#236 in Books
Use arrows to jump to the previous/next product

Reddit mentions of The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play

Sentiment score: 33
Reddit mentions: 61

We found 61 Reddit mentions of The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play. Here are the top ones.

The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
Buying options
View on Amazon.com
or
The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-free Play
Specs:
ColorWhite
Height8.27 Inches
Length5.5 Inches
Number of items1
Release dateApril 2007
Weight0.44 Pounds
Width0.61 Inches

idea-bulb Interested in what Redditors like? Check out our Shuffle feature

Shuffle: random products popular on Reddit

Found 61 comments on The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play:

u/[deleted] · 59 pointsr/GetMotivated

Congratulations: you've found one of the limits of the English language, but it actually makes perfect sense when you realize that you're using the same word for two separate concepts.

You're afraid of failure in that (presumably) you are afraid that you personally will be inadequate (or create something inadequate, which means that you derive your self-worth from the quality of your work. Don't do that, jackass.), and as such, you postpone the work so that you never have to find out whether or not you are "good enough". People make mistakes (all of the fucking time), so there's no reason to value yourself this way.

The "failure" that you are maximizing your chances for is not the same short-term failure, but a much more permanent and related to your aspirations.

"Doing poor work." vs "Not reaching your goals."

Disclaimer: I'm probably projecting. Maybe you're scared shitless of being an Assistant Manager at Best Buy forever. I am, too, but I'm much more overwhelmed by the thought of doing "inferior" work.

EDIT: I've been working all day, but stay tuned for an update on this tonight.

EDIT 2: I'm getting some recognition right here, and that's not quite right. I pretty much just paraphrased the first couple dozen pages of the book The Now Habit by Dr. Neil Fiore. While I won't say that it will change your life, because only you can do that with work and motivation, it will help you identify why you feel unmotivated and why you procrastinate, and it gives you plenty of practical tools to beat these self-destructive tendencies. I was skeptical at first because after you identify why you procrastinate it becomes an instruction manual instead of a "philosophy of motivation" book, but I was able to use these tools to change my life in a great way.

Personally, I used The Now Habit, habitrpg.com, a webnanny extension for Google, and a few other accountability methods to "fix" my problems, but they ended up working. I still use all of these things, but I find that on days where I do disregard them I am still able to be productive, behaving as I would on any other day. I can NOT recommend a book any more than this one, but again, it won't change you if you aren't making an active effort to change yourself. I don't think that any one resource can change you, instead you change who you are using several of them. I used to think that people who keep their work space full of motivational quotes and posters were somewhat pathetic, but now I realize that these are some of the wisest people there are. They know what keeps them working hard and they surround themselves with it.

EDIT 3: You shouldn't derive your worth from the quality of your work because it's impossible to qualify and quantify your work. Is your job the only thing worth considering here? Your hobbies and side projects? What about your ability to inspire? How about how good of a role model you are? If your logic is simply anything that you contribute to society fits into the category of "things that determine your self-worth" then it's stupid to even think about what you're "worth" because of the limitless contributions that you make without realizing. A bystander might have watched you throw away some litter today and been inspired to eventually create a method of turning pollution into weather balloon fuel. You only see the tip of the iceberg. If I were putting together a team for a project, I'd much rather have the idiot who will work his hardest than the "unmotivated genius". Such geniuses are carry nearly no "value" if you're looking at work as the arbiter of value.

This doesn't even touch on the fact that there's no reason to have self-worth. Implying that you are worth X implies that others are worth W and Y. It's narcissistic to think that you're better than someone, even if you think that there are way more people that are better than you. In all reality, no one is "worth" more than anyone, and you shouldn't think that way. This train of thought has no reward and plenty of punishment. If you must value yourself and others, value based on effort applied on quality and improvement, not on the quality itself. "Not being perfect proves that you are perfectly human."

Sorry if there's shitty grammar, poorly explained thoughts, or ideas that aren't fully fleshed-out. It's been a long day and I'm way too tired, but I really wanted to give a little more to the people who were responding. Mostly, the recommendation of The Now Habit.

u/Brudaks · 28 pointsr/GetMotivated

It's generally accepted that CBT or, to a lesser (but self-manageable) extent, mindfulness meditation are things that are known to work for such problems.

For certain causes of stress, books like https://www.amazon.com/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-Guilt-Free/dp/1585425524 or https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Instinct-Self-Control-Works-Matters-ebook/dp/B005ERIRZE might be helpful, but YMMW; it helps some but for many (most?) people reading self-help books aren't sufficient to do anything and actual activities (CBT, meditation or possibly others) have a larger chance to help.

u/kapone3047 · 25 pointsr/Anxiety

Procrastination is more often than not, the result of anxiety.

Check out The Now Habit, I pirated (and later bought) it thinking it was a productivity and habit building book, and was then pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be largely about how anxiety keeps us from getting things done, and gives very clear strategies to manage it.

This would easily be in my top 5 (if not top 3) books on anxiety.

u/m4rauder · 12 pointsr/askscience

Beyond value or pleasure-seeking, one further root cause of procrastination behavior is caused by fear and pain-avoidance as described in "The Now Habit" by Fiore:

http://www.amazon.com/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-Guilt-Free/dp/1585425524/

For example, a difficult task that seems ambiguous or daunting to begin might cause one to avoid starting altogether for fear of moving in the wrong direction (and fear of failure).

u/queenpersephone · 11 pointsr/GetMotivated

You'll notice that this is not a usual "to do" list in a few ways:

u/declancostello · 9 pointsr/GetMotivated

Personally, I find that I don't get things done because I'm scared of not doing them well.

