The Now Habit

The Now Habit Plot Summary

Introduction

Procrastination is not merely a bad habit; it's a coping mechanism that provides temporary relief from stress, anxiety, and fear. It serves as a protective shield against threats to our self-worth, perfectionism, and fear of failure. Yet this seemingly protective behavior comes at a tremendous cost: missed opportunities, diminished productivity, and persistent guilt that undermines our enjoyment of leisure time. When we find ourselves stuck in the procrastination cycle, we become caught between pressure and avoidance, between "I have to" and "I don't want to." This internal conflict drains our energy and distorts our perception of work and play. Breaking free requires more than just time management techniques or motivational strategies. It demands a fundamental shift in how we view ourselves, our work, and our relationship with time. The Now Habit offers a strategic approach that addresses the root causes of procrastination while providing practical tools to replace negative patterns with the positive habits of producers who enjoy guilt-free play and quality work.

Chapter 1: Recognize Why You Procrastinate

Procrastination is not caused by laziness or poor time management; it's a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. This definition helps us understand that procrastination serves a purpose - it temporarily reduces tension by taking us away from something we view as threatening or painful. The more we associate work with pain, judgment, or fear, the more likely we are to seek relief through avoidance. Clare, a young professional in her late twenties, came to therapy feeling devastated by a poor performance evaluation at work. For over thirty minutes, she poured out her problems with procrastination: missed deadlines, rushed projects, and constant anxiety. "I just couldn't face all the demands they made on me," Clare explained. "There was so much they wanted me to learn. I felt so stupid, so incompetent." Her procrastination wasn't new - it had started in grade school, where anything less than perfect was considered failure. Growing up as the youngest of four in a high-achieving family, Clare never received praise for her accomplishments, only criticism when she fell short. This early family pattern taught Clare that part of her was lazy and needed discipline, pressure, and threats to perform. She learned to talk to herself not as a loving parent but as a threatening judge. Whenever she approached a task, Clare's mind would hear her boss's voice telling her how to do it right and how important it was, paralyzing her with fear of judgment and criticism. To overcome procrastination, Clare needed to redefine her relationship with work and challenge the counterproductive assumptions her story revealed: the feeling that she had to force herself to work, and the belief that inner conflict is normal - as if it's part of human nature to be lazy. With guidance, Clare began to keep track of when and why she procrastinated, making her aware of her habit of using procrastination to escape inner conflict and anxiety. From the entries in her log, Clare identified her most frequent negative self-statements and developed positive challenges to replace them. Rather than focusing on her worth being determined by her performance, she learned to create safety for herself with compassionate self-talk that redirected her focus toward the task at hand. By addressing her resistance to authority, fear of failure, perfectionism, and fear of success, Clare was able to lessen her need to procrastinate. The process of overcoming procrastination begins with understanding its rewarding nature. Once we recognize how procrastination works as a coping mechanism, we can develop healthier alternatives that address our underlying fears while allowing us to engage fully with our work and our lives.

Chapter 2: Replace Negative Self-Talk with Productive Language

The self-talk of procrastinators often unconsciously suggests and reinforces feelings of victimhood, burden, and resistance to authority. When we speak to ourselves in an authoritarian voice, saying "I have to do it" or "I should do it," we're communicating to our minds: "I don't want to do it, but I must force myself to do it for them." This inner conflict leads directly to procrastination. Betty, an administrator for a large insurance company, dreaded doing the annual report. For weeks before the deadline, she would complain, "I have to do the annual report," "I should be working on the annual report," or "I want to go out to lunch with you, but I have to complete the annual report." Her usual energy and cheerfulness would be replaced by a depressed and haggard look. Her back would become bent as if under a great burden, and she suffered from fatigue, muscle tension, and insomnia. To get immediate results and snap out of her feelings of helplessness, Betty needed to change her attitude in the very situation where she was most likely to procrastinate. She was advised, "You don't have to do anything to be a worthwhile person. If you're going to do it, however, you might as well choose to do it with full responsibility for the consequences." Every "I have to" needed to be replaced with an adult decision about how she would begin the project or how she would explain to her boss that she would not do it. The next day, Betty chose to work on a part of the annual report she hated the least and asked her boss for help with parts she found more difficult. She also promised herself that if she chose to do this report, it would be her last. By standing up for herself and using the more productive language of choice, Betty was able to cope with work pressures in an integrated, unambivalent fashion. To overcome procrastination, you must heal the self-alienation and inner conflict between the authoritarian voice and the rebel. This requires learning language that removes the need for conflict within yourself and with those who you feel have power over you. Instead of "I have to," say "I choose to." Rather than "I must finish," ask "When can I start?" When you think "This project is so big and important," remind yourself "I can take one small step." Replace "I must be perfect" with "I can be perfectly human." And instead of "I don't have time to play," insist "I must take time to play." These positive challenges direct your energy toward a goal, making you feel empowered rather than victimized. They help you focus on what you can do now, on starting with small steps, and on maintaining balance in your life. As you shift from the counterproductive statement "I have to finish something big and do it perfectly while working hard for long periods of time without time to play" to the powerful focus of a producer: "I choose to start on one small step, knowing I have plenty of time for play," you break free from procrastination's grip. With each conscious choice to switch your energy from procrastination self-talk to the language of the producer, you're wiring in a new neural pathway in your brain. After several shifts from the old path to the new, the positive associations will strengthen, becoming easier to initiate, while the old ones will atrophy. Each time you create safety for yourself and speak the language of the producer, you unlearn the habits of a procrastinator while strengthening the new, healthy habits of a producer.

