Feeling Good: Overcome Depression and Anxiety with Proven Techniques

by David D. Burns

A powerful self-motivation method involves making a list of the advantages of a productive action you’ve been avoiding because it requires more self-discipline than you have been able to muster.

The “Can’t Lose” System. You may feel hesitant to put your “can’ts” to the test because you don’t want to run the risk of failure. If you don’t run any risks, at least you can maintain the secret belief that you’re basically a terrific person who’s decided for the time being not to get involved. Behind your aloofness and lack of commitment lurks a powerful sense of inadequacy and the fear of failure.

If you can love and respect yourself in failure, worlds of adventure and new experiences will open up before you, and your fears will vanish.

Individuals who procrastinate frequently confuse motivation and action. You foolishly wait until you feel in the mood to do something. Since you don’t feel like doing it, you automatically put it off. Your error is your belief that motivation comes first, and then leads to activation and success. But it is usually the other way around; action must come first, and the motivation comes later on.

If you are a procrastinator, you probably aren’t aware of this. So you lie around in bed waiting for inspiration to strike. When someone suggests you do something, you whine, “I don’t feel like it.” Well, who said you were supposed to feel like it? If you wait until you’re “in the mood,” you may wait forever!