Subtitle: Why You Do
It, What to Do About It Now
It’s
impossible to give an accurate review of this book just after reading it. To fully review this book, or any self-help
book, you need to first see what kind of a difference it makes in your
life. The true test of this book’s
effectiveness can only be measured over time.
For example, 5 years from now, have you been able to transform your life
thanks to this book, or are you still stuck in the same bad habits as before?
As I write
this review, I have only just finished reading this book. So consequently, I can only give it a limited
review, and touch on some of the more superficial aspects. (Perhaps 5 years
later, I’ll have to revisit the topic to see how much this book has been able
to help me.)
On the plus
side, this book is well written and very readable. I was worried it would be a chore to get
through, but instead found that the writing flowed very smoothly, and I
finished the book much faster than I expected.
The book is
divided into two sections: the first section is about understanding why you
procrastinate, and the second section offers some strategies on how to overcome
it.
To my
disappointment, I found the strategies on overcoming procrastination somewhat
underwhelming. (I don’t know what I was
expecting actually. I suppose I should have known there was no secret magic
cure-all formula, just common sense useful advice like “Set a realistic goal” and “Expect
obstacles and setbacks.”)
The more
interesting sections are on understanding how why you procrastinate, and how
you became a procrastinator in the first place.
Contrary to
popular belief, the authors assert, “procrastination
is not primarily a time management problem or a moral failing but a complex
psychological issue” (p. xii).
But if
procrastination is not just another term for laziness, then what is it
then? Here things become a little bit
confusing, because the authors identify multiple reasons why a person might
become a procrastinator, such as maladaptive perfectionism (people who are so
afraid of failure that they have trouble acting), fear of success, fear of
losing your autonomy to authority and attention deficit disorder.
At this
point, it almost seems like they’re not defining procrastination as one
psychological disorder, but as 4 different and distinct disorders that simply
manifest themselves with the same symptoms.
It may well
be that all of these disorders can cause procrastination in their own way. (The world is a complex place after all). But the problem is that they posit multiple causes for procrastination, and then offer one-size fits all type solutions. It seems unrealistic that the same
strategies would work for each case. Surely a person who is afraid of failure has a
different disorder than someone who is afraid of success? A person with ADD, who has a biological neuro-chemical reason for procrastination, is going to need different
strategies for overcoming procrastination than someone with an opposition to
authority.
The confusion
continues into Chapter 9: How You Came to
Be a Procrastinator. The authors want to explore how procrastination is
created by the childhood environment.
This is understandable—after all, they’re both psychologists, and
they are defining procrastination not as a bad habit but as a psychological
issue, so it makes sense they want to establish it as arising from
childhood. And although they base a lot
of their theories on empirical evidence, in my opinion their credibility is
stretched when anything and everything can lead to procrastination.
According
to chapter 9, you become a procrastinator if you grew up in a family where your
parents always criticized your efforts, or where you were always held up to
impossibly high standards. But you also become a procrastinator if your parents
praised you too much. And you grow up to
be a procrastinator if your parents always doubted you. Or if your parents were too controlling. Or if your parents were too clinging, but also
if your parents were too distant.
Some
sections in this book I felt like I identified with. And yet at times I wondered if this wasn’t
because of the fortune cookie phenomenon: you make a statement so general that
everyone will be able to identify it, and then tell a person this relates to
their specific situation. The response of
the mark is always amazement, “Wow, how do you know me so well!”
The real
value of this book may not be in the accuracy of the author’s analysis. The real value is that reading it forces you
to reflect on your own procrastination, and serious reflection is the first
step to recovery. Or at least so I
found. While I was reading this book, I
had a heightened awareness of my own procrastination. Whereas before I would put stuff off and not
think twice about it, now I at least catch myself doing it. And although I haven’t yet broken the cycle
of procrastination yet, I’m at least starting to think about it more.
And the
authors themselves acknowledge this.
“In the past, you may have made the choice to
procrastinate automatically, without even realizing it. Perhaps you accepted
your excuses unquestioningly or ran away from your goal on impulse. If you accomplished nothing else…we hope that
you procrastinated more consciously” (p. 191).
I plan to
re-read this book a couple more times to help me internalize its contents more,
and in the future I want to try out some of the author’s suggestions, and see
how much of a difference they make.
But for the moment I’ll just leave my review
here.
***********
I had
previously viewed my procrastination as simply an inability to get daily tasks
done, but the author’s trace procrastination to a wide range of problems in
life. Relationship problems for example
(not pursuing romantic relationships, not asking people out on dates, not
staying in touch with friends, not visiting or calling relatives)
and personal care
(cleaning out your closet, shopping for new clothes, getting your hair cut,
personal hygiene) and finance problems.
Because of
this book, I’m beginning to see that the problems in just about all areas of my
life might be related in some way to procrastination.
For
example, I used to just think I was a slob, but now I’m wondering if my
carelessness in dress might be a symptom of my procrastination?
Also after
reading this book, I’m beginning to see the television addiction I complained of some months ago as being not a separate problem in its own right,
but as another symptom of procrastination.
Or is this
just the fortune cookie phenomenon again?
Are the author’s of this book encouraging me to over-generalize all of
my problems into one rubric?
****************
Despite my
mixed feelings about the book’s effectiveness, I’ve started recommending it to
my students.
At my
school, the higher level courses include a Study Skills component which gives
the students advice on how to be successful academically. Since I know many of my students also suffer
from procrastination (I get a few late papers every term) it seemed appropriate
to plug the book into the Study Skills section.
If nothing
else, I hope the book will cause them, as it did me, to think more about why
they procrastinate instead of just assuming they procrastinate because they are
a bad person.
(Although
my students are not native English speakers, the book is simply written and
easy to read, and I think at least my higher level students should be able to
comprehend it.)
It also occurred
to me that it’s not a bad idea for educators to become knowledgeable about the
psychology of procrastination, regardless of whether or not they suffer from it
themselves. It will help them to become
more understanding when they encounter students with this problem.
For example
in my own case, although I’m careful not to reward or reinforce the student’s
procrastination by extending the deadlines, I try and make clear that I don’t
equate the students’ worth as a person with their academic performance, or that
I don’t think they are a bad person because they missed one deadline. (I believe this is in line with chapter 18 of
this book, Living and Working with
Procrastinators, which is written specifically to help people deal with a
procrastinator other than themselves.)
Because I
think it’s helpful for educators to become more knowledgeable about procrastination,
and because I suffer from the problem myself, I think it might not be a bad
idea for me to read a few more books on the subject, and try to perhaps carve
out a little area of expertise. I’ll
review the books on this blog as I read them.
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