Erin's Reviews > The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play

I don't think of myself as a huge procrastinator, but I think all of us are in some form or fashion. I'm messy. I'd rather read than do dishes right after I make dinner. I leave my shoes everywhere. I'm on Facebook too much. And I'm trying to streamline things that I do, make my life a little easier by getting on the ball. I think had interesting things to say as to why we procrastinate, and how to get around it. The most intriguing one is the Unschedule--you only get to "treat" yourself after you've done 30 minutes of uninterrupted work, and once you've done that work, put it on your calendar. So your calendar doesn't fill up with tasks you dread (11am--work on Jones report), but AFTER you've worked on the Jones report, you put it on your calendar, thereby a) giving yourself a tiny gold star, and b) being able to track how long it REALLY took to finish the Jones report. I think often I'm not honest about what I'm actually doing or how long that thing actually takes, and then the day just fritters away. I'd probably be amazed at how much or little time I spend on certain activities that could best be spent some other way. Seriously, if you could figure out how much actual, concentrated work you do a day (and shut up, it's not 8 straight hours daily) I think we'd be much more productive. I'm going to try out a few of these habits and see how they do for me.

However, I did try a simple habit last week of immediately doing something (dishes, putting away the shoes) as soon as I saw/thought about it, and it made me feel so much better! I didn't feel guilty about relaxing. Fiore is big on "guilt-free play", so schedule your time to get the annoying stuff out of the way first!