Ryan, a straight-A Dartmouth student, started by claiming, "Really, I don't defeat procrastination." But then he continued: "Or, at least, I don't think I do...although, I suppose, compared to the majority of students, I'm not as bad as I think."
"I don't know that I've yet defeated procrastination," was how Christine, a straight-A Harvard student, began before concluding: "but I've found ways to make this inevitable tendency less destructive."
Over time, these extended responses began to paint a clear picture. When the straight-A students answered "I don't defeat procrastination," they really meant to say "I don't defeat the urge to procrastinate." And this makes perfect sense. To put it simply, some work just plain sucks, and you, like the straight-A students interviewed for this book, will want to procrastinate on this sucky work. It's unavoidable. Therefore, the goal in this step is not to teach you how to love all work and never feel like procrastinating ever again. Instead, I'm going to describe some targeted strategies to help you sidestep this unavoidable urge when it arises—not destroy it altogether. This is how straight-A students prevent procrastination from destabilizing their schedule. They don't rely only on willpower and good intentions, but instead deploy an arsenal of specific, tested rules that help them short-circuit their natural desire to
