My 2E kid has a terrible problem of procrastination. He has good intentions but everything is "later." It hasn't been that big of deal in the past because last minute worked. Now that he has gotten older, the workload at school has greatly increased and the demand on time for all of his extracurriculars has made his procrastination an issue. He understands it's a problem and really wants to stop doing it but he can't. He sets out a reasonable plan but it ends up being all talk and it doesn't happen. He genuinely wants to change but can't seem to enact any changes. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can help him? We have calendars and written plans but it kind of goes out the window. Appreciate any advice.
It’s a great approach to plan, but for all the reasons Indigo has given, sometimes it’s just too daunting a step to start executing a well thought plan. I’d start with low hanging fruit (simple, short tasks), as the sense of achievement from accomplishment is often enough to spur on to the next task.
I often say, tongue in cheek, that my strategy as a busy working parent, is to harness the ‘power of procrastination’. That is, I’ll get half a dozen ‘easy’ tasks done whilst I’m avoiding a task that I really don’t want to tackle and I then ride the ‘high’ that I’m on, from completing all the other tasks, to tackle the task that I procrastinated.
