This is a sample article from the ACHIEVER REPORT. It takes up 1/3 of one 8-1/2 by 11 page of this six-page newsletter. As you can imagine, the newsletter is packed with lots of additional information. Feel free to download this information. If you find it helpful, you can order this monthly newsletter by writing to MDC, PO Box 411701, Los Angeles, CA 90041-8701.
NEW BOOK NEWS
First You Have to Row a Little Boat, so says Richard Bode, the author of a book which uses sailing as a metaphor for life. Life, the author suggests, is a series of small lessons which must be learned before one can move on to the more difficult and complex tasks presented along the way. Too often people want to skip the small hurdles which must be traversed and try to leap too quickly into the first-place position without the necessary prerequisite experiences. They refuse to accept that you can╒t rush to the top; that getting there requires a slow and steady climb (Publisher╒s price is; $14.95.)
╔Excess Baggage, or how to get rid of it, is the subject of a book by Judith Sills ($21).
You may already know that four of the five top positions on the paperback best-seller list are currently held by self-help books. But, you may not know of other fine titles available to help you live well and happy which are not bestsellers: Pulling Together: Crisis Prevention for Teens and Their Parents and Winning Tactics for Women Over Forty (both from Mills & Sanderson; $9.95; 1-800-441-6224); Men╒s Work: How to Stop Violence that Tears Our Families Apart (Hazelden; $5.99; 1-800-328-9000); Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: A Step-By-Step Plan for Success Through Healthful Living (Prentice-Hall; $22.95); 101 Ways to Be Good to Yourself (Energy Press, 5275 McCormick Mountain, Austin TX 78734; $12.95); The 30 Secrets of Happily Married Couples (Bob Adams, 260 Center St., Holbrook MA 02343; $7.95); Practical Parenting Tips: Over 1500 Helpful Hints for the First Five Years (Meadowbrook, 18318 Minnetonka Rd., Deephaven MN 55391; $8).
If you want to learn the best ways to help your child with homework, order Erasing the Guilt: Play an Active Role in Your Child╒s Education╨No Matter How Busy You Are, by calling 1-800-CAREER-1 ($10.95). Or, if you want to learn how to help others write better college applications, order College After 30: It╒s Never Too Late to Get the Degree You Need! from Bob Adams [see above]; $7.95). Preparing Your Child for College: A Resource Book for Parents can be obtained for free from the Consumer Information Center, Dept. 596Z, Pueblo CO 81009; and How to Be Happier Day by Day: A Year of Mindful Actions is available in many commercial bookstores (Viking; $15.95). Ñ
The following is the first part of an article written for the ACHIEVER REPORT appearing in the Fall, 1993 issue. The article includes the Test of Procrastination which could not easily be translated into the TeachText format. But, it does appear in the Fall issue. The article takes up 3 columns on an 8-1/2 by 11 page.
PROCRASTINATORS
Hold on a second╔I╒ll be right back with you╔. This is the sort of thing you hear when you make a call and you╒re put on hold. But, there are people in this world who say such things all of the time╨even when they have nothing else to do.
These people (you guessed it) are ╥Procrastinators.╙ They╒re like your son who, when asked to take out the garbage, says, ╥I╒ll do it later.╙ Or, it╒s like your co-worker who, when pushed to help finish a joint project, says, ╥Could you take care of it, I╒m busy with something else.╙ The difference is, Procrastinators do this all of the time. They hardly ever don╒t say, ╥Wait a minute.╙
Procrastinators can cause themselves big trouble. One Procrastinator, an attorney, was disbarred after failing to submit briefs in time for a number of his clients, resulting in many complaints to the bar association. Another, a psychologist, continually submitted his reports long after his testing was completed. He was fired after he submitted a report 3 months after the testing was done, By then, however, the client had passed away.
According to an article in the July 12, 1993 issue of PEOPLE magazine, by Michael Mason, chronic procrastinators share many personality characteristics. ╥They bottom out in self-esteem and confidence╔[and they╒re] more likely to have had authoritarian parents, who [made] heavy demands without offering much emotional support.╙ They also harbor much self-doubt, which becomes ╥a downward spiral, leading to avoidance, hopelessly botched situations, and more doubt.╙
Take heart, however. There is a way out. Here are steps Mason offers to start you on the road to efficiency:
Ñ Write down how you spend each waking half-hour every day for a week. Look for patterns in what you tend to avoid.
Ñ Pay attention to what you╒re thinking and feeling as you approach something you want to avoid. Why the sudden cringing?
Ñ Choose attainable goals. They should be concrete╨not, say, a desire to feel differently about something.
Ñ Set a deadline for accomplishing each goal, and╨if you aren╒t touchy about your independence╨tell someone about it. If you make the date, reward yourself.
According to Mason, ╥Procrastinators often feel hopeless about their problem, but you can change. You don╒t have to live with a sense of dread and anxiety and self-loathing. There really is hope╨there╒s just not much time.╙ (article continues)
