Overcoming Procrastination for Teens - by William J Knaus (Paperback)

About the Book

Procrastinating is a habit that, if left unchecked, can hinder a teen's success and follow them well into adulthood. With this book, procrastination expert Bill Knaus offers teens an evidence-based, step-by-step guide to overcoming procrastination. With simple and fun exercises based in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills, teens will learn to organize their schedule, manage homework, overcome negative self-talk, and improve their self-esteem.

Book Synopsis

"Useful for students who want to stop procrastinating, do better in school, and accomplish more."
--Booklist

Procrastinating is a habit that can hinder your success and follow you well into adulthood. With this book, procrastination expert Bill Knaus offers a step-by-step guide to overcoming procrastination. With simple and fun exercises and skills based in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), you'll learn to organize your schedule, manage homework, overcome negative self-talk, and improve your self-esteem.

Procrastination is a universal topic--it's a problem that plagues millions of high school and college students and concerns teachers and parents. If you're someone who procrastinates, you know your delays can have a negative impact on your life--especially when it comes to grades and preparing for the future. Even worse, if you aren't able to overcome your procrastination habit, it can have a limiting effect on your success as an adult. So, what can you do to strip away the procrastination barriers and successfully meet your challenges?

Overcoming Procrastination for Teens is a practical, research-supported workbook to help you understand the habit of procrastination, reduce it, and increase your ability to get things done. Using tips and tools based in CBT, you'll learn how to address unfounded fears, improve self-perception, manage your time and feelings of boredom or indifference, increase critical thinking abilities and organizational skills, and much more.

With this comprehensive self-help training manual, you'll develop the self-mastery you need to lessen procrastination and be ready to meet your challenges, get more done, feel better, and prepare for the future--setting the stage for success in high school, in college, and beyond.

Review Quotes

"Overcoming Procrastination for Teens shows how to build powerful mental skills and use self-organizing tools to succeed in college preparation classes, and later in college. Along with engaging examples of teens meeting tough challenges, each new chapter builds on the one that came before it to create a pyramid of knowledge for success. I strongly recommend it."
--Susan Tapper, EdD, professor emeritus in health education at San Francisco State University, and instructor for the University of San Diego Extension Program for Teacher Education Credentialing

"Bill Knaus has created a very useful guide for students of any age who have struggled with procrastination, and want to be college and/or career ready. Looking back on my experience as a high school teacher, high school principal, and school district superintendent, it was rare for me to see students that did not toil, in one way or another, with procrastination. I can see that this book would have been a tremendous help for any student who has left the dreaded book report for the last day (probably night) of Christmas vacation. If this sounds like you, this book is for you."
--Keith R. Burke, former school administrator, and consultant to the New Hampshire Department of Education and other school districts throughout New England

"Bill Knaus' narrative style not only presents essential information in a highly reader-friendly way, but will also help readers retain the important aspects of the material. What's more, his emphasis on encouraging active participation with a variety of concrete and clearly illustrated tasks will almost certainly engage and reward the reader. Simply put, a must-read (and do) for any college-bound student grappling with the challenges of procrastination. Indeed, I plan to use it in my practice with many adults in addition to my adolescent clients, college-bound or not!"
--Clifford N. Lazarus, PhD, licensed psychologist, and cofounder and director at the Lazarus Institute for Multimodal CBT

"Dear college-bound teen--don't leave your future to chance. Prepare now for the challenging road ahead. Learn to reduce procrastination and optimize your successes with Bill Knaus' gift for boosting your effectiveness. When you get to college, you'll be glad you did."
--Deborah Steinberg, MSW, psychotherapist, former supervisor and board member at the Albert Ellis Institute, mindfulness facilitator, and coauthor of How to Stick to a Diet

"Everyone procrastinates to some extent, but for young people, it can lead to poor grades, added stress, and the failure to live up to future expectations. In this workbook, Knaus, a psychologist, uses stories about teens to help high-school students get organized, cope with stress, and achieve better grades. Through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) methods, Knaus encourages students to develop self-mastery skills in problem solving, reflecting and reasoning, monitoring their thoughts to achieve superior results, setting attainable goals and executing them effectively, and accepting setbacks, among other things. The occasional use of a metaphorical guide (e.g., "The Spirit of Reason") is different but effective, while 12 tips at the end of the book on transitioning to college are inspiring. The book's design, with pages that invite the reader to take surveys, fill in checklists, and answer progress reports, isn't ideal for libraries but will still be useful for students who want to stop procrastinating, do better in school, and accomplish more--and photocopies can easily be made for the classroom."
--Booklist


"Hats off to Bill Knaus. Overcoming Procrastination for Teens is a veritable feast--a smorgasbord of practical, usable, and effective cognitive and behavioral strategies for the high schooler, the college student, and anyone, for that matter who wishes to eliminate procrastination and make their goals a reality. It feeds the needs of the student, his or her parent, and those practitioners, like myself, who are called upon to help those already starved for success because of procrastination. Bon Appetit!"
--Russell Grieger, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice, an organizational consultant, and adjunct professor at the University of Virginia

"In this engaging and highly accessible book, psychologist Bill Knaus masterfully lays out useful strategies for overcoming procrastination habits that often lead students to underperform and suffer needless stress. Using metaphors such as the Frog, and the Spirit of Reason, he artfully drives home valuable life lessons, and then provides numerous skill-building exercises for internalizing rational anti-procrastination thinking and acting. This is the only book of its kind. All students--from high school through graduate school--should place a copy in their backpacks and read it!"
--Elliot D. Cohen, PhD, professor and chair in the department of humanities at Indian River State College, FL

"Practical, useful, and completely readable. Bill Knaus has produced an idea and a workbook that should be bought by every parent who had a child like me. If I had this book fifty years ago, many arguments with my parents and teachers could have been avoided. My problem was that I had no idea about how to tackle homework and projects, because they always seemed huge and daunting. Learning how to break big assignments into manageable parts and to set tangible goals would have done wonders for me. It took me decades to learn what Knaus can teach in minutes. Buy this book."
--Derek Paar, PhD, professor in the department of psychology at Springfield College, MA

"The most frustrating, hair-pulling moments for parents occur when their teenager avoids, delays, or stubbornly resists doing their homework or other responsibilities. In this brilliantly conceived book, Bill Knaus throws a lifeline to both parents and teens by explaining what psychological processes are operating behind the procrastination and indecision, and then provides dozens of straightforward tips and techniques to overcome this problem. This groundbreaking book should be on every family's bookshelf!"
--Barry Lubetkin, PhD, ABPP, director and founder of the Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York City, NY

"Written in an easy-to-understand, conversational style, Overcoming Procrastination for Teens provides wise ideas for teens (and their parents) on defeating procrastination. The reader will find engaging examples, where teens learn from teens, and where metaphors and stories make key ideas memorable. Teens who try just a few of these methods, and give themselves half a chance, are likely to gain a lot."
--William L. Golden, PhD, licensed psychologist with a private practice in New York City and Briarcliff Manor, NY; author of several books; and faculty member at Cornell Medical College

About the Author

William J. Knaus, EdD, is a licensed psychologist with more than forty-six years of clinical experience working with people suffering from anxiety, depression, and procrastination. He has appeared on numerous regional and national television shows, including The Today Show, and more than 100 radio shows. His ideas have appeared in national magazines such as U.S. News & World Report and Good Housekeeping, and major newspapers such as The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune. He is one of the original directors of postdoctoral psychotherapy training in rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Knaus is the author or coauthor of over twenty books, including The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Anxiety, The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Depression, and The Procrastination Workbook.