I worry about what other people will think of my efforts and so I prefer to procrastinate, rather than actually make any progress.


>The only way to get good at something is practise

Try starting a journal, even if it's only for a few days and record everything.

If you can identify what kind of feeling you were having when you avoided doing something, maybe you can change something to avoid that feeling.

It's a good idea to record every activity for a few days and even what you eat, just to see where your time goes and if there are patterns that trip you up.


  • if you go out to eat do you end up spending the day browsing shops and not doing anything?
  • if you're home alone in your pyjamas after noon does that mean you never get it together for the rest of the day?


    And don't ever be ashamed of not getting stuff done.
    Procrastination is a technique your brain uses to avoid stress.
    The problem is that avoiding problems almost never takes away the root source of the stress.

    So it keeps on coming around and you keep on using procrastination to avoid getting stuff done ( it's super effective!)

    I'd recommend the book "The Now Habit" by Neil Fiore.

    In particular it has a great analogy for getting things done.

    Imagine that your task is to walk along a wooden plank about 15cm wide. It's on your lawn and it's about 4 metres long.

    As long as you've got decent motor skills and are not drunk it should be no problem, we could all do it.

    What happens to you is when you want to walk on the plank you find that it's now between 2 buildings, 4 storeys up.

    The idea of walking across becomes terrifying, all you can imagine is falling to your doom.

    When people give you advice to "get yourself together" and "just do it" they're doing the equivalent of setting fire to the building you're in.
    They're hoping to force you out onto that plank so you can save yourself from burning.

    You might crawl out and even make it across with this approach but does it sound like a good way to reduce stress?

    Instead what you need is a safety net. A super strong net underneath the plank that means that whatever happens, you'll be safe.

    You can fall over and over again ( it might even be fun ) and just get back up and try again.

    In the real world you need small winnable challenges. Record every one of those wins.


  • washed the plates
  • opened word and typed title for paper due next week


    Create a book of win that will have tiny tiny victories. By the time you've added a few you'll find that your victories and goals achieved will get bigger and more frequent.
    Sometimes you'll screw up and fall back into bad habits


    As long as you keep starting, you'll eventually win.



    I've been reading advice like this for a decade and I still sometimes sit at home and cry because I didn't get anything done.

    The one piece of advice I recommend for everyone. everyone. is to get some exercise. The worst feeling I've ever had cannot outlast a single hour in the pool or a martial arts session.

    If you get up in the morning and don't know what to do, go for a walk.

    You might still not know what to do after your walk but you'll have a small achievement to write down in your journal for the day.

    Enjoy yourself :) Hope this helps a little, pm if you want to chat.
u/k4kuz0 · 9 pointsr/getdisciplined

From a great book I read called "The Now Habit", the author talks at length at one point about how procrastination is in large part a fear of failure. We're so scared of doing something poorly that we often put it off and don't do it at all. (there's more to it than that, but my main point is the next part):

In that sense, one of the scariest things about a large project, or assignment, is that we look at it as one huge CHUNK of shit to do. We think about "I need to finish this assignment" or "I should have completed my homework by now" and what not. This causes our mind to almost shut down and simply refuse to go on. You think about this multitude of SHIT you have to start, and you can't handle it, and thus procrastinate.

In order to avoid this from happening, a great thing to do can be to break everything you need to do down into small steps. The author of the book I mentioned writes at length about how one should always aim to "start" something, rather than to finish. If you say "I want to finish this essay today" you are giving yourself a huge expectation you may not be able to accomplish. Even if you have only the conclusion to do, you should "start" on your first sentence of that conclusion. Even if you have 2 sentences left to write, you "start" on that last sentence.

If you have a huge load of math assignments, a lot of reading and stuff to do, think less about "finishing" and more about "starting".

Saying to yourself "I will start this chapter" will sound a lot better and more reasonable to a pressured mind than. "I must finish this book today".

An amazon link to the book can be found here, if you decide you would like to read it:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination/dp/1585425524/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414962337&sr=8-1&keywords=the+now+habit

I bashed this answer out quite fast, if there's anything you'd like to ask me, or to elaborate on, just say.

u/machuu · 8 pointsr/ADD

First of all, you need a plan. ADDers require a lot more structure than others, so you need a system of organizing tasks/time management that you think you can work with.

Second, medication. If you aren't diagnosed, see a psychiatrist and get diagnosed (make sure it's a psychiatrist, psychologists can't prescribe meds). If you are diagnosed, go see a doctor and talk about what meds are available. Medication will help you stick to the plan, and stay on task long enough to complete what you're working on.

Third, get a "Coach". This is a person who will keep you accountable. It can be a friend/co-worker/parent/spouse/whatever. Their job is to check in with you for a few minutes each day/two days/week and keep you on track. All they need to do is cover 4 topics, with the acronym H.O.P.E

H - Help, What do you need help with?
O - Obligations, What obligations do you have in the near future?
P - Plan, What is your plan to meet your obligations?
E - Encouragement, You're doing a good job!

I'd recommend some reading too.
Books that have really helped me are:
Driven to Distraction - Gives a thorough explanation of what ADD/ADHD is and isn't.
The Now Habit - Gives a really good plan to work through procrastination, but most importantly to deal with the guilt and anxiety that go along with it.
These are available in audiobook too. I find it easier to listen while driving/running/waiting in line/etc than to force myself to sit and read.

There are lots of resources to help, and your psychiatrist can answer a lot of your questions too.