Chapter 3: Schedule Guilt-Free Play to Enhance Productivity

One of the most devastating consequences of procrastination is that it leads to "putting off living." Not only does it keep us from completing important tasks, it lessens our respect for ourselves by keeping us engaged in destructive, delaying tactics. To sustain high levels of motivation and lessen the urge to procrastinate, we need guilt-free play to provide periods of physical and mental renewal. After completing my doctoral program, I worked with thousands of clients and hundreds of organizations in creating a strategy that dramatically improved performance. I discovered that those who were making good progress toward finishing their dissertations in a year were dedicated and committed to their leisure time. Their health and recreation were high priorities and an integral part of their overall plan to do good work. They had to swim, run, or dance almost every day. They had to be with friends for dinner several nights a week. They were truly "re-created" in a way that kept them motivated and interested in returning to their projects for fifteen to twenty-five quality hours a week. Jeff, a thirty-five-year-old college professor, felt frustrated and guilty that he wasn't dedicated enough to his profession. He wanted to read more research articles and publish in a professional journal, but in the last three years, he had failed at countless attempts to complete a scholarly paper. He tried using pressure and threats to scare himself into writing, with almost no success. Instead of adding more pressure, I told Jeff to stop the self-torture and do something he really loved. After considering various activities, Jeff settled on acting with a community theater. He auditioned for a play and committed twenty to thirty hours a week for rehearsals – far more time than he had devoted to his writing in the past two years. At the conclusion of the play, Jeff was mildly depressed because this fulfilling activity had ended, but he realized that having cleared twenty to thirty hours a week from his schedule, he could find plenty of time to write an article. Jeff reorganized his schedule to include firm commitments to exercise and friends, making it clear that his periods of work in isolation would need to be short and focused. Finding ten hours a week for writing was relatively easy after having cleared twenty hours for rehearsals. Getting started was still rough, but by maintaining momentum through daily periods of work, Jeff quickly saw the article take shape. He had his first article ready for submission to a journal in a few months. After an initial rejection and some rewriting, the article was accepted for publication by a prestigious journal. The pull method of motivation recognizes that humans are naturally inquisitive and motivated by pleasure rather than pain. When you schedule guilt-free play, you create a powerful cycle: play gives you a sense of freedom that enables you to settle into short periods of focused work. Once you complete quality work, your confidence increases, enhancing your capacity to enjoy guilt-free play. This deep sense of having earned time away from work allows you to have focused time with friends, which pays off as creative work while playing. The seeds of earlier quality work flourish subconsciously into new ideas and breakthroughs, motivating you to return to the task. To implement this strategy, make firm commitments to recreational activities, exercise, and social events. Schedule them in your calendar first, before work commitments. This may seem counterintuitive, but by ensuring you have guilt-free time for play, you create a healthy cycle where work and play enhance each other's quality. Remember, you can be more productive if you play more! This strategic use of guilt-free play attacks the underlying causes of procrastination by lowering resentment toward work, making it easier to start, improving work quality, and stirring motivation.

