The Now Habit

This is a heavy book, as in there is a lot of take in and comprehend, but it's well written. I started reading this book few years ago but put it down. Came back to it as an audiobook this year. I think it's better suited for audio listening, but only if you can focus on this alone. This is not a multitasking audio book. Great words of wisdom and advice. I've gained a lot from looking at my “un-schedule” even if I may not follow it every day. Also working on changing my mindset about things so that I am not dreading each task in life and procrastinating on everything.

It's not cool to read self-help books and I'm generally averse to the genre, but this is a helpful book that was recommended to me before I start grad school. It has some nice insights and tips for people who have, for whatever reason, learned to approach even basic tasks by spiraling into perfectionism-induced self-flagellation and paralysis. You know, those other people, those lame self-help book-reading types.

• the fear of judgment is the key fear that stems from identifying who you are with your work
  - We naturally are reluctant to face challenges and risks without self protection
  -Procrastination has been learned and can be unlearned
  - Knowing how you procrastinate is even more important than why
  - Two stages: Creating + editing, and polishing. Don't try to end up at polishing when you first begin a project
  - Your two-dimensional view pressure is you to know now instead of learning on the way
  - Reverse calendar should be used immediately if you feel overwhelmed .You'll want to reverse calendar to see what you can tackle right now, where you can delegate, and when you'll be able to catch your breath and plan your vacation time
  - Keep starting. Finishing will take care of itself
  - Aim at starting rather than finishing
  - Let go of worries and focus on where they can do the most good
  - Your energy level is affected by how you talk to yourself .You can go farther depending on how you do so
  - That an essential part of the training in long distance runners involves letting go of the
  goal and staying in the process

I'm not usually one to read a bunch of self help sort of books, though I occasionally will run through one on a recommendation, such as the odd finance book about getting debt under control. But, despite other problems that I have in life the single biggest, hands down, is procrastination.

People who don't procrastinate will look at a procrastinator and see only that that person is either not working hard enough or putting off work. They don't procrastinate and as such don't understand the motivations and reasons behind why someone would. So they demand “get to work” and “just do it” and “work harder” which more often than not will just cause more procrastination.

This book is the first I've ever come across that actually understands procrastination. Reading through its pages I found myself nodding my head a lot because it described my internal struggle with work almost perfectly. And more importantly, the methods and exercises it provides for battling procrastination seem perfectly valid and easily doable. I've already started changing my habits by simply recognizing when I'm headed toward procrastination and being able to head it off before it happens.

And most importantly, this book isn't just about working harder. It's about working better and integrating play into your schedule because it recognizes the single most important element to procrastination - the reason we get bummed out and piddle around is the prospect that work is going to take away time from play. So by putting play on your schedule first and building work around play, you flip the whole thing on its head.

The only hesitation I had in giving this 5 stars is that the last couple of chapters delve into the sort of hippy zen breathing chanting mantra type stuff that I tend to loath in self help books. But up until that point it was an excellent book, and really you can ignore that part and still get a lot out of it.