How to Stop Ruining Your Life

In Tim Urban’s “How to Beat Procrastination” blog, he defines procrastination literally as “the action of ruining your life for no apparent reason.”  Although this article is entertaining and can be quite funny, the ultimate tone is serious.  Urban deduces some harsh consequences for the procrastinator “to become enslaved by a self-defeating, self-fulfilling prophecy” of continuing to do things that just don’t work and don’t help him or her to achieve his or her goals.  He likens the procrastinator to an addict; the person wants to change and plans to change, but just can’t.  Urban shares some very disturbing sentiments:  the things that must be done will be rushed, stressed and not done very well; and the things you really want to do will either be started and not finished or you will not even try to start. 

Urban wants to help us understand the pitfalls of procrastinating and what we can do to work towards beating procrastination.  He uses every day, easy to understand language to make sense of the road blocks and uses simple – but very explanatory – illustrations to help the reader visualize the path to beating distractions, as well as showing the temptations that can get you off track.  Urban gives everything that is a “player” in your life a name.    He gives down to earth steps and tips to follow in you quest to beat procrastination.

I find Urban’s article very insightful and helpful.  It is like a how to manual for the procrastinator “addict” in recovery.  The examples he gives of his own procrastination resonates very well with me.  I have done many of the same things time after time.  I have shared the same frustrations.  And I long for understanding and solutions to these problems in my life.  Urban has laid it all out for me and others with the immobilizing problem of procrastination.  Urban names all the players and places on the road – or roadblocks – to constructive work.  He discusses planning, how to go from a long list of scary tasks, to picking one, laying out the steps and finally how to work on them.  Lastly, he notes that you will need to build confidence so that you can keep making strides and reaching goals.

Urban makes procrastination easy to understand by giving everything a name and title.  The personifications are often humorous.  The major players in a person’s mind are the “Rational Decision Maker”, the “Instant Gratification Monkey”, and the “Panic Monster.”  The “Rational Decision Maker” thinks soundly and wants to make choices good for his or her future.  The “Instant Gratification Monkey” just wants to have fun, whether it is deserved or not.  The “Panic Monster” comes into play when a deadline is looming so close that the “Instant Gratification Monkey” runs off because he is so scared and the “Rational Decision Maker” hurriedly and frantically rushes to meet the deadline, often producing subpar work.

The places Urban describe layout how you can either procrastinate or how you can actually get work done.  In preparing to get work done, the first place you want to go is the “The Critical Entrance,” which is where you get started working.  This can often be the hardest part.  “The Dark Woods” is where the job gets done.  It isn’t usually fun:  it is where the hard working is done.  The “Tipping Point” is where the end is in sight and the work doesn’t seem quite so bad.  Sometimes, you will get into a thing called “Flow”, where you are so into the work that you may lose track of time.  Urban says that this is often where the best work is done.  All of this is wonderful and if you work according to plan, you get to hang out and have fun in “The Happy Playground.”  Unfortunately, it is easy to get sidetracked by procrastination.  Urban describes “The Dark Playground” as the place you waste time with “guilty, unearned leisure.”  Many times, the procrastinator spends time before and during the work time, wasting time and possibly interrupting the possibility of having “Flow.”

The first issue Urban tackles with procrastination is planning.  He notes that the procrastinator loves planning.  But the procrastinator often plans things in vague, long lists that seem “icky” and unattainable.  Urban notes that a more effective tactic is to make a list and pick one thing that is the most important, find out what steps need to be taken to accomplish that task, therefore making the task “un-icky”, and a reachable goal.  Urban has a great metaphor for getting any great accomplishment done.  He tells how a house is built brick by brick.  In the same way, you or I can accomplish almost anything by doing one single thing at a time to reach a large goal. 

Urban tells us that in order to believe in yourself, you need to have some accomplishments.  In order to start having accomplishments, you need to build your confidence.  Urban notes three main ways to build your confidence so that you can start winning.  The first is to realize that your actions and choices affect your outcomes.  The second is to set yourself up for success by holding yourself accountable and possibly setting up your own “Panic Monsters”.  The last is to realize that slow and steady work can lead to large successes.

In summary, Urban is very insightful on how procrastination works, the obstacles involved, and gives some real life solutions to help us all.  With procrastination holding so many people back in their lives, I suggest that everyone read this article.  When someone realizes that almost anything is possible in their lives, it can lead to true change for that person, their family and possibly effecting the whole community, nation or world.

    

Works Cited

Urban, Tim. "How to Beat Procrastination." Wait But Why, waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html. Accessed 21 Sept. 2016.