Bill continued to be a procrastinator even though he set it as his goal to stop procrastinating. He also knew that he had to do something about this problem because if he didn't change this problem now, in the future, he would have serious problems.

     There were times his mind and body told him, "You're hopeless."

     His piano teacher often said, "Bill, you have to start practicing more, or else I might have to kick you out of my class, and I doubt you want that to happen."

     The violin teacher frequently stated, "I work so hard to teach you and give you a musical education. I have done my part. But you don't do your part; practicing. How can you give me this crap playing in return?"

     Right now, he struggled to do his homework every night, and he knew that if he struggled now, in high school he would probably be overwhelmed.

     Still, he never spoke to anyone about his overwhelmed feelings, which felt like an anvil attached to his body.

     He just said to himself, "I can do this. All I need to do to stop the overwhelmed feelings is stop procrastinating! If I do all my homework, projects, and reports as soon as the teacher assigns them, and I practice piano and violin each for a half hour each day, then I can play my sports and participate in my after school activities without any worries on my mind."

     Again he asked the same questions as before, such as, "Do I truly love doing all the extra-curriculum activities, or do I do them because of peer pressure?" and "Why can't I stop procrastinating?"

     One day, he decided to force himself to stop procrastinating, and he did stop procrastinating for about a week. But slowly, he changed back to his old self again. Surprised that he had accomplished one week without procrastinating and felt better than before (even though he had forced his body and mind to work), he thought that if he attempted this feat again and again, each time he would be able to hold out a little longer than before, and eventually, he would get into a habit of not procrastinating and his overwhelmed feelings would depart. Also, he thought that he would probably be much more successful afterwards.

     At first, he thought this feat would be a piece of cake, because that first week he didn't procrastinate, he didn't really suffering; he felt suffering because he tried to change himself so quickly, and his body and mind couldn't adjust that quickly. He realized that this feat must be tackled one step at a time, and gradually you will succeed. He continued trying this feat, always putting his whole effort into changing himself. Again and again, he bounced back to his old-self, but he could tell that each time he tried, he completed a step, and was that much closer to reaching his goal. He soon discovered that the time period between his attempts received the most suffering, not the time elapsed while attempting the feat. So, with this discovery, and a steady decrease in the amount of procrastination, he became an extremely jolly person, lighthearted and content.

     A couple of years past and his transformation had finished. He had stopped procrastinating, overpowered his overwhelmed feelings, and felt rejuvenated and ready to start a new life, fresh and unscratched.

     In the days when he felt overwhelmed, he said to himself, "I wish I were dead."

     Nowadays, he said to himself, "I can accomplish so much in life if I just put some effort into doing something."