Hope this helps :)

u/mkaito · 7 pointsr/getdisciplined

The solution to your problems is quite simple: make a list of things that you need/want to do, then just fucking do it. Yep, there, I said it. I know it sounds harsh. But after years of reading, researching, and experimenting, I've found that precisely this is what it all boils down to: just. fucking. do. it. We end up building all kinds of mental scaffolds around the concept, with tricks and rewards and what not, but it all boils down to the same in the end.

Having a system in place to help you "just fucking doing it" can help tremendously, especially in the beginning. If you're willing to put in some time to work through them, I recommend The Now Habit, and Getting Things Done. Each of these books presents a different approach to productivity. You don't have to implement either system verbatim. Learn from them, try out things that sound interesting, and over time, build your own system.

Building and sticking to your system is a habit you will have to build. If that kind of thing is hard and/or interesting for you, please read The Power of Habit.

Don't just read them once and put them away. Read them, then take notes, then go over them again, and refer back to them every time you find something is lacking in your system. Don't read them cover to cover. They're quite long, and drag their feet through some sections. Skim them, check the index, and read through what sounds interesting, then go back and fill in the gaps if necessary.

u/chargeorge · 5 pointsr/programming

I mentioned this in another comment, but I suggest this book, http://www.amazon.com/The-Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination/dp/1585425524

While not perfect, the authors strategies worked for me when nothing else seemed to. After falling into a major anxiety and depression spiral I finally feel better work after employing about half of the ideas in this book.

u/cyanocobalamin · 5 pointsr/AskMenOver30

Learn how for yourself, read these two books.

  1. How To Get Control Of Your Time And Your Life

  2. The Now Habit

    You will learn how to manage your time and your emotions in regards to time management( really life management ).
u/eli5taway · 4 pointsr/getdisciplined

Go read The Now Habit by Fiore.
Come back when you've finished it.

It's going to tell you why you're procrastinating.

https://www.amazon.com/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-Guilt-Free/dp/1585425524

u/sciencewarrior · 4 pointsr/ADHD

One thing I learned reading The Now Habit, that may apply to your situation, is that our internal dialogue is crucial. When you tell yourself you have to prep for the next D&D session because you'll otherwise disappoint the players, you create resistance. It's like an external force trying to push you, and your own emotional self pushes back. You drag your heels. You procrastinate.

If instead you turn the situation around and tell yourself that you want to prep because that will lead to a few hours of doing something that you really like, then the force comes from inside. It doesn't meet resistance. You can even become so absorbed that the act of prepping itself becomes pleasurable.

Now, one of the traits of ADHD is that it makes it harder to envision that desirable future. Harder, but not impossible. You can exercise this deliberately, like an underdeveloped muscle. I am working with a behavioral coach to help me with this, but you can find resources to do it on your own if you prefer. Either way, I definitely recomend that book I mentioned, even if it isn't specific to ADHD.

u/kinkade · 4 pointsr/getdisciplined

Look, everyone is right that it's easy to fall into the trap of procrastinating by trying to learn how not to procrastinate but the truth is that it can also be helpful to learn some practical techniques.

I would suggest The Now Habit by Neil Fiore

u/FakeShark · 3 pointsr/IWantToLearn

If you're using chrome, download "Strict Pomodoro" and start using that. Do four chunks of 25 minute work then take a break. You click the timer and it'll start counting down those 25 minutes and lock out pages like facebook and reddit. There's also pomodroido if you have an android device.

At some point, read "the pomodoro technique" as Heykidcatch recommended.

Get on amazon and order a copy of The Now Habit (that's the UK site btw). I've read a couple of chapters and its very good.

For now though, focus on getting started. Clear your desk, think about what is the one thing you really need to do, get out what you need to do it and think about one place you could start. Now you're ready to hit that timer button and start working. Don't do anything but work until the 25 minutes are up.

Also, forget about reddit for now. Come back and check your post in a few hours when lots of people will have replied.

u/travistee · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

A few books have changed my life. Most directly these two:
The Now Habit and Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

On a personal level of how I view the world Man's Search for Meaning by Vikto Frankl and The Moral Animal: Why We Are, the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology have helped me to understand the people in the world around me.

Spiritually, Siddhartha and the Book of John in the New Testament have helped me to be a better human being.


u/whambamthankyoumam · 3 pointsr/LifeProTips

Try reading this book too - Now Habit. It is pretty good for procrastinators.

u/justgoodenough · 3 pointsr/writing

Tl;dr: Yes, everything you are thinking is bullshit that your brain is coming up with to protect you from your fear of not being good at what you are doing.

Yes, anxiety is the root of a lot of procrastination. I also have anxiety about perfectionism and it's quite paralyzing. And quite common. People seem to be saying, "Just write something, who cares if it's bad or wrong? Just do it!" which is not actually super helpful. The problem with a lot of perfectionists is that they feel as though the quality of their work is a reflection of who they are as a person. If your work is bad, that means you are bad or stupid. It means every decision you made in life that got you to this point was wrong because you're terrible and you will never be good at anything and you have wasted your life by not doing something better. And everyone will see that you are stupid and terrible and they will hate you and pity you.

And that's pretty bad, so our brain decides that if we don't do any work at all, we will never have to really confront how terrible we truly are.

This is, unfortunately, wrong. Because if we do the work we will actually realize that we are not as terrible as we thought were are or that being bad doesn't have the dire consequences we thought it did.

