Procrastination

January 24, 2020 – Procrastination

         I was having a friendly conversation with a woman today and we were talking about good habits and bad habits because I am reading a book by B.J. Fogg, PhD, Tiny Habits - The small changes that change everything.

         I am at the end of first chapter of Bogg’s book, there are two exercises to do before I go on to the next chapter.  Exercise #2 is: “Learn the Fogg Behavior Model by teaching it to someone else.”  I thought about that last night and decided the next gal that I spoke to, I’d invite her for dessert and coffee and attempt to teach them the concept of B = M+A+P. 

         That is Behavior is equal to Motivation, Ability and Prompt.  Trust me, not an easy concept to convey.  I find his action line charts confusing.  I can visualize it better as a pie chart.  Three pieces of pie to match Motivation, Ability and Prompt with naming the pie Behavior.  Each piece is smaller or larger depending on easier or harder for your ability, higher or lower for your motivation and prompt for the hurdle or situation. I may be looking at this wrong, but we will see if this works in my brain better.

         I had to admit to her it is a hard concept to get across, but she said she understood it. Really, I wondered, I could hardly grasp it myself.  I still wonder what Prompts me to do things.  I seem to know all the “should do” things, but knowing I should or should not doesn’t get me very far.  Mind you, I am on Chapter 1 – I’ve way more information to absorb in this “Tiny Habits change” approach.  But, it is worth the effort of a good read to see if it works on the rough edges of my life.

         Later, the gal mentioned that she had a bad habit of procrastinating.  I smiled, I’d know the bad habit of procrastination from work, and from keeping house and I finally felt I had mastered it.

         When she asked me, “Where would you start?”

         “How would you eat a whale; one bite at a time,” I answered noticing I’d  gotten  her attention.  I am not sure from where I’d heard that saying, but I repeated it with bravado as it had worked for me in business.

         She said, “Like the bathroom, that’s the smallest room in the house.”

         “No, I’d start with your smallest bureau drawer.”

        

         “That small,” she said surprised.

         “Yes, because it is do-able.  If you get that done in say 20 minutes, it will make you feel good and you might have enough time to do a second one.  The objective is to take small bites until it is done – until the whale is eaten. And each bite you feel good about.”

         “That’s what I need to do,” she said.

         This was the perfect opportunity to brag about the master closet I had just deep-cleaned.

         “Oh, you’ve got to see my master closet – I cleaned it this week, it is gorgeous – like a closet advertisement.”  I jumped up and led the way.

         “Looks nice, but I didn’t see it before.”

         “Trust me, it was a disaster zone, I could hardly walk in to park my vacuum cleaner.”

         “How did you do that?”

         “I took everything out of it, completely, and tossed all the clothes on the bed.  I washed the walls and floor and tossed out junk, then had to purge duplicates, kept the best and tossed the rest.  I’d been procrastinating it for ten years.  In the past when I’d tackle it, I’d only do an hour’s worth.  It always needed more than an hour’s worth of time so it never looked much better for the last ten years.  I decided this time to beach the whale so I could eat it.”

         “How long did it take you?”

         “All day, started with my morning coffee and got finished just in time to fix dinner.”

         “I’ve got so much to do.”

         “I started with one bureau drawer at a time and just tackled something bigger and bigger as I went along.  The master closet – was my beached whale and I conquered it.  I can tackle anything now!”

         The gal left with a plan of action.  Me, I’ve one more bedroom to tackle then I start work on the ceiling sky light problem in the kitchen – my next beached whale.

         I will report on Fogg’s book in a few days to see if I learn anything else I can put my finger on, but so far, it’s like trying to touch a drop of mercury that mysteriously slips away.