Procrastinators Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from chronic procrastination.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

http://www.procrastinators-anonymous.org/files/images/flying_pig.gifToday is a great day to work on those projects that you said you would do when pigs fly

Recycler CI 10:25pmEST

Hi!

I'm checking in at the end of my day -- I see everyone has been busy today -- congrats on all those accomplishments!!!

My day:  I was at the gym this morning, then at work.  I paid bills, replied to my landlord about the status of a maintenance issue, went to my continuing education meeting, then volunteer activity, then e-mailed some friends when I got home.

Time to sleep now  -- talk with y'all tomorrow pm! :)

E-hugs! :)

Recycler

Thank you, gals & guys, for being here! :)

kaoba 6pm ChkOut

I did it!!! I set my timer for 5 minutes, started clearing the desk by picking up one by one each item that is there and dealing with it. Amazingly, I cleared a corner. In only 5 minutes!!! I wish this lesson would stick.

I read in a post today (sorry, don't exactly remember which one) about being unable to decide what to do because everything by now is important, urgent and has been sitting undone for so long, so one cannot even decide where to start. This is a very common theme for me. So I don't start. I'm so tired of this. Let's see how tomorrow goes.

you did it kaoba

5 minutes works.  I wish the lesson suck for me, but seeing it work for others helps.

Everything is important--i grok.

Congrats!

That's great! It's amazing what 5 minutes can do :)

I need to *do* something!

 ... as in actual action. I've been paralyzed almost the whole day! You all have inspired me to get moving, even if it is 5 minutes.

So ... I am finishing a cup of coffee, then I will spend 5 minutes doing something about my desk (absolute disaster zone). After those 5 minutes I will check back in.

coffee cup finished ...

... so now I have to do my 5 minutes. If feels like a jail sentence, ugh.

i get "jail sentence"

it feels like that to me.  Has felt that way several times today only.

push thru it.

--fellow cellmate.

e's check out

It has been a good day and I am happy that I made some progress. There is room for improvement on how much progress I can make, but I am going to work on acknowledging the positive.

Gratitude list for the day:
a good friend who tells it like it is
my husband, who did not  get snippy tonight when there was no green vegitable at dinner
for my son, who followed up on his homework which he thought he had completed, but had not, but caught it tonight.
for my other son, who made mashed potatoes without being asked
for myself, for allowing myself not to chase around when people don't follow through completely
for my good habits, which have caused several people to comment on a less round appearance
for skype, which gave me the fiscal freedom to spend several hours on international phonecalls today
for my job, which I am looking forward to walking to tomorrow
for this program, which when I work it, it works
for not beating myself up when I found myself grazing through food today

goodnight!

great day, e!

Sounds like you did really well today! Way to go!

Grail's CI (for Wednesday)

To do list at Work:
* For one project... 7 tests  
Edit - Done: 2
* For another project... 2 tests
* Total hours up for 3 projects

Then, go see how much more work I have. ;)

Grail CI, 4pm (weds)

Earlier edit was premature, ended up continuing on test two for ages.
But, finally completed 6 tests for first project (leaving one til later),

About to start on totalling hours. :)

At lunchtime, I went to a hardware store and carried a 2.4 x 1.5m board back to work with me so that I can fix a hole in my ceiling that's been there for 5 months. o_O
Yay for having done it - on the other hand, I wish I'd *planned* to do it, rather than just deciding to run off and get it the supplies. Now to work out how to get the board home (if you're not used to metric, then for context, I'm 1.65m tall :P ).

Grail CI, 6.30pm

Ok, got hours totalled.

But then, heard from a friend that I wasn't expected somewhere after work like I'd planned, and got caught up in personal projects... (because hey, I can do this, and still do my work right? :P)
Plans such as finding pasture for animals for my mum so she can move closer to me. NOT URGENT! Argh!
So, two hours later... o_O!
Between that and taking 2 hours for lunch, due to hardware store visit (I hadn't even taken a look at how long that took me last post), at a conservative estimate I still need to make up at least 3 hours at work.

Ummm, bugger?

I'm going to try for two hours, and then leave and go see my friend (plans changed again... :P).

keep pluggin

that's the way, g.  keep pluggin.

