The Thief of Time

Do it Now: How to Stop Procrastinating - William J. Knaus

Procrastination is often seen as putting off errands or chores at home or at work shelving assignments and projects until <<fill in your usual contingency>>.

In fact, people procrastinate dealing with what they themselves realize are serious problems. Some lonely people put off making friends. Feeling something is not right with their health, some people postpone getting a test. They hold off till New Year’s Day quitting smoking, eating better food, and starting an exercise program. Others never get around to getting their finances or important documents in order.

Since I read self-help books only by people with credentials, I will note that  Dr. Knaus was a colleague of The Man in cognitive behavioral therapy, Albert Ellis. So, much of the advice Knaus gives in this short book is related to how thoughts influence feelings which in turn give rise to delaying behavior. When procrastination has roots in anxiety and depression, Knaus urges the reader to identify and dispute the irrational ideas that are making us delay getting started.

For instance, Carlos is putting off calling a client to tell him of a delay in shipment. He detests giving bad news to anybody because in the past small-minded people have given him crap for being the bearer of bad news. He’s worried that the customer will react to the bad news by scolding him and calling him incompetent. Carlos needs to get a grip by disputing his own assumptions, “Will he really scold me? And if he does yell at me, will that kill me? The worst that can happen is he takes his business someplace else. That would be unfortunate but not the end of the world.”

Sure, much of the advice in this book is common-sense, but one has to remember that self-help books are written for people that read only if they are facing in the most extreme circumstances, like when they must deal with a serious problem. The language has to be pretty simple and the ideas straight-forward. The style has to be pretty repetitious. God, who would be a therapist, getting people to come up with the same suggestions for the same problems day after day?