Mon, 28 September 2009  In his autobiography published (in German) in March of 1995 to coincide with his 90th birthday, Dr. Viktor Frankl reflected on the "Manner of my Work." His reflections are simple and clear, speaking directly to two habits that defeat procrastination. His advice is the focus of this week's podcast.The image of Dr. Frankl that appears in this podcast was taken from the Official Web site of the Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna. If you're interested in Frankl's well-known book, "Man's Search for Meaning" you can find it Amazon (and just about any used book store) If you want to learn more about procrastination, see my Procrastination Research Group. I welcome your comments at tpychyl@gmail.com. If you have a minute, please review the podcast on iTunes. Comments[1] |
Dr. Pychyl,
I’ve been listening to all your pod casts and taking notes on them so that I can get a homogenous overview of where to begin my path out of procrastination. Thanks for all the dedicated work you’ve done to make this information available.
Your pod cast on Viktor Frankl was of particular interest to me. I’ve read through both his books, “The Doctor and the Soul,” and “Man’s Search for Meaning,” several times trying to find some paragraph or statement that would change my ideas about meaning as it applies to my life. On page 196 of, “The Doctor and the Soul,” he talks about a teenager who seems to need 100% of life to be provable, and this has stuck in my mind for a couple of years.
My procrastination is over ‘choosing’ a career for myself. I’m already 49 years old and very little of what I do has any bearing on a career or even choosing the career (although I’ve done many self-inquiry books to identify a career). One of your last statements concerns whether procrastination is actually a symptom or the result of goals that may not be in keeping with our authentic selves. But 'meaning' seems so relative to me that attributing an arbitrary importance to any particular goal would be false. Subsequently, it feels like I may as well be rolling some dice to make a choice, and rather than rolling a seven, I roll a “crane operator.”
You went on to say that you don’t advocate giving up on the goal quickly. I took this to mean we need to be as sure as we can to discern whether non-constructive habits are causing the procrastination or is it truly the wrong goal choice. But what if one is procrastinating over making the choice in the first place?
Thanks again for all this information. It must have been like wandering in the desert for people before the Internet came along. Ha!
Greg in Colorado
I’ve been listening to all your pod casts and taking notes on them so that I can get a homogenous overview of where to begin my path out of procrastination. Thanks for all the dedicated work you’ve done to make this information available.
Your pod cast on Viktor Frankl was of particular interest to me. I’ve read through both his books, “The Doctor and the Soul,” and “Man’s Search for Meaning,” several times trying to find some paragraph or statement that would change my ideas about meaning as it applies to my life. On page 196 of, “The Doctor and the Soul,” he talks about a teenager who seems to need 100% of life to be provable, and this has stuck in my mind for a couple of years.
My procrastination is over ‘choosing’ a career for myself. I’m already 49 years old and very little of what I do has any bearing on a career or even choosing the career (although I’ve done many self-inquiry books to identify a career). One of your last statements concerns whether procrastination is actually a symptom or the result of goals that may not be in keeping with our authentic selves. But 'meaning' seems so relative to me that attributing an arbitrary importance to any particular goal would be false. Subsequently, it feels like I may as well be rolling some dice to make a choice, and rather than rolling a seven, I roll a “crane operator.”
You went on to say that you don’t advocate giving up on the goal quickly. I took this to mean we need to be as sure as we can to discern whether non-constructive habits are causing the procrastination or is it truly the wrong goal choice. But what if one is procrastinating over making the choice in the first place?
Thanks again for all this information. It must have been like wandering in the desert for people before the Internet came along. Ha!
Greg in Colorado
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