How to think and act rationally in spite of life’s inevitable hassles

The Overcoming Procrastination: Or How to Think and Act Rationally in Spite of Life’s Inevitable Hassles by Dr. Albert Ellis and Dr. William James Knoll is a good and practical step-by-step guide to getting rid of laziness and procrastination. Procrastination and laziness are something we all face every day. From a psychological point of view, laziness is a pervasive behavior that anyone can have. You may have a lot of work, but you refuse to do it for various reasons. Have you ever wondered what drives us to laziness? How can procrastination be avoided?

About the Overcoming Procrastination Book

To explain the value of this book, it is enough to know that one of its authors is Albert Ellis. He is one of the greatest American psychologists who has been influential in treating mental disorders. Ellis has done various works and research on human behaviors and cognition and won multiple prizes in psychology. But beyond that, We must pay attention to the value of the book’s content. This book clearly shows that procrastination is not a specific issue for certain classes of society. Anyone of any age and social status may be negligent. Students and apprentices may be more involved than the working class. This book will help you identify the underlying factors holding you back and see which ones work for you. Then you can try to solve these problems with the solutions mentioned in this book.

The headlines of the overcoming procrastination book

1. What Procrastination Means
2. Main Causes of Procrastination
3. A Rational Approach to Overcoming Procrastination
4. Overcoming Procrastination Resulting from Self-Downing
5. Overcoming Procrastination Resulting from Low Frustration Tolerance
6. Overcoming Procrastination Resulting from Hostility
7. Overcoming Other Emotional Problems Resulting in Procrastination
8. Behavioral Methods of Overcoming Procrastination
9. Emotive Methods of Overcoming Procrastination
10. Impediments to Overcoming Procrastination
11. Overcoming “Legitimate” Reasons for Procrastination
12. Verbatim Psychotherapy Session with a Procrastinator

What are the signs of procrastination?

• One of the reasons that can prevent us from doing the work is that we don’t need to do it now. It means that we would like to succeed in achieving our goals, but we tend to procrastinate because tasks are not necessary now.
• We refuse to do something without an apparent reason.
• We do things at the last minute and in a hurry.
• You are unconsciously procrastinating.
• You avoid planning your tasks.

Part of the introduction to the overcoming procrastination book

How many educated people are used to procrastination and leave their work from today to tomorrow? Who can answer that? No one! Surprisingly, no one has studied this scientifically, but 95% of people suffer from this disease.

Have you ever thought about this? As far as we know and our research on people, especially clinical psychology research, shows; this habit is prevalent in various societies. Not only scholars but also writers suffer from this disease. For example, many writers do not submit their manuscripts to editors on time. 

An example of procrastination

Job applicants rush to get the forms first and tell themselves that they will complete them very soon, but in the end, surprisingly, on the last day and maybe even in the last hour of the deadline, they adjust them or after the deadline has expired. Are sent to the desired company and never perhaps sent.

What are the reasons for these illogical behaviors? People suffer because of these behaviors. Who among us processes tax notices on time? Who shows up on time for their appointments?

The only person who reviewed this is “Paul. T. Rengenbach” who has authored and presented a book in this field called “Historical review of the causes of procrastination.” Although this research is interesting, it has not helped much to clarify the issue. Is this issue not worthy of attention? What has caused no one has gone to research it until today?

We have investigated this issue and will continue to do so because we believe this behavior stems from a type of illness. We consider it distasteful behavior and are aware of its unpleasant consequences. We don’t say its effects are visible in a person’s daily life. Maybe so. But its losses are ultimately essential and significant. In general, it is an ugly habit that every person should avoid as much as possible.

The first chapter of the psychology of procrastination book

What Procrastination Means

Procrastination means delaying and postponing to the future what we want to do. But everyone has opinions on this, and different people tell it differently.

1. You wish to do something, or at least agree to do it even though it intrinsically does not appeal to you, because you desire some favorable result that probably will ensue if you do this thing.
2. You decide to do i
3. You needlessly delay doing it. 
4. You observe the disadvantages or lack of advantages of delay.
5. You still postpone doing something you choose to do.
6. You berate yourself for procrastinating (or defend yourself against self-downing by rationalizing or pushing the project out of your mind). 
7. You continue to procrastinate
8. You finish the project barely on time by making a last-minute rush to complete it, or you spend it late or never finish it.
9. You feel uncomfortable about your lateness and berate yourself for your unnecessary delay.
10. You assure yourself that such procrastination will not happen again and that you really mean it this time!
11. Not too long afterward, you procrastinate again, especially if you have a complicated, challenging, and time-consuming project to complete.