Chapter 5 Do-Nothingism: How to Beat It

A deadly enemy of motivation is a sense of coercion. You feel under intense pressure to perform—generated from within and without. This happens when you try to motivate yourself with moralistic 'shoulds' and 'oughts.' You tell yourself, 'I should do this' and 'I have to do that.' Then you feel obliged, burdened, tense, resentful, and guilty. You feel like a delinquent child under the discipline of a tyrannical probation officer. Every task becomes colored with such unpleasantness that you can't stand to face it. Then as you procrastinate, you condemn yourself as a lazy, no-good bum.