The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play

• feel powerless, with no sense of choice?

Denis Waitley, the author of The Psychology of Winning and The Joy of Working, who defines

challenge at least two of the counterproductive assumptions Clare’s story revealed: the feeling that she had to force herself—that there needed to be an inner conflict; and that this constant conflict is normal,

Whenever you catch yourself losing motivation on a project, look for the implicit “have to” in your thinking and make a decision at that moment to embrace the path—as it is, not the way you think it should be—or let go of it. It’s your choice.

there is one main reason why we procrastinate: it rewards us with temporary relief from stress.

The cycle follows a pattern that usually begins with guilt-free play, or at least the scheduling of it. That gives you a sense of freedom about your life that enables you to more easily settle into a short period of focused, quality work. Once you’ve completed some quality work on your project, your feeling of self-control increases, as does your c

I always felt as if someone was looking over my shoulder, worried about how well I was doing or how smart I was.

keep an impossibly long “to do” list?

lack the ability to distinguish between what’s the most important use of your time

Observe where your time is going. What are you doing when you’re really productive? And note how that differs from those times when you are busy but producing nothing. Difficulties in gauging how much time it takes to complete a project, to travel across town, or to make it to a meeting on time are often part of procrastination. Realistic time mana