You mentioned that you can't afford to do poorly because you'll get a bad grade. What you are doing is catastrophizing. You're saying, "if I write something for this class, it will end up bad, and I'll get a bad grade, and then I'll fail, and then my GPA will sink, and I'll never get a job, etc." Truthfully, the worst thing you could do for your grade is not write anything at all, so even something bad is better than nothing. Also, you are in a class. You don't have to be great at writing. If you were already great at it, you wouldn't need the class. It's okay to have room for improvement.

So I think we can all agree that the best course of action would be for you to write something. So how do you get over the procrastination hurdle?

  1. Stop telling yourself "I should write" and start saying, "I want to write." You do want to write, that's why you're here. That's why you're in that class. You want to learn how to write, so own up to the fact that this is a choice you had made and it's something you want. Literally say it out loud to yourself.

  2. Choose a time to do it and at that time, actually say out loud to yourself, "I get to work on my writing now." I know this sounds like kooky bullshit, but there is actually psychology behind this. When you say that you should do or you have to do something, the brain perceives it as a punishment and wants to avoid it. If you think of it as a positive choice or a want, then you are less likely to dread it.

  3. Consider breaking it into smaller chunks. I find that getting started is the hardest part, so for me, if I tell myself "I am just going to write one paragraph, and that's enough" once I am done with that, I am typically more excited about continuing. I do this with the gym too. I tell myself "I'm just going to walk there and exercise for 20 minutes and then come home" and by the time I'm there and going, staying longer doesn't feel like a huge hurdle.

    This book is good for helping understand procrastination. I don't do any of the exercises or things he suggests, but it helped me reframe some of my thinking about why I procrastinate.
u/hagbardgroup · 3 pointsr/Entrepreneur

Target 40 hours with the rest dedicated to exercise, non-work writing, non-work reading, and non-work socializing.

I've tried the other way, and this way helps me be more productive.

Keep in mind that how physically healthy and attractive that you look as outsized impacts on how people react to you in sales and business development situations. People who put in 'hero' 80 hour weeks months on end usually suffer badly in the health department. Few businesses can really be run by just one person. That's why you hire other people.

Good books on this:

  • E-Myth Revisted -- on how overwork causes most small businesses to fail

  • The Now Habit -- book by a psychologist about how to schedule off-time to decrease procrastination
u/kylerk · 3 pointsr/getdisciplined

That 32 hour number sounds really close to the amount of time that I feel best at.

As for how I track time, I've gone through lots of variants, the last being inspired by a really great book call "The Now Habit" and the system called the Unschedule.

It's basically just a table that represents your week, but most importantly you only schedule stuff you have to do like eat and sleep, and fun stuff. You then fill the empty remaining space with work as you do it.

In the books it's assumed that you do it on paper, I do it on my galaxy note phone with the stylus. I color code everything. Here is an example.

I would highly recommend the book and figure out your own ways to implement it. I like using my phone stylus because it is fast, always on me, and easy to edit.

u/movzx · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

This book is supposed to be great for overcoming procrastination.

http://www.amazon.com/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-Guilt-Free/dp/1585425524

My problem is that I procrastinate reading it. =/

u/redditacct · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

google for "unschedule" and
http://www.amazon.com/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-Guilt-Free/dp/1585425524

This guy allegedly helped PhD students at Berkeley (?) to be able to move forward when they got stuck working on their thesis.

Also use positive reinforcement behavioral training on yourself - if there are other things outside of your list that you like doing, then if you go to class and stay awake or stay of reddit and /. for a half day, treat yourself.

To save time on the "save the articles for later perusal" I use Opera, set reddit to open new stories in a new tab, then save the 25 or more tabs using the Opera File->sessions->"Save this Session" I number them consecutively and I am at 450 or so. I never go back to them either. But I don't waste time bookmarking or saving pages otherwise.

The hair thing sounds a bit worrisome if you are a dude.

u/cathalmc · 3 pointsr/TrueReddit

This sounds like a really short summary of The Now Habit by Neil Fiore. It's very much in the vein of a standard American self-help book, but contains many enlightening observations about how and why we procrastinate, and practical tips for avoiding the behaviour without getting bogged down with guilt about all the time we waste.

u/PrinnySquad271 · 3 pointsr/getdisciplined

CHeck the book the Now Habit by Neil Fiore. I think he was the pioneer in driving this understanding of procrastination. http://www.amazon.com/The-Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination/dp/1585425524

u/0hypothesis · 3 pointsr/INTP

I recommend two books for a start:

The Now Habit for dealing with Procrastination.

Getting Things Done to deal with time management.

Both books helped me as they both have useful strategies that I use every day.

u/likebuttermilk · 3 pointsr/TrueReddit

I know for me growing up, I was constantly "not wanting to do something just because I [wasn't] interested." No amount of threatening, bribing, waiting, removing the opportunity was going to change that. It wasn't about the thing at all, it was about asserting power/control over my young life. I think especially as a "gifted" child this is especially psychically important.

As an adult, I've recently been reading The Now Habit and I was actually wondering how I would have received those ideas as a child (maybe especially personally funny to me since in elementary school I used to like reading any self-help/child-rearing books my parents had around the house anyway) or if you would be able to use the ideas to actually motivate an under-performing child.

It is sad to look back and wonder what you could have been done if you'd felt free to do it.

u/rolfr · 2 pointsr/getdisciplined

It sounds like you are on a road to burn-out. I've crossed the precipice and fallen into that abyss many times. At 31, I finally have some real insights on this subject.