Grail CO, 8.50pm (backdated)

Took another hour to really get going, but once I realised it was pas7.30, that's my new 'go home' time - suddenly it was easier to close all my distractions ('because I'm "going home"'), and then when only my work was open, I got another 6 tests done - because I didn't want to leave with them unfinished!
o_O

It's nice to know my subconscious is so easily manipulated...

That was work, and afterwards, I called a taxi-van, and managed to get the 2.5X1.5m board home, then went and visited my friend which was *really* nice, and... got home about 1am.
Eeep.

Still, I actually feel pretty good today.

clement ci

ok back from appt.
14 min of PA reading/posting.  I know because the "Recent Comments" bar on the right tells me so.
Meeting in 5 min.
Already checked email.
I'll prep for that mtg.  cya

meeting delayed 30 min.

being reasonably productive.  Touched project p, at least.

N's check in

Well, I'm sad. I sat down to work at 9:28 -- and four hours later had not started.  Just web browsing.  :(

I am committing to 1 hour of work NOW.

Thank goodness for this forum.

Blessings,
N

see you in an hr nan

way to get back up on the horse.  See you in 1hr.  Check-ins help.

Journey 12:30

Had a long boring meeting from 10:30 til noon. I have several things that I need to do but I've been doing nothing for the last half hour. OK, let's get it in gear:

A quick lunch would be in order, then contact G. about picking up dues, and prepare for 1:30 meeting.

I'll call the surgery center while I eat lunch. They are probably at lunch too but it won't hurt to try.

Jo

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey

Journey 2:45

all three of those tasks + the 1:30 meeting done. Remember that project I wanted to yell at people about? My old boss advises me to go ahead and be a pushy b*tch and take over that project if I want it to get done in a reasonable amount of time, as he's had experience with this dude before. So maybe I will. Tactfully, though. And without doing any physical harm. No leaping on people in the middle of meetings, shaking them by the throat until they agree to do things my way.

Next, find some examples of project plans similar to the one we're doing. 1 hour max.

Jo

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey

Journey 6:15

Well, my one hour max activity took three hours but I think I presented some good ideas and now I have to trust the project manager to run with them.  We'll see. 

I'm going home!!

Jo

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey

productive day. enjoy it!

productive day.  enjoy it!

kromer 9 (PT) CI

I love the thread starter!

I got a lot of nasty tasks done yesterday, so today is a little more fun. (Still lots of work, but work I'm excited about)

Here's what I'd like to get done:
*Tidy my room
*Go running
*Work on senior thesis:
**Email about test data set
**Try filtering data by gene expression
**Read over what I've written + write another half-page
**Print-out info on GEO datasets
**Read over notes on geometric programming
**Transfer files from school system to my laptop
**Email PF
*Reply to remaining grad schools
*Print out DOE info
*EMPTY inbox
*Email R
*Call Ad.
*Make a list of possible things to do this summer
*Plan what I'm going to get done the rest of the week

To get started:
*Tidy room
*Print out DOE info
*Email 3 grad schools
*Start summer list

kromer 12:50 (PT) CI

OK, I tidied my room a bit, emailed 2 grad schools (replying to other will have to wait for the weekend, when I get back from spring break and can find my letter), and figured out what I want to do this summer! Also went running, had a healthy lunch, and started planning out what I need to get done this week. (Still haven't made it to the printer, but oh well)

Now there's a slight change of plans, since I need to apply for the summer thing this week!
(The app is due next Mon, so I'd like to get it in by Friday if possible.) To make that happen, today I need to:
*Update my resume and post it online
*Read description of application process and make sure I have (or can get) all the documents I need
*Read project descriptions and pick 3 projects I'd like to work on

So, up next:
1)Clean 40 messages out of my inbox (DONE)
2)Print DOE stuff (DONE)
3)Email R
4)Read description of application process (DONE)

kromer 2 (PT) CI

Finished all of the above.

Not exactly blazing along, but at least I'm making progress on what I need to do.

Up next:
1)Transfer senior thesis files to my laptop (DONE)
2)Print info from GEO
3)Deal with 20 more emails from my inbox (DONE! I'm getting to the hard ones now...)