Chapter 4: Create Your Unschedule for Immediate Results

The Unschedule is a revolutionary tool that turns our natural resistance to structure and authority against itself and enlists it in the cause of productivity. Unlike traditional schedules that fill your calendar with work commitments, the Unschedule first schedules guilt-free play and committed activities like meals, sleep, exercise, and socializing. This reverse psychology creates a realistic picture of the actual time available for work while guaranteeing your personal time. Alan, a graduate student in his late twenties, was acting like a rebellious teenager whenever he thought about his doctoral dissertation. His counterproductive "should's" to himself in the form of "You have to do this work" produced the inevitable "No, I don't want to" response. While Alan insisted that he wanted to complete his degree, his procrastination demonstrated unconscious resistance to outside authority. Instead of adding more pressure, I told Alan, "You've come to me for help in facing a very large and complex task that will take over a year's hard work. That will be a year with less time to be with friends and to do the things you really enjoy. Well, I won't do it." I told him that it was too hard to try to make someone do something he really didn't want to do. As far as I was concerned, he didn't have to do it. This shock got Alan's attention. He began to realize that though he wasn't overjoyed at the prospect of all that hard work, he still wanted to give it a try. I then added another shock: "Do not work more than twenty hours a week, and never work more than five hours in any day on your project. Promise me that you will resist the urge to work more than twenty hours a week." Alan became angry: "Who are you to tell me not to work more than twenty hours a week? It's my dissertation." To rebel against this new authority, he would have to do more work and demand the right to exceed the limit I had given him. The following week Alan returned with his Unschedule filled in. For the first time in two years, he had thoroughly enjoyed his leisure activities without guilt. He was excited because he had completed eighteen hours of quality work - far more than he had accomplished in years. Several weeks later, he proudly displayed an Unschedule with twenty-two quality hours completed in one week and six quality hours in one day, defiantly exceeding my limits. To use the Unschedule effectively, follow these guidelines: First, schedule only previously committed time such as meals, sleep, classes, exercise, and socializing. Do not schedule work on projects. Fill in your Unschedule with work only after you've completed at least thirty minutes of quality time. Take credit only for periods of at least thirty minutes of uninterrupted work. Reward yourself with a break after each period worked. Keep track of your quality hours each day and week. Always leave at least one full day a week for recreation. Before going to a recreational activity, take time for just thirty minutes of work on your project. The Unschedule provides five major benefits: realistic timekeeping that cures the fantasy of "having all week"; thirty-minute quality time blocks that prevent feeling overwhelmed; experiencing success by recording progress rather than failure to meet unrealistic schedules; self-imposed deadlines that create productive pressure; and newfound "free time" when scheduled activities are canceled, leading to a surprising motivation to work. By reversing the traditional schedule, you create a realistic picture of your available time, integrate guilt-free play as an essential part of your week, and build motivation through small, achievable periods of quality work. The Unschedule helps you overcome procrastination by ensuring you don't associate work with deprivation and isolation, while creating a sustainable rhythm of productivity and rejuvenation.

Chapter 5: Work in the Flow State with Focused Concentration

Learning to work creatively and knowing that you can tap into creative states at will can lessen the drudgery of work and increase your excitement about how you work. By decreasing the agony of onerous work, creative states of mind bypass much of the struggle and fear that cause you to defend yourself with procrastination. Jacob, a dedicated father and husband with workaholic tendencies, was starting out at age forty in a new career that took him beyond his comfort zone of working with his hands to supervision, management, and customer contact. Although bringing in customers was no problem for Jacob, his perfectionism led to difficulties in following through on jobs. He began to avoid telephone messages and delay acting on client and employee demands, overwhelmed by his own success and the many issues that arose: worries about overextending himself, dealing with customer complaints, handling telephone calls, difficulties at job sites, increases in supply costs, and cash-flow problems. Jacob's background had not prepared him for success. He was the oldest of five children and had watched his parents work hard all their lives while never getting out from under their debts and financial worries. His father died of a stroke a year before he was to retire. Now that Jacob was his own boss, he didn't have time to get sick, and because of his high blood pressure and family history, he couldn't afford too much stress. Jacob learned to counter anxiety about important decisions by asking himself, "When can I start? Where do I choose to work? On what part of the job will I be starting?" But he also needed to feel calm in the midst of innumerable pressures and risks. When Jacob learned the focusing exercise, the entire program clicked for him. It became more than just a mental concept and a discipline. The focusing exercise is a two-minute procedure for shifting rapidly to the flow state by replacing guilt and stress with a stress-free focus on the present. To practice focusing, start by sitting upright with your feet flat on the floor and your hands on your thighs. Focus on your breathing, taking three deep breaths. Then focus on the feeling of the chair supporting you and your feet resting on the floor, releasing any unnecessary muscle tension. With your next three slow, deep breaths, let go of all thoughts about work from the past - what you've just been doing or what you should or shouldn't have done. With another three breaths, let go of what you anticipate happening in the future - freeing more energy for focusing in the present. With three final breaths, notice that it doesn't take much energy to just be in the present, allowing your body and inner mind to give you the right level of energy and relaxation. After taking about a minute to complete the first part in twelve breaths, complete the exercise with positive suggestions such as, "With each breath I become more alert, curious, and interested. I'll be going beyond discomfort and worry to starting with purpose and commitment in just a few seconds." The focusing exercise gave Jacob periodic two-minute breathers so he could stand back and evaluate challenges, push aside fears, remind himself that he didn't have to do everything at once, and consider alternatives. By linking these calming sessions with periods of quality work, Jacob controlled his anxiety, dealt quickly with unpleasant tasks, and worked comfortably for hours in the flow state. His perception of time changed, his energy was calm and focused, his solutions were more creative, and his concentration improved. Working in the flow state changes your relationship with work by helping you rapidly shift from your brain's survival functions to its creative functions. Rather than waiting until you feel perfect or for the "right mood" to inspire you, you can use this technique so that "just do it" becomes a real possibility. The benefits include calm, focused energy; time expansion; delight at new ideas; ease at avoiding or solving problems; and enhanced concentration - all of which eliminate the negative habits that previously kept you procrastinating.

