Group Therapy (20) Procrastination and Self Esteem

One of the secrets of people who are highly productive is that
they rarely try to tackle a difficult job all at once. Instead,
they break the task down into its smallest component parts and do
one small step at a time. There are two ways to break a task into
small steps. One solution is simply to work for relatively brief
periods of time, such as fifteen minutes. The rationale is that
it’s relatively easy to do something if you know you can quit
after fifteen minutes. Of course, once you get started, you will
often get in the mood and end up doing even more. Many
procrastinators stubbornly resist this simple plan, even though
it is fabulously effective. List three excuses you could give
yourself for refusing to do fifteen minutes of a task you’ve been
putting off.


1. Make a list of your Negative Thoughts when you procrastinate.
Think of all the advantages of procrastinating. Write down what
you tell yourself when you procrastinate, such as “I’m not really
in the mood.” 2. Select a partner. The two of you face each
other. 3. Tell your partner to read your Negative Thoughts, one
by one, using the second person (“you” statements). Tell your
partner to try to tempt you or persuade you to procrastinate.
Tell your partner to be as persuasive as he or she can possibly
be. 4. Talk to back to your partner using the first person (“I”
statements). Try to refute his or her arguments. Don’t give in,
fight back! Argue that it really would be to your advantage to
get started today. 5. If you get stuck, do a role reversal.