The Procrastination Equation: How To Stop Putting Things Off And Start Getting Stuff Done (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
Sigh. The opening chapters on the brain and how it works, how it programmed towards procrastination is very good, but could have been seriously condensed. Chapter 5 & 6 (Personal and Economic cost of procrastination) are annoying, unnecessary and overly long. I skimmed the end of chapter 6 because seriously, it's obvious information and had been covered in 5 and the beginning of 6 more than enough.I am cautiously hopeful that Steel will have *something* useful to say in the remaining 100 pages, but I am not betting on it.His premise that procrastination is not as frequently tied to perfectionism as we think/have been led to believe is interesting and I am considering his equation seriously. Chapter 7 begins by talking about the positives and negatives of optimism - very interesting construct about how finding the right balance of this quality is important, and how too much optimism aids in procrastination. This is making sense to me.Now deeper into "how to improve your skills to reduce procrastination" section, not bad, interesting ideas, but it's not sticking well - which may have to do with mostly reading this book before bed, but I suspect it is also due to the way Steel writes. I skimmed this book and thought it was moderately interesting. I have always been curious about procrastination because I am at heart a planner and only rarely procrastinate (but when I do, it's always in the same areas). It turns out that procrastination is about impulsivity. Things I get really impulsive about: not sticking to a diet (I.e. bingeing on chocolate or bingeing on coffee/caffeine), letting myself get ridiculously behind on laundry that needs to be hand washed, and not finishing art projects I've started. My take away from this book is that whenever I start to use reason to try to convince myself that it's ok to do one of the above, I just need to be aware that that voice is coming from a place of impulsivity, not logic. Also, I'm relying on my innate love of checking things off a list to move me in the right direction, i.e., towards positive goals.
What do You think about The Procrastination Equation: How To Stop Putting Things Off And Start Getting Stuff Done (2010)?
I'll have to report back on whether I manage to implement any of my learning from this book!
—sungbob
It was okay, and it helped me learn that I AM NOT A PROCRASTINATOR!!! :P
—mrlee
It's a very good book with very usefull advices.
—Lori
