Nick Hall PhD - I Know What to Do So Why Dont I Do It?

ALSO BY NICK HALL

_______

How to Feel Better

I Know How to Lose Weight,

So Why Cant I Keep It Off?

I Know How to Set Goals,

So Why Dont I Achieve Them?

Winning the Stress Challenge

MIND YOUR EMOTIONS TO END PROCRASTINATION AND ACHIEVE ALL YOUR GOALS

NICK HALL, PhD

Published 2022 by Gildan Media LLC

aka G&D Media

www.GandDmedia.com

I KNOW WHAT TO DO, SO WHY DONT I DO IT? Copyright 2022 by Nick Hall. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any manner whatsoever, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. No liability is assumed with respect to the use of the information contained within. Although every precaution has been taken, the author and publisher assume no liability for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

FIRST EDITION 2022

Front Cover design by David Rheinhardt of Pyrographx

Interior design by Meghan Day Healey of Story Horse, LLC

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request

eISBN: 978-1-7225-2684-9

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Some undertakings, such as filing income tax returns are short-term tasks, while others exist as dreams tucked away on your bucket list for someday. It seems the things we want to do get done, while those we need to do make their annual appearance as fleeting New Years resolutionsremember the diet, daily walk, and plans to clean out the garage?

Youre not alone.

What many of us share in common is a tendency to procrastinate. That applies to finishing this book! Indeed, theres good chance that despite your best intentions, you may not arrive at the last page, which is why Im going to give you a quick-start guide right now to identify the all-important rewardthat sometimes elusive carrot we all need to keep us chugging along. Youll need to delve into your past to learn how best to unlock your motivation.

Start by recalling a pursuit you undertook with ease. You had plenty of drive, overcame obstacles, and achieved your goal effortlessly. Perhaps you were on your high school swim team and looked forward to the alarm clock jarring you from a deep sleep so you could make the predawn practice. Maybe it was the preparation required to excel on the schools debate team, or the weekends spent tinkering with your vintage cars engine so you could squeeze a little more horsepower from it.

If you completed a goal once, you can do it again. You just need to identify what it was that propelled you toward your goal. Thats how I identified the key ingredient of my past success.

Lawrence Welk of champaign music fame along with the rock and roll teen idol, Bobby Vee were based in the Dakotas. That might explain why music ruled at my junior high school in South Dakota and I was all in. Whether it was the marching band, jazz band, or orchestra, I could be found coaxing melodies from my trumpet. My academic grades suffered terribly because those subjects bored me to tears. Instead of math and history, I scrutinized sheet music and practiced each evening and most weekendsclassical music, jazz, and even repetitive scales. It was my passion, and I had no difficulty summoning the motivation to press my lips to the mouthpiece.

The Rapid City school system had an exceptional and extremely competitive music program. Once each month, band members could challenge the person in the chair ahead of them for the more prestigious spot. Steve Calhoun and I were constantly competing with each other for the coveted first-chair position, which we took turns occupying. Our fellow band members decided who was most deserving after appraising our solos. We were equals and the most capable musicians in the trumpet section. One of us was always in the top seat.

After a year in this environment, my family moved to Chicopee, Massachusetts, where the only music program was at the local high school. It would be another year before I would become a student there, however, I was invited to play in their band whenever I had time. I showed up for practice and learned the first chairs in all the sections were reserved for seniors regardless of their ability to perform. I played better than all of them, yet there was no way I could advance until several years later when I eventually reached my senior year. I walked out and never played again.

Years later while pondering why I didnt continue with an activity that gave me so much pleasure, I realized my motivation to play was fueled not so much by playing music, but by the competitionby the adrenaline rush while waiting to learn whether I would be bumped back or remain in first chair or wondering if I would flub a note during a concert. It was the nervous excitement that drove me.

That was more than sixty years ago, and during the interim, Ive held a variety of jobs, some dangerous, and each with no guarantee of long-term employment. Upon reflection, every job I accepted was associated with a larger than usual amount of risk, and I enjoyed them all.

For me to start and finish a project requires that I find some way to incorporate an element of risk. If nothing else, Ill always find it at the eleventh hour while frantically racing the clock to finish on time. An excess of often unwarranted optimism didnt allow the prospect of failure to hold me back. Excitement is what I found rewarding.

Im not telling you this because I think you thrive on excitement. Instead, Im suggesting you apply the same process I did to identify the type of reward that will drive you to success. Reflect on what it was you found sufficiently rewarding so that you worked night and day to achieve a long ago objective. Chances are its what you still find rewarding today. Thats the component you need to weave into your endeavors. Use what you find rewarding to maintain your motivation even when faced with challenges.

If you get as far as , youll understand why identifying a reward is the key to breaking the procrastination cycle. If you dont make it that far, at the very least youve already learned the importance of identifying a reward even though you may not appreciate why. If you do get to the end of this book, youll fully understand why you know what to do but why you wont do it.

At first glance, the answer to this question may seem straightforward: Just do it! Not so fast. As you begin to turn the pages, youll quickly discover that, while easy to say, heeding Nikes advertising slogan is an entirely different matter. Im sure you know this or else you wouldnt feel the need to read this book.

As you turn the pages, youll realize procrastination is not due to haphazard time-management skills. It stems from poor emotion management, as Ill explain in . Lets face it, youll have no problem finding the time to file a tax return when youre expecting a substantial refund. But the same amount of time will be spent doing all sorts of unimportant projects to delay filing when you think youll have to send the IRS a check. Time is not the issue. Youre procrastinating in order to postpone the distress experienced when you calculate how much you owe.