The transition from student to professional can be daunting, and particularly so when you enter into an arrangement that resembles being a student -- i.e., working from home, especially in a research capacity. All of those old pressures come back -- you end up having the same lifestyle/problems as a professional that you did as a student. If you don't develop any better stress and time management mechanisms than you did back then, there's no reason to expect that the outcome will be better or different. Online jobs are especially bad for procrastinators, especially since Web 2.0 and its explicit focus on distracting you.

It sounds like you are employing avoidance as an anxiety-abeyance strategy against the rising tide of work, which never seems to wane no matter how much you work. Then you feel like you are always busy, always behind, always need to be working -- even if you instead spend your time procrastinating, online shopping, etc.

Making endless to-do lists and schedules is another penchant of the avoidant-obsessive personality type. The problem is that the schedules themselves become a visual manifestation of your anxiety, hence you tend to avoid them too, and end up feeling worse.

It might be beneficial for you to go to the office more often, to feel more viscerally-connected to your work and your colleagues. Perhaps you'll find the millieu motivating -- perhaps this is the solution to your problems. But maybe not, because as someone with these tendencies who has worked in an office building, I can tell you that it's just as easy to feel buried in that situation.

The resentment in your relationships, caused by not spending time with them owing to a sense of dread over work un-done, is just going to get worse and result in those relationships withering and dying. I would recommend taking a notebook to the park and trying to understand the root of your work-related issues. It won't happen immediately -- you'll have to devote time to it regularly in order to develop the sort of self-psychoanalytical facilities that allow you to view your self from a detached perspective. Once you figure them out, explain them to your friends and family, so that they might gain a sense that your absence from socializing with them is not personal.

As for how I've dealt with these issues:

  • Have a morning ritual to get you ready to go. Although it's obvious, I find that waking up, eating something, showering, brushing my teeth, using mouth rinse, and washing my face brings me from a drowsy, non-alert state to fully on-line and ready to go.

  • Exercise! Every god damned day. No excuses. It provides me with the clarity of mind and energy necessary to approach my work.

  • As you mentioned, sleep is absolutely critical. I try to get up at 8:30 or earlier every day, so that I can put in productive time, and actually feel good about what I have done at the end of the day -- good enough that I don't feel guilty about doing non-work-related things.

  • The book Getting Things Done has a lot of good advice for organization. In particular, write down everything that you need to do in every area of your life, and have it on a piece of paper in a file folder. When it's written down, it's not in your brain floating around causing you anxiety. Make sure your to-do lists are task-oriented and not goal-oriented. For example, "cure cancer" is a goal, not a task. "Read XYZ paper on cancer research" is a task, not a goal. Write each task on its own piece of paper so that you can consider them in isolation without getting overwhelmed by the totality of the work.

  • Keep daily progress reports. Writing down something on a paper that says "DONE" at the top of it lends visceral satisfaction to progress.

  • I find it helpful to regularly re-frame my work. I.e., rather than just having a to-do list of actionable items, I devote some time every day to writing down where I am within a project, where I want to go with the project, and the steps I can take that will get me closest to it.

  • If it is possible for me to work on something off-line (i.e. if I am editing a document, programming, doing mathematics or whatever) I often disconnect my internet connection. If I need to look something up, I either do it on my phone or plug in my internet connection temporarily. Perhaps that isn't an option in your case.

  • If you struggle with getting started on your work, focus on that specifically. Don't spend an hour repeatedly checking Facebook and reddit. Do it once, and then find a way to get your head into your work. Perhaps by reviewing the work you did yesterday, reading your to-do actions, or taking a walk. I like to go to the park with a print-out of yesterday's progress report and my to-do list.

  • Take breaks during the day. Some people like the Pomodoro technique. I tend to work for about two hours at a time, before my eyes start glazing over, at which point I go for a walk around the neighborhood, take care of chores around the house, etc. Anything to take your mind off of work for a bit -- and resist the urge to let your mind wander back until you sit down to work again.

  • Take dedicated time off. When 5/6PM rolls around, you are done for the day. Stop thinking about work. Don't do any work at all on the weekends. Eventually, you will re-frame your thinking so that you come to think that a particular block of hours is dedicated to working, and the rest of life is yours to do as you please. This mindframe itself is beneficial to productivity: given that I only have N hours to work, I certainly want to make the most of them so that I am less buried tomorrow, and can enjoy life even more tomorrow.

  • Don't discount circumstantial factors -- in your introduction story, surely the stress of being in a different country apart from your loved ones was detrimental to your mental state. We like to think that we should be infallible, but circumstances can definitely affect your mood and productivity. For me, I find that keeping my apartment clean (spotless, in fact) is very important. When there is miscellaneous stuff strewn about in my perihperal vision, it leads to anxiety. It makes me view the world as homeostatic, which is not what I need when I need things to change (i.e. the amount of things on my to-do list).

  • If you drink alcohol, it will affect you the next day. Keep it limited to two drinks except for special occasions and the weekend.

    You might benefit from books on personal psychology. I found Too Perfect excellent and insightful. The NOW Habit had some useful advice in it as well.
u/popheart · 2 pointsr/raisedbynarcissists

There's an awesome book you should read call 'The Now Habit' by 'Neil Fiore'. It goes through all the insecurities and psychological barriers that stop you from taking action on stuff; it really helped me understand the reasons behind some of my more unhelpful behaviours.

Here's some notes someone did if you want to get an overview. :)

u/cpplinuxdude · 2 pointsr/Entrepreneur

> I think you need to understand more about what procrastination is.

