Procrastination, the "Unschedule," and re-learning how to walk

Merlin — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:24:17 -0400

How to Unschedule your work and enjoy guilt-free play

Chanpory, over at LifeClever, has a useful piece on what Neil Fiore calls "The Unschedule:"

According to Neil Fiore and 30 years of research, procrastination isn’t the result of laziness. Rather, procrastination is a symptom, a way of coping with deep psychological self-criticism and fear. It’s because we’re taught to believe that working is good and playing is bad. To reverse this unhealthy model, Neil proposes a tool: the Unschedule.

The Unschedule looks like a normal schedule, but with a twist. Instead of scheduling work you have to do, you fill in everything you want to do.

Like a couple of the exercises in Fiore's book (Oy, vey, who actually keeps a "procrastination diary?"), I think the Unschedule is best seen as a fascinating way to think about thinking.

The Now Habit
by Neil Fiore

For me, though, stuff like a procrastination dash is where it's at for actually getting things accomplished. Although I'm the last person in the world to begrudge anyone a brain trick that works for them, I think I've become pickier about any kind of metawork where the ramp-up and prep time overshadows the time devoted to pure action.

That said, I can't think of a better book to pick up whenever you feel like you just can't work -- that you're so mired in your own sick failure that it seems pointless to even try. If you've gotten to that point, you may find, as I often do, that reading a few pages of The Now Habit is just the tonic. And, if that's not enough? Heck. I guess I can see making an Unschedule. But, for one day, and just to get back on track.

Crutches are awesome, but only as long as you use them to walk -- not just to afford the process of thinking about walking.

”Procrastination, the "Unschedule," and re-learning how to walk” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on October 04, 2007. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Metawork

Procrastination, the "Unschedule," and re-learning how to walk