Procrastinating on Applying for Workers’ Compensation Benefits in Raleigh? Lessons From Neil Fiore’s “The Now Habit”
Procrastination is an enormous problem in our society–it’s not just a bugbear that afflicts potential workman’s comp beneficiaries in North Carolina.
If you have delayed or deferred taking action towards solving your case–holding a mean employer’s feet to the fire, metaphorically, or fighting back against an insultingly low insurance offer–you may need to “dig deep” to understand the root of your dithering.
According to Neil Fiore, author of a critically acclaimed book on procrastination, “The Now Habit,” we procrastinate in some ways to protect ourselves. Per Fiore, in modern American society, most of us are raised to fear failure and to be as perfect as possible. If you get three A’s in school and one B, for instance, you parents might focus a lot of
attention on that one B–“get it up, kid!”–While simultaneously failing acknowledge the good work in the other classes.
Thus, many people–perhaps a majority of people in North Carolina workplaces–grow up with a very conservative, almost perfectionist mentality that cultivates procrastination and workaholism. Breaking through this kind of barrier is a trickier proposition than just “finding willpower”. According to Fiore, you need to apply substantial counterintuitive wisdom to bust through procrastination, long term. For instance:
- Use your chronic worrying for you, not against you. Make worrying “work” for you by finishing the worrying process.
- Instead of just feeling amorphous anxiety, write down your worst fears about the project (e.g. your potential NC workers’ compensation case), and then figure out what you can do to avoid or deal with that worst case scenario.
- Get yourself into a more action oriented mentality. You might be waiting for the perfect place to start–to find the perfect North Carolina workers’ compensation law firm, for instance, or to read the perfect free article online that tells you exactly how to apply and minimize all hassles. Move past that mentality and just get started.
- Get in the “ready, fire, aim” habit–be willing to dive in and course correct as you go forward. Adopt this mentality not just for your workers’ comp case but also for any projects which are sticking for you.
- Lastly, learn how to talk to yourself better. Most people’s “self-talk” is incredibly destructive. We are constantly blaming ourselves, blaming other people, putting ourselves down, putting other people down, etc. In fact, this phenomenon of “negative self-talk” is practically universal in western society. A recent study suggested that turning off that self-talk in any situation can lead to more happiness. Even if you are stuck in traffic, you will enjoy the time more if you pay attention to “being in traffic” rather than drifting off into internal chatter.
Consider checking out Fiore’s book and going through his exercises–they will be well worth your time. And if you haven’t yet retained a good law firm, consider calling the DeMayo Law team right now for a free evaluation of your case.