Well actually in the Now Habit by Neil Fiore Phd, the author explains how procrastination is due to picturing yourself finishing a task, as opposed to starting it. It blows the amount of work out of proportion, and it's more comfortable to offset the task than having to deal with it.

This is why procrastinatr asks you for a few basic steps and a time estimate: it tricks the brain into believe that it's starting with the task.

Secondly the reward mechanism is based on an excellent book called the power of habit by Charles Duhigg, which explains the 'cue, habit, system' loop, which is exactly what procrastinatr tries to exploit.

Thanks for your input nonetheless, still taking it on board.

u/ToonTheShed · 2 pointsr/pornfree

This guys blog has helped me a ton! Arguably as much as /r/NoFap and /r/pornfree. Other great reads are The Demise of Guys ebook and I'm currently reading The Now Habit. I'm only like 1/8th of the way through TNH and I can tell you that it will for sure change the way you look at doing work and maintaining habits. Bold & Determined blog is good because it's just a no bullshit "grab your fuckin nuts and be it" kind of blog. Also the guy in that video Greg Plitt unfortunately died 3 days ago so RIP

u/davidrcollins · 2 pointsr/getdisciplined

Read the Now Habit by Neil Fiore. You will thank me later if you do.

u/dwtebriel · 2 pointsr/pornfree

You may also be dealing with procrastination as well. I'd definitely recommend checking out The Now Habit. It's a pretty short book to help with it.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination/dp/1585425524

u/disso · 2 pointsr/gaming

I just started reading The Now Habit so I don't know if it really works, but it seems highly recommended on Reddit and Amazon.

u/ucstruct · 2 pointsr/GradSchool

A lot of times procrastination is a sign of a deeper symptom - wanting to be perfect and tying your self worth into it. A lot of times, people (including myself) will put off anything that might threaten this view that we have of ourselves as perfect because failing threatens our self worth. It kind of goes like this.

  1. Have project with deadline

  2. Pressure builds, you put it off because if it doesn't work out, you're not to blame right? You never really gave it your best shot.

  3. More pressure, deadline comes putting a fire under your ass to get it done.

  4. Its completed, maybe not 100%, but its good enough and hey, if I really had tried, it would have been spectacular.

  5. Success from the previous round means more work. Promise of more work and more chances to fail only lower motivation. You feel shittier and the cycle continues.

    I think this is extremely common. So how do you break out of it? Its not easy, but you have take steps to detach yourself from this constant perfect vision of yourself and just be willing to do the work to a level below perfect, but do it consistently. Have a huge paper? Just write an outline with some good not great paragraphs and add to it later. Huge project? Get a small step of it done. Success and feeling successful isn't about "winning" or being perfect, its about steady, small bits of production.

    A good book is The Now Habit, that helped me with some of these feelings.
u/interestedurbanist · 1 pointr/productivity

yep, it's great. so is The Now Habit by Neil Fiore. i return to both books a few times per year.

u/KnitAJesso · 1 pointr/Random_Acts_Of_Amazon

I'm late to the party, because I missed the original thread, but this book has been helping me a lot.

Also, HabitRPG helps me with things I need to do daily/regularly, and with to-do lists. You get XP for completing tasks, and lose HP for putting them off too long.

u/o0o · 1 pointr/INTP

I was recommended this book some time ago; I might need to read it again. :)

http://www.amazon.com/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-Guilt-Free/dp/1585425524

u/erokar · 1 pointr/AskReddit

I recommend The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play. Sensible explanation of the underlying problem, practical exercises.

u/glasspenguin · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Get The Now Habit by Neal Fiore. Every procrastinator should read it. The techniques in that book helped me to have fun and get stuff done.

I found this book to be so helpful that I've recommended it lots and lots, and have bought numerous copies for friends.

u/littlegermany · 1 pointr/de

Zu 3: Neil Fiore - The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play. Ich weiß leider nicht, obs das auf Deutsch gibt, aber es ist auf Englisch recht einfach zu lesen. Der geht das recht systematisch an. Witzigerweise darfst du erstmal ~2 Wochen weitermachen, aber dabei "Buch führen". Immer dann, wenn du dich bei Aufschieberitis ertappst, dann schreibst du das in eine Liste. Wann? Welche Aufgabe? Wovor hast du Angst? etc...

Ich fands gut; es ist wirklich eine strategische Rangehensweise. Als letzten Witz: Kauft sich einer ein Buch über Prokrastination und liest es dann nicht. Man kann gut mit dem Buch arbeiten, das Ergebnis fällt aber nicht vom Himmel :)

Zu 1): Streich dir nicht selber die Geldquelle. Nie. Jetzt biste Prokrastinator mit wenig Geld, danach biste Prokrastinator ohne Geld. Letzteres sind noch trübere Aussichten; deinem Selbstwertgefühl wird das bestimmt keinen Boost geben!

Und bleib bei deiner kleinen Liste mit den Tageszielen! Das ist eine sehr gute Idee und die Bewältigung gelingt dir anscheinend auch. Kein Scheiss - ich find das Klasse!

u/InevitableSuccess · 1 pointr/GetMotivated

Check out the book The Now Habit.

In the book, he goes deeply into the reasons we procrastinate. A major point is that you always procrastinate for a reason. We procrastinate instead of working because we get a reward from procrastination. Sometimes that reward is relief from anxiety about fear of failure, for example. So in order to stop procrastinating, it's really helpful to emphasize the rewards of doing work. For example, when I sit down to work on my thesis, I say to myself, "I choose to work on my thesis for 30 minutes because every time I work on my thesis, I get a little closer to realizing my dreams of getting a PhD and an amazing job. Besides, I enjoy being productive and accomplishing things."