And then, after those slightly dull tasks, some more interesting ones
4)Start picking projects! There are about 100 different groups I could apply to work with. I'm going to scan through the first 50, and pick 4 I'd like to read about in more detail.
5)Try filtering data by gene expr (for my senior thesis)
6)Call Ad.!

kromer 3:40 (PT) CI not doing so great...

After a reasonably productive morning, I've been having some trouble...

<Whining break>I'm kind of tired. This is my spring break, and so I'm cranky about having to do all this work. Most of my friends aren't around, so I'm kind of lonely. Plus, there's a whole lot of really tedious stuff that needs to get done. And I have a lot of trouble being productive at my parent's house</Whining break>

OK, now for some actual solutions.
*The reason I'm working this week is so that I could enjoy Easter with my family and so I can spend of next weekend with my bf and church friends. Also, so I'll have something cool to do over the summer. No one's chaining me to my desk! I'm choosing to work now.
*Maybe I should sleep more than 6 hours? ;) I'll force myself to go to bed by 11:30 tonight. For now, I'll have something caffeinated (not the best solution, but I really don't feel like napping)
*I've already emailed some friends to help deal with the loneliness. Now I'll email PG, call Ad., and remind myself that a week with a lot of alone time doesn't make me pathetic and unloved d ;)
*There is a lot of tedious stuff that need to get done! But I've already gotten through most of it. I'll do something interesting now (looking for summer projects) and come back to the dull stuff when I'm feeling a bit better.

So, next up:
Call Ad
Email PG
Look for projects (spend 20 minutes on this and then I can move on if I like)

kromer 4:10 update

Decided it would be better to wait on emailing PG
I still want to call Ad, but I haven't (I'm scared of the phone, even when it's to call totally nonscary friends. :) )
I have made some progress on looking for projects...looked through half the possible groups, and picked up 2 top choices plus 5 other interesting ones.

I'm still really excited about looking from projects, so I'm going to go through to rest of the possible groups. Then, I'll call Ad. (I'll write out what I want to say first, even though it's "hey, want to have dinner"...)

Update 5:00: Ok, looked through rest of projects and found 4 more interesting ones.
Now I'm going to call Ad.
Specifically, I'm going to:
*take notes on what I want to say
*find her number
*call!

kromer 5:05 (PT) CI

OK, called and left a message

I need to get through all the project descriptions before dinner, so I can talk about projects with my family. I also need to make project on my thesis project. And I'm feeling good enough now that I could tackle a few boring things as well.

Next up:
*Read project descriptions carefully for first 5 projects. Take good notes! (DONE)
*Clear 10 email messages from my inbox (DONE)
*Print GEO data
*Email about test data set
*Read project descriptions for another 5 projects. Notes again!

kromer 9:30 CI--still a ways to go

I printed the GEO data, but I still need to email about the test data set and also read descriptions for the last 5 projects and decide which 2-3 groups I'm applying to.
I really want to start getting ready for bed at 11:15, which means this might be all I have time for.
If I have extra time, I'll either empty my inbox, work on updating my resume, or work on setting my schedule for the rest of next week
I'm really dreading the email about the test data set, so I'll talk myself through it in the chatbox. Otherwise stuff shouldn't be bad.
UPDATE 9:35--turns out I'd already written the email, and just thought I should wait to finish the paper before I sent the email. I'm more organized than I thought! Now, I've got 4 more projects to read up on. I know for sure 2 I want to work on, I just need to chose 1 more.
UPDATE 9:45--1 project desc down, 3 to go
UPDATE 10:00--2 down, 2 to go
UPDATE 10:10--3 down, 1 to go.
UPDATE 10:20--Done!
I've decided which 3 groups I'm applying to.
Next I'll work on updating my resume (and posting it online)
UPDATE 10:45--Resume updated and posted! That wasn't hard. Now I'm going to take 15-20 minutes and finish clearing out my inbox (just 9 messages to read, but they all need careful reading) (I'm done with 4 now, this is dull :rolleyes:)
UPDATE 11:05 Inbox is empty! I'm going to take 10 minutes to finish planning out the rest of the week's work, then do some sit-ups/stretches, then go to bed at 11:30

Re: kromer not doing so great ...

not! I enjoyed reading how you worked through each of your items to refocus it positively. Great job!

kromer admiration

 Kromer, I am often motivated by your check ins: you almost always accomplish everything on your list and what you have on your list looks time consuming and complex. I am excited on your behalf to have a day full of things to look forward to!

pro's CI - 10:45am

I spent the last 45 minutes writing email rather than getting dressed. I'm going to stay on task now. Standing up from computer...

