needed to be done. By the time I met him, he was a successful young attorney, someone that people would point to as a guy who would not mess around, but would get good work done on time.

Since sharing this bit of my history with students, I've had a few each semester who come back to me and say this approach really helped them.

It's one of those things that works if you work it. If you just read it and say, "Sounds good," nothing happens. If you start creating new neuron connections in your brain by repeating the instructions to "Do it now," and then you start moving your body (even your eyes over the written words of your assignments) you will quite likely find yourself making the changes you want to make.

If you're a procrastinator, what do you have to lose? Have fun with these three little words. Use them like a mantra for the next month, any time you're doing simple chores, walking, chilling on the couch, sitting in the bathroom -- any time that your mind doesn't have to be actively engaged with talking, thinking, problem-solving -- and see what happens in your life!