sciously recognized or admitted this to yourself, but you know it deep
down, and this knowledge is manifesting itself in strong aversion.
Gather the information you need. Look at the job as a series
of smaller tasks that aren’t as intimidating. If all else fails, read
the directions (a desperate last resort for many of us). Then plunge
into the task.
Learn to discern between the legitimate need to gather infor-
mation and a stalling mechanism whereby reading the book or
going to talk to the guy at the hardware store is simply a way to put
off confronting the job. If your problem is “lack of desire” rather
than lack of information, you’ll need a different strategy, namely,
what to do when...
reason 5. You Just plain Don’t Want to!
On a preference scale of 1 to 10, giving Rover his flea bath rates
a minus 2.
It isn’t merely unpleasant. It isn’t just disgusting. It’s downright
dangerous. Rover does not like his flea bath. Last time you tried
this little experiment in torture, you wound up scratched, Rover
was traumatized, and the bathroom looked like a tidal wave had
hit it.
The fleas are back. Rover is scratching. If you don’t do some-
thing—and fast—you’ll have fleas all over the house.
You’ve got two choices, and you don’t need a book on time
management to tell you what they are:
1. Gut it out, or- Farm it out.
Get on the old raincoat, put a tarp down around the tub, and pop
Rover into the suds. Or make an appointment with your friendly
neighborhood dog groomer.
P R O C R A S T I N AT I O N