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Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

leaving now

On my way out the door (finally)...

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Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

clean, wrinkled clothes

The shirts I washed this weekend all need ironing so I can't wear them. Oops. Should have done that on Sunday.

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Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

rumor has it ironing is overrated

at least you will smell sweet, pro!

need to go back to logging time in the morning

I do better when I log my time in the morning and evening (before and after work). I'm going to go back to doing that. Maybe I'll do it on weekends, too - any time when I can't get a handle on what I'm doing.

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Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

Time logging for me too

Thanks  for mentioning it. Logging time too often makes me really nuts, but every few days or so is a positive thing. It helps to see where I'm telling myself a bunch of lies!

Time logging - program

I'm using a program called PTM / Personal Time manager
http://ptm.sourceforge.net/

It's flawed, but, better than nothing (or notepad).

I've set it to ask what I'm doing every 15 minutes - just plays a quiet sound, and has an unobtrusive popup at the bottom left of the screen. A little *too* unobtrusive, actually.

Only good for when I'm sitting at the computer, so I just use it for work.

i can't time log

or at least i haven't been able to.  They always look like:

9am task a
9:10 did this
9:40 something else
4pm um... i forget...

Then i forget for 2 days...

I just find i can't stick to it.  I think it forces me to admit the err of my ways.  which i CAN do in here, because i guess this forum is less judgemental than the time log.  That said, if it works for you, great!  use it!

time log lol

Try David Seah's forms
http://davidseah.com/blog/comments/emergent-task-timer-2008-updates/

I used this for a while when I was getting started on this journey . . . It's easier because you can just fill in the little circles once you have identified what you normally spend time on. 

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey

will check david seah

sometime later when i really actually do have a spare minute.  Or else i'll just put it on my list at RTM.

10:00am CI for Lark(and 6PM)

Hi everyone, and congratulations on your successes so far. I'm not feeling 100% this morning, but usually getting busy helps alot. A "dreaded task" is on the table for today, but thank goodness I'm only helping someone, and I'm not responsible for the bottom line. Oh, a GREAT IDEA someone taught me: Start a "to donate" bag. It cuts clutter way down, as it's easier to donate than to throw away.
Today:
(X)morning things
 (X)spiritual (not me)time
 fill donate bag
(X) finish dreaded task
 help friend tonight (if he's there)
 finish work project A (min one section)
(X) begin work project B
 sort dvd's and cd's
 clean anything for half an hour

you did a dreaded task. 

you did a dreaded task.  That's a good day to me.

Dreaded task is crossed off!

Yep, it's done. Just one of the infrequent aspects of my work that turns up, that nobody else will do.Putting it off just gets worse, and keeps alot of other things from getting done. Although some of my other goals for today didn't get done, I'm glad I did what I did. Thanks.

pro's CI - 10am

I washed most of the dishes (except two pots), and I ate breakfast. It's late because I got up late. I should get dressed now and get to work.

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Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

so far so good; keep it up

so far so good; keep it up

2 things to do

1.  w.k.
2.  p task

did P'd task

1. w.k. DONE
2. p.
3. send overdue email -- DONE
4.  s by 20 min from now

So i'm only going to have like 5 min on P.  I feel like it's not worth starting, but that's not true, right, follow PA-ers?

did important interrupt

1. w.k. DONE
2. p.
3. send overdue email -- DONE
4. s by 20 min from now
5. email question DONE

doing 4 now.

c ci2

1. w.k. DONE
2. p.
3. send overdue email -- DONE
4. s by 20 min from now DONE
5. email question DONE
6. email question DONE
7. meeting

also, had appt.