Chapter 6: Build Resilience Against Procrastination Setbacks

Completing the transformation from an old habit pattern to a new, more productive behavior requires trying out your wings in situations that were formerly difficult or tempting. When you face setbacks - and you will - your resilience will determine whether you bounce back or fall back into procrastination. Sarah, a chemist for a genetic engineering firm, had developed a relaxed and creative style of working and was doing well on her new job. The progress she was making in adapting to her new position and controlling procrastination was disrupted when her boss unexpectedly and harshly criticized her work. This revived Sarah's old fears: "Am I good enough? Can I do this job successfully? Nothing will please him, so why try?" The setting was ripe for the familiar cycle of resentment, resistance, fear, and perfectionism that leads to procrastination. Anticipating further criticism and unfairness, Sarah began to withhold her skill and creativity and slowed down her work. But this time she recognized the underlying causes and quickly turned it around. Rather than despairing that she had chosen the wrong job, Sarah saw the difficulties as feedback that her expectations needed adjustment. After weighing the pluses and minuses, she decided to give the job six months, making her best effort. Sarah also decided not to procrastinate about personal confrontations. She told her boss, "I took this job in good faith, feeling that I could make a contribution to this company. In the short time I've been here I have not been given the opportunity to demonstrate what I can do. I would like your cooperation in granting me the time and the authority to do my job and be judged on my efforts. If I find that within six months we are not in agreement about what I can do, I will leave of my own accord." The boss was impressed, but more importantly, Sarah had gotten past her building resentment and procrastination. Rather than reverting to an old pattern because of a setback, she applied her new strategies and took control of the situation, refusing to be put in the victim role. To build resilience against procrastination, use these approaches: First, recognize the work of procrastinating - there is no path in life that requires no effort. The choice is not between working or not working, but which type of work. Second, freely choose the entire goal by stating it as a decision: "I freely choose to work on..." Third, create functional, observable goals with action verbs, deadlines, and measurable components. When setbacks occur, avoid the "why-whine" - "Why did this happen to me? Why am I always the one who gets the tough jobs?" This only delays acknowledging reality and finding solutions. Remember that the trajectory of the Apollo moon rocket was off course 90 percent of the time, but by acknowledging deviations and making corrections, scientists achieved their mission despite numerous setbacks. You can also use mental rehearsal and preprogramming to prepare for potential obstacles. Martha, a successful businesswoman, was blocked on a particularly messy project. Through guided visualization, she saw her block as a brick wall, thirty feet high and five feet thick. As she approached the wall, she discovered a small door that led to her project - a creative solution that allowed her to maintain protection while finding flexibility to begin her work. Building resilience means knowing that setbacks are not a judgment of your worth. People who consider themselves failures have failed once and stayed there. Successful people fail many times and bounce back, refusing to let any one failure define them. With the Now Habit tools, you can use setbacks as opportunities to strengthen your new productive habits and your identity as a producer.

Summary

The Now Habit offers a strategic system that addresses the root causes of procrastination while providing practical tools to replace negative patterns with productive habits. By understanding that procrastination is not laziness but a coping mechanism for anxiety, we can move beyond self-blame to effective solutions. As the book reminds us, "Procrastination is a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision." With this insight, we can build new neural pathways that support our productivity and well-being. Your journey toward becoming a producer begins with one small step - just thirty minutes of quality work. Start today by scheduling guilt-free play in your Unschedule, replacing "I have to" with "I choose to," and using the two-minute focusing exercise to enter the flow state. These tools will help you break free from the procrastination cycle and experience the satisfaction of guilt-free play and quality work. Remember that every time you make a conscious choice to switch from procrastination to production, you strengthen new, positive neural pathways that will eventually become your default way of working and living.

About Author

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Neil A. Fiore

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