Shapiro

Ironically, this fear of failure for lack of perfection is superimposed on someone who has a pretty good record of failure over ordinary simple things. Why even try?

can break activities down into three main categories: gathering your materials, using those materials, and putting the materials away. (That last part is actually a step.)

When the time is up, stop

Another way to break up tasks is to break them up into bits of time. The bits of time should be individualized to your optimal attention span. If you can concentrate on something for a maximum of fifteen minutes, then break things into pieces of fifteen minutes each. When the time is up, stop.

Begin by estimating the amount of time it will take to do something at your most efficient. Then set a timer, or visualize the time on your watch or the clock on the wall. Make sure you have a way to keep track. Then, ready, set, go! And when the time is up, whether or not you have finished, stop

Take a break. Evaluate what you have accomplished. Estimate the shortest amount of time it will take to finish the project. Go!

he same mental processes that lead to rapid-fire thinking can be harnessed to lead to rapid-fire action. What you need to make that work is to have confidence in this ability, and then use that knowledge to gain control of your overall plan and goal. T

first is to learn to identify when that skill is useful and when it is not. The second is to use your visual skills to clarify your goals before you start.

Slowing down is important when you are taking in information. This is the situation in which you must make a visual image in your mind as you are gathering information from any source in order to store and thus retain that information

same need to slow your thinking applies to planning and setting a goal for accomplishing any particular task. Before you start a task, make sure you have a vivid image in your mind of what you plan to accomplish. Be sure that the image you create includes the wonderful feeling you will have when you have accomplished your goal. Feel the glow and the satisfaction you will have on an emotional level. You should do this in a slow, relaxed manner, as you do with all of your active visualizations. This is the part of the activity in which it is most important that you slow down your natural rapid-fire thinking.