Most of us who signed onto this site are people who want to achieve something in this world. We are highly motivated. We are doers.
Still, the majority if not all of us can point to obstacles we encounter in our attempt to get things done and make our mark in the world. For some of us, one of those obstacles, a big one, is procrastination.
One of the curses of procrastination is this: the bigger the project, the more crucial it is, the more that is riding on it, the more likely we are to avoid it, to put it off, in a word, to procrastinate.
Understanding why this is so is not all that difficult. The more momentous the project, the more that is riding on it, and the more anxiety we are apt to have about it. "Will I finish in time?" "WIll it be judged successful by others whom I am seeking to win to my cause or please with my efforts?" "Will I make a fool out of myself after all this effort?" "Wil I get it done in time?" "Do I have what it takes?"
All these haunting questions and more murmur and snicker in the dark corners of our minds, undermining our confidence, quickening our dread. And in order to manage the discomfort, we distance ourselves from the project and avoid working on it. Welcome to the world of the procrastinator.
I know a lot about the subject. I live with a procrastinator 24/7: me. In my first Master's Degree over forty years ago, which took five years to complete instead of one, I had seven incompletes to make up for the two semesters of that Master's course, and I had to do the makeup papers in the summer time when other school teachers, of which I was one, were off vacationing and ballyhooing! Thank God I got it done, and I will tell you more about that in a moment, but for now remember this: the little saga I just told you indicates to all that I have a right to address this dread subject. And for those of you who likewise procrastinate, you now know you have here a brother who understands.
Enter the Slight Edge paradigm: how does it help?
Part of the liberating genius of the Slight Edge paradigm is that it counsels us to consistantly take small and strategic steps toward our goals, to install small and easy habits and practices that, compounded over time, change our reality for the better. This is perfect for a procrastinator, becuase the smaller the act, the less the anxiety, and the less the anxiety, the more procrastination is disempowered.
So how did I finally get the deed done in that Master's program? I learned to make little contracts with myself. Sitting in a hot New York library, one or two or more years after having taken a class, I needed to generate a paper without the context that made it easier to do. In each of these little contracts I would tell myself, "I will work on this for ten minutes (or five minutes, or twenty minutes, whatever would not trip my anxiety response), and if, after that time, I feel I can't take it any more, I am free to go.
Well, in just about every instance, once I got into the project, for that initial five minutes or so, the anxiety vanished, and five or ten or twenty minutes became an hour, or two or even more! Everything got done and I got the degree.
The Slight Edge approach deals with this reality proactively: by making a policy of doing the little things that are easy to do, and easy not to do, and doing them consistently, we make a big difference in our progress on the projects to which we are committed. And there IS a compound effect, which creates sweet momentum. Such small steps do not trigger anxiety. In fact, when we begin to realize that we are working consistently on our project, even in such small daily steps. the anxiety vanishes! And the knowledge that we will be back to that project tomorrow, and the tomorrows after it, gives us a sense of control. Good bye procrastinator's anxiety!
So good for Jeff for sharing the Slight Edge approach. it IS is a life saver!
