Customer Reviews

Living Without Procrastination: How to Stop Postponing Your Life

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book addresses procrastination with an honesty and directness I have never seen. The exercises in the book, that I followed completely, really shifted my focus to the work at hand. Dr. Roberts has really done her research and details her statistical findings compassionately. I have so much respect for her and for this book. Procrastination is a much bigger issue for everyone than just the work at hand, and she shows you how to navigate through those bigger issues head-on, yet gently. I read the book in January and now, in June, I am still grateful for the huge weight being released as I continue to work with the principles in this book.

have read several books on procrastination and this is one of the worst. It reads like someone's Ph.D dissertation, rather than a self help book. It writes about procrastination from an academic point of view, where the subject is treated from a distance and critically. For example on a subsection on perfectionism the author writes:
"Perfectionists don't fear the standards so much as the expectations surrounding the standards. This fear is a product of helplessness about standard setting. They feel that they have no personal control over the standard, and they have a sense of hopelessness about chances for success. Rather then attempt a rational problem-solving approach to the situation, the perfectionist shuts down and procrastination results".

And tleaves the subject at that. This type of language is fine if one is trying to describe to a psychology student how perfectionism leads to procrastination. However, it is far too detached, abstract, and impersonal for a self help book (after all who likes to be referred to as "they"). To make it of use to a person suffering from procrastination, examples of what the author means by abstract statements like the above needs to be included. What is meant by "rational problem-solving" for example. Unfortunately, the book is also not very useful as an academic introduction to the subject since it is far too short. The Perfectionism subsection, for example, is less then a page long, and feels more like an abstract (i.e. short introduction) to a journal article, then a thorough explanation of the subject matter.

Finally, the solution she provides to procrastination is nothing more than task oriented time management. Essentially, her point is to break down large tasks into small ones, and just do them. Great advice for a disorganized person. As anyone who suffered from serious procrastination knows, however, time management alone is not a sufficient solution. If it was, procrastination would have been wiped out long time ago. "Stop finding excuses and get to your task" is not particularly helpful for this debilitating problem.

In summary, there are many books, which provide far greater insight into psychological reasons of procrastination, and give much better methods to help those who suffer from it. (See for example: Procrastination, why you do it, by Burka and Yuen). To boot, they are written with the lay person in mind, and hence are engaging to read. Spend your money on one of those and avoid this book (there are also far better books on time management - so if it is a time management book that you are looking for, check out Franklin-Covey's "what matters most", for example).

In this book M. Susan Roberts tackles the procrastination phenomenon from a rational, task-oriented approach to solving a problem that is mutidimensional, i.e., cognitive, emotional, pragmatic. She admits as much before getting down to the nitty-gritty grunt work of helping people change a behavior that in her view is learned--not inherited--and, therefore, changeable. Whereas the tone used by the writer can come across as "detached", it's also part of the no-nosense, matter-of-fact syle that jolts certain readers to do something about their habit. It is true, however, that the book reads like a methods text in parts, and that it might turn off certain readers who would prefer a more emotionally-sensitive approach. After all emotional intelligence (or a lack thereof) is a quintessential aspect of procrastination! This issue should be addressed more in-depth in a future edition of the book. Personally, I also enjoy knowing where she takes all of her information, what research has been conducted on the subject and what further reading I can do. It is true that there are certain sections that could be better developed and more rigorously presented, such as the section on perfectionism. (What, for instance, would she do with an INFP personality type who procrastinates?) To Dr. Roberts credit, however, I must say that the interactive style of the workbook was quite helpful, especially the section on "Distorted thinking and Replacement Thought". I applied several of these exercises in my effort to finish my undergraduate degree--two degrees ago-- and it worked!

I have read several books on procrastination and this is one of the worst. It reads like someone's Ph.D dissertation, rather than a self help book. It writes about procrastination from an academic point of view, where the subject is treated from a distance and critically. For example on a subsection on perfectionism the author writes:

"Perfectionists don't fear the standards so much as the expectations surrounding the standards. This fear is a product of helplessness about standard setting. They feel that they have no personal control over the standard, and they have a sense of hopelessness about chances for success. Rather then attempt a rational problem-solving approach to the situation, the perfectionist shuts down and procrastination results".

And tleaves the subject at that. This type of language is fine if one is trying to describe to a psychology student how perfectionism leads to procrastination. However, it is far too detached, abstract, and impersonal for a self help book (after all who likes to be referred to as "they"). To make it of use to a person suffering from procrastination, examples of what the author means by abstract statements like the above needs to be included. What is meant by "rational problem-solving" for example. Unfortunately, the book is also not very useful as an academic introduction to the subject since it is far too short. The Perfectionism subsection, for example, is less then a page long, and feels more like an abstract (i.e. short introduction) to a journal article, then a thorough explanation of the subject matter.

Finally, the solution she provides to procrastination is nothing more than task oriented time management. Essentially, her point is to break down large tasks into small ones, and just do them. Great advice for a disorganized person. As anyone who suffered from serious procrastination knows, however, time management alone is not a sufficient solution. If it was, procrastination would have been wiped out long time ago. "Stop finding excuses and get to your task" is not particularly helpful for this debilitating problem.

In summary, there are many books, which provide far greater insight into psychological reasons of procrastination, and give much better methods to help those who suffer from it. (See for example: Procrastination, why you do it, by Burka and Yuen). To boot, they are written with the lay person in mind, and hence are engaging to read. Spend your money on one of those and avoid this book (there are also far better books on time management - so if it is a time management book that you are looking for, check out Franklin-Covey's "what matters most", for example).