Customer Reviews

The Tomorrow Trap: Unlocking the Secrets of the Procrastination-Protection Syndrome

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Karen E. Peterson, Ph.D. suffered for years from procrastination. With The Tomorrow Trap: Unlocking the Secrets of the Procrastination-Protection Syndrome, she has written the book she "needed to read 20 years ago--while fighting a never-ending battle with procrastination."

Rather than offer ways in which to change behavior, Peterson focuses on helping readers discover the emotional reasons for their procrastination. Once the underlying problem is resolved, the procrastination often disappears.

Dr. Peterson describes two kinds of procrastination: task-related, and person-related. She emphasizes that procrastination is not laziness. If you are putting off doing "an arduous and unpleasant task," you are probably suffering from task-related procrastination. That's the kind that can be best overcome with a reward system.

"When you start to feel extremely angry, victimized, or helpless," then person-related procrastination is likely the culprit. Dr. Peterson says this type of procrastination "protects" us from dealing with "other issues not yet faced." Understanding that, she says, puts us on the road to recovery.

A psychologist and stress management consultant, Dr. Peterson uses case studies of clients to provide examples of how people can overcome procrastination and lead productive lives. Each chapter has questions that readers can ask themselves to help reveal the hidden emotions that keep them enmeshed in the tomorrow trap. She also provides exercises for freeing oneself from the past.

One chapter discusses compulsive habits, such as uncontrolled overeating, overspending, and workaholism as facets of procrastination. Dr. Peterson explains how those habits are formed and how they may be overcome.

Another chapter lists some medical reasons, such as PMS, ADHD, and SAD, that can lead to procrastination, and what to do about them.

Procrastination creates problems in all aspects of our lives: personal, professional, and spiritual. The Tomorrow Trap provides the incentive and self-help techniques needed to "break free from the procrastination patterns of the past and embrace a new way of living, working and believing."

To my surprise, I quite often ended up with finding myself crying while I was reading this book! I never realised that there exists any relationship between one's feeling of guilt and procrastination. Whilst confirming this relationship, this book made me realised how deep my feeling of guilt was. In a way, through reading it I felt that I made a long long journey from my past to the current time, connecting my subconscious mind. It was rather a moving process. 'Forgive, but never forget' concept really changed my attitude to a very positive direction.

An example of a PhD student helped me a lot as I am also a doctoral student. I realised that all I got to do is just to write about something I have always wanted to write! Thanks to Dr Peterson, I have just submitted my PhD thesis.

Groundbreaking! This woman knows what writers are like and shows how to begin to break through some of the difficulties which are inherent to many writers/artists in achieving their products. Her analysis is especially poignant for those "blocked" by personal issues which prevent the action (writing, painting, interpersonally relating) needed to achieve their life's goals.

Having read the review penned October 6, 1998, I was compelled to put forth my own experience of this work.

I am a successful businessperson who has been confounded by my tendency to procrastinate. The simplest phone call left unattended becomes a major problem. Bills not paid - even though the funds available were more than sufficient - turning into embarrassing and costly situations. The examples were as endless as they were mysterious. While I am not so naive as to declare that I have been "cured" by Dr. Peterson's book, there is no doubt that I now have the tools necessary to both identify and mitigate these self-defeating behaviors. The process was no more threatening than writing in a daily journal. Unlike a regular journal, though, I had a kind, gentle and knowledgeable "guide" provided by the author's insights, anecdotes and sincere compassion. I found the explanations and exercises to be very effective in getting through to whatever was ailing me. By explaining things in a friendly, non-clinical and even humorous manner, my usual defenses were down and I remained open to the possibility of growth.

The results were dramatic and have contributed greatly to an enhanced sense of control in my life and work

Further, I have enthusiastically endorsed this book and have distributed several copies to friends, family and associates. Without exception, they have diligently worked through the book (an amazing feat for self-diagnosed procrastinators, one must admit) and thanked me for both the recommendation and the positive effects that resulted.

Do yourself a favor - buy the book. Think of it as a good business investment. Just how much does it cost you in interest when you forget to pay your credit card bill on time...?

I found this book by accident and what a lucky break! It's written very clearly, simply and gives you many written exercises to do using both your dominant hand, as well as the hand you don't usually use. This is because your subdominant hand accesses a different part of your brain. I found that my answers to the questions varied quite a bit from hand to hand. Through the reading and the exercises I gained a tremendous amount of insight. I've been a terrible procrastinator for most of my life. This book has helped me to understand why but more importantly, has freed me to be fully present and to do quickly what needs to be done. Not only does the book help with stopping procrastination, it helps you to live much more peacefully. I recommend this book very highly.

This book is primarily focused on trying to determine the underlying cause of procrastination, which the author feels relates to feelings of shame. There is little space given to solving procrastination.

An approach like this might be of interest to some people suffering from procrastination, but I didn't find it useful.

She uses an exercise repeatedly which involves writing with both hands. She says you will get different responses from your dominant and nondominant hands, which is supposed to give you greater insight into your problems. An example:

Dominant Hand
When I think of solitude, I think ____________
When I think of solitude, I feel ____________

Nondominant Hand
When I think of solitude, I think ____________
When I think of solitude, I feel ____________

I think this exercise is unhelpful, and I feel annoyed every time I encounter it in this book.

The book wasn't horrible, but I think it was geared towards those who are more artistic even though the author says everyone can do what she says. For those people who have deeper issues related to their procrastination I don't think this book will be enough. Some form of therapy should go along with it. For those of us who have dealt with procrastination all of our lives and have seemed to have tried "everything in the book" to stop I didn't find this book to be very helpful.

Karen E. Peterson certainly has a story to tell and that is what she does. If you are just interested in the topic in general you will find a good start. If you are happen to be or want to be a writer you bought the right book. It is encouraging and funny. And it can help to get you going but that is about the end of it. Where she should get into detail she recommends other books, she very much keeps on the surface. She tries but to express emotions empathetically she sucks. All in all a good introduction.

Written for readers lacking any rudimentary knowledge of psychology. The author relies heavily on a Freudian crutch in her attempts to blame all on poor parenting skills/early childhood trauma. Humorously, Peterson further employs a few of the cheap tricks your Psych 101 prof probably used to sell you into signing up for his course (i.e., automatic writing, tapping the nondominant side of the brain, etc...). Unfortunately, Peterson takes this stuff seriously; yes, she has based a whole career on it. If you are serious about getting help with procrastination read anything by Knaus. Reading this book would be just another wasteful attempt at procrastination.