It's really important to emphasize the positives and eliminate the negatives of doing work. Best of luck!

u/oujea · 1 pointr/IWantToLearn

The Now Habit try reading this, it teaches you how to motivate yourself and not procrastinate.

u/njjc · 1 pointr/trees

Hey frient,

I have the same problem. I think every human does; the difference with the people you see specialized in one thing is that they had a certain impetus when the going got rough, when they hit the inevitable plateau where the learning process slows.

This is difficult but not impossible to learn to get passed. Find your passion and set goals. If it's weed, learn to do other things than smoke it: bake, grow, work in a dispensary, improve joint rolling skills. Set big goals with intermediary small goals so you don't lose motivation. Abandon goals you care less about or have been languishing over for years.

I recently read an amazing book on the subject of procrastination, The Now Habit. I "highly" recommend it. Much of life is a game you play with your mind. Paying attention to your thoughts and how you mentally deal with situations throughout your day is the secret to improving your life.

Good luck to all my fellow Ents out there.

u/T-Bills · 1 pointr/LifeProTips

You meant "how do I stop procrastinating".

Actually LPT for you - check this out from Amazon or your local library. This book outlines why people procrastinate, how people do it, makes you become aware of your habits, and some tips on how to resolve that problem. Personally I like this book over other "5 tricks to get things done etc." since it actually digs into the roots.

https://www.amazon.com/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-Guilt-Free/dp/1585425524

u/Bill_Kuzzington · 1 pointr/AskReddit

This is exactly what The Now Habit covers

u/tekmon · 1 pointr/stopsmoking

I quit adderall when I quit smoking. I had to because addy just makes you chain smoke like you're running an unhealthy marathon. No matter what you're better off without the ciggs and without the adderall. My first week was pretty horrible in terms of concentration and productivity... but slowly it came back - the natural way. The main reason for quitting adderall (besides smoking) was the side effects of an enlarged heart. That did not sound cool to me.

I really do think ADD is in our heads. It's not a real disease. If you're having problems with productivity, read the Now Habit. If you're diets poor... go watch Forks over Knives. I'm becoming a believer that being shitty in life can be attributed to poor habits and poor diet. I didn't think I would be saying those things 3 months ago but here we are.

u/Moomium · 1 pointr/getdisciplined

I have a book recommendation which has really helped me.

u/Elendira · 1 pointr/getting_over_it

To begin...

I'm glad to hear that it sounds like I haven't offended you with trying to be silly, as that wasn't my intent. :/ I was pretty worried about it, honestly, and if I did and you're just not saying, I really do apologize. I'm in a very similar ship, so I meant to commiserate. My self esteem is getting better, but it's still quite low and fluctuates a lot.

> It's also very hard to try and be positive about myself when people treat me like I'm garbage. It validates my core negative beliefs about being unlikeable, socially inept, unlovable and just plain worthless and undeserving of love. :s

Sadly, I understand that all too well, and I unfortunately don't have any real advice to you other than that you have to keep trying to counter those thoughts. Which, if you're feeling like I've felt, can be one of the hardest things ever. What I had to do was say positive affirmations to myself religiously in the shower, OUT LOUD. Every day, over and over again. They were really uncomfortable, and I thought they were hokey, but they helped. I couldn't really face myself in the mirror and do it, and the noise of the shower helped me feel less self conscious. I also had a therapist that would harp on me (kindly) if I didn't do it, so I eventually did it regularly.

However, I understand completely how hard it is to say these things when you don't feel like they're true. That's why I was trying to focus on the logical aspect. Heck, I know that what other people think only affects me if I let it (technically), and that what really matters is my own self esteem, but that's really bloody hard to translate into reality.

As for failed relationships or whatever, you have honestly no real idea what happened there. I'm sorry to be the one to inform you, but you're not a psychic. :P I pretend to be too, and I have to remind myself all the damn time that I don't honestly know what is going on in someone else's life. I'm pretty good at reading other people and picking up on non-verbal cues, but if someone is upset, I jump to the conclusion that it's because of something I did. I still do, but less than I did. Really, just being aware of this mind-reading is the most important thing you can do. Actively combating takes time, but it CAN be done.

Take a moment to really think about it. Have you ever been upset or grumpy at work or around others because of something totally unrelated? I certainly have. I've had people think I was upset with them because of a face or visible discomfort, when all it really was was an upset stomach. I've also flaked out on plans with friends simply because I was feeling too depressed to go out that day, but I was too ashamed to fully communicate that fact to them. They thought I was upset with them, but really, it was just a personal matter. Is it not fair to think that that could be the case with some of your interactions with other people too? Sadly, some of your suitors could have been scared away just because you maybe were anxious and your body language was screaming, "Don't come by me!" As such, I stand by my statement that your first and most important step would be to try to improve your self esteem/anxiety.

Yes, it's a long process. Yes, you will fail. Again, IT'S OKAY. It's totally okay to mess up. It's TOTALLY fine. It has NO reflection on your worth as a person if you mess up. I am straight up giving you permission to fail. I hope when you're a little stronger, you can give yourself that permission too!

As for what particularly happened with Nick specifically, I honestly have no idea. I'm guessing it's just that he probably felt like he was putting himself out there and didn't understand your more subtle signs that you returned his affection. :/ Sadly, some people just don't seem to be patient in matters of love, but that's okay. Honestly, it took a really long time to get with my fiance-we met online, we're both shy, and the only way he ever found out I liked him was that I got super emotional one day and just flat out told him in an email. (I was sick of him telling me about all his little crushes actually.) Then, I literally ran away to a friend's house several states away for a mini-vacation. X_X Luckily, he was my best friend by this point and things didn't get very awkward after my confession. He didn't realize how much I meant to him really until I ran away either, so I guess it worked out in the end. It wasn't exactly the best response I could have had, but I needed it at the time.

My point is that love is a tricky thing that cannot be easily evaluated. Sometimes you just have to accept not knowing as the answer and try to move on. Sometimes, you have to go way outside of your comfort zone and just be totally direct with someone.

Of course, I felt the same about not finding anyone, and it actually was about 5 years from my last real relationship. I sort of just tumbled into it on accident. It's a bit trite, but hobbies are a great place to find like-minded people. With the internet now, it's a lot easier to find others that enjoy the same activities. I happen to be a big dork, so my SO and I met on World of Warcraft. It's an LDR, but we've met in person a number of times, and I'm positive that he's the one for me. This is not something for you to use to flog yourself with if you're feeling that compulsion (as I would if the situation were reversed)-it's to give you hope!

As for meditation, I liked Headspace a lot because it's very novice-friendly. There's a lot of positive affirmations in it, and you start off with only ten minutes a day. If you need "assistance" finding the files, let me know and I'll give you some pointers.

I would also like to recommend this DBT workbook, as I found it to be helpful for me in starting to overcome my default negative thoughts. I think DBT works a little better than CBT in that regard, and it 's written in such a way that is very forgiving.

As strange as it might sound, The Now Habit helped me a decent bit with my self-esteem too. It focuses on procrastination, but procrastination stems from perfectionism/fear of doing poorly.

Anyway, I'm not a therapist. I've been to plenty throughout the years, and I've been in this boat before. My best advice to you is truly to try to focus on caring about yourself. When you can love yourself more, when you can feel worthy of love, that is when you make the connections that last a lifetime.

The only constant you'll ever have in this life is yourself. I'm not saying you're doomed to go it alone, just that if you can learn to at least tolerate yourself, it'll make the going a lot easier. :)

YOU ARE WORTH IT!

u/GetOutOfBox · 1 pointr/funny

Although not obviously related to your feelings, I HIGHLY suggest reading "The Now Habit". It's the go-to book for dealing with procrastination, which I find is a pretty common habit that significantly worsens such worries.

I know there a lot of bullshit self-help books out there, but this one is based on actual scientific principal, and is one you'll probably seen on any good psychiatrist's shelf. I wept in the first few pages because he cut right to my core; feelings I was certain did not exist in me poured into the open, and suddenly, there was hope :)

u/Singmee · 1 pointr/sanfrancisco

I found the chapters in this book "The Now Habit" around perfectionism to be very helpful.

https://www.amazon.com/Now-Habit-Overcoming-Procrastination-Guilt-Free/dp/1585425524

u/johnchidiac · 1 pointr/productivity

This is nice tutorial on using the Unschedule which is part of The Now Habit by Dr. Neil Fiore

u/zeta_orionis · 1 pointr/getdisciplined

I think the biggest thing to tackle is the negative self-talk. It doesn't matter how successful or unsuccessful you are if you constantly treat yourself as a failure and let others who call you a failure get to you. You are not a failure; you have made mistakes and failed. You are not garbage; you might have taken actions that aren't that great, but that doesn't make you a garbage person. Don't let your sense of self-worth get tied up in your schooling, and don't let others tear you down.

If you can, I'd recommend attending therapy, if only as an outlet for your thoughts and feelings. I went to therapy and it changed my life. Don't worry if people make fun of you for it; you're making you and better you, don't let others get to you.

One of the best books I found for dealing with negative self-talk and how it affects your work is The Now Habit. I'd highly recommend it!

u/Godphree · 1 pointr/GetMotivated

A couple weeks ago a wolf recommended The Now Habit. I got it from the library and it's very helpful. When you said "I'm not attempting anything new because I might fail" I thought of the book because it tells you how to get over that obstacle. It teaches you how to talk to yourself not in "I should" or "I have to" but instead, "When can I start."

Is some of the problem that you don't know what you want to do? If that's the case, I recommend another book, Living Out Loud. There are several activities that lead you to think about what you want to do, and planning out the steps towards doing them. HTH. Best of luck!

u/Foolness · 1 pointr/productivity

Good post but it's missing references.

The poster book for Stoicism and productivity mixed together: The Obstacle is the Way

Not sure about the rest but for subjectivity, I'm guessing The Now Habit

Guess for negativity bias Predictably Irrational

Guess for think objectively Succeed

Guess for advice to friends The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

I guess this goes to explain my downvote. I'm not really expecting a fully referenced article but it goes to show that either productivity concepts are overrated and can be summed up in one short article or the concepts, as written in the article, is vastly under-represented if not mis-represented.

I'm sure my lone vote won't matter much in the river of upvotes and congrats for giving your site and articles that "Seth Godin" touch but you could do better.

u/Rosenblad92 · 0 pointsr/selfimprovement

If you're in to books you might want to check out this book. It helped me a lot when I was struggling with procrastination.

In the beginning you definitely want to set small goals that you're sure you can achieve and that doesn't take a long time to do, maybe 10 minutes or so.

At the moment you most likely associate goal setting with a negative feeling, maybe you've felt failure or gotten negative feedback over something you did in the past.

Make sure to achieve the goals you set and make sure to reward yourself for achieving them. That way you will reprogram yourself to think positively about goals.

Good luck!