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.

"Do It Tomorrow - and other secrets of time management" by Mark Forster

This book was discussed in another thread (I'm move it over here). I ordered the book from amazon in the UK, and it just arrived today. Will report back after I've had a chance to read it!

 

how to deal with more abstract tasks?

I just read this book and I did get a few things out of it. But it seems like the author assumes that our problem is lots of little tasks (returning phone calls, placing orders, replying to emails). I don't really procrastinate on those, when it's clear what needs to be done and it's fairly clear how much time needs to be allotted. 

 My problem is that my work consists almost entirely of big (100+ page) writing projects. Figuring out how much can reasonably be finished in a day is not at all clear to me. I don't do well at breaking them down into tasks that can be done in 30 min or so, which is what would be helpful, and often my to-do list is just "write Chapter 5." Visualizing working or visualizing being done would be helpful, but there's no real visual for those things--it's just me sitting in front of my computer, as always. Anyone have pointers?

well i have the same problem

well i have the same problem as you. but i ALSO procrastinate the small tasks too.

in fact i just had a big, abstract task at work to tackle. i have found the "tools" very helpful here. They're on the P.A. Meeting Materials page (which is < http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/386 >) and there's a link there for PA Tools for Recovery which is at < http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/files/PA_Tools.html > especially tool 1. Break It Down: Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown

a related concept is microbursting. even LESS than 5 min. I just say to myself, what is one thing i know i need to do, and i do that. even if that's just get out the file, or write something trivial. and then i just keep going like that, keeping my eye OFF the big picture, and just getting small things done. For someone who often gets lost in the vast vagaries of the big picture, this works well. For me, it takes some faith to believe that getting my eye off the big picture will get me there, but i get thru that by knowing this has worked in the past, and trusting god is leading me down this path of recovery and won't lead me astray.

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the touch of the master's hand: http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/1898#comment-27748

"fall down seven times, get up eight" - japanese proverb

thanks clement!

It really helps just to know there is someone else who has this problem. The idea of keeping your eye OFF the big picture is a good one--and hard to do. I will try to remember to do that. Also, thanks for the recommendation re. the tools on this website. I am finding lots of things that sound like they would work--if I can actually get myself to do them. Wish me luck!

Forster's plan for backlogs

I'm doing basically what Forster said - though I've never heard of Forster. That's interesting. Did he write book? Should I buy it? It sounds like it his ideas fit what works for me - I'd like to read more about it.

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Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

Backlogs, Mark Forster & technique from book

Correction - he didn't say 2 hours, he was suggesting making it the first thing you do each day, or your 'current initiative'. He didn't say how long that should be, since it's whatever you can manage.

I have been meaning to review his books - oooops.
I mean, a book is a book is a book, and none of them are going to do it *for* me (damn!), but I do get frustrated when I read other books with advice such as 'Just sit down and work on whichever task you least want to do for an hour, and you'll soon find yourself making progress!'*

Well... *duh!*
If I could do that, I wouldn't have a problem!

Different organisational books are aimed at different levels - some of the ones that actually work for me, get negative reviews from people who were looking for how to colour code their filing system, or what style of box would most suit their home office. :rolleyes:
It's why I prefer books on organisation for ADHD, and the ones recommended here - at least they're at my 'level'.

Er, I'm getting massively sidetracked. Sorry.

Anyway, Mark Forsters advice was at least on my 'level'. He suggested overcoming resistance by just telling myself I 'only' had to do the first thing. Ie I 'only' have to open the file, his example was he 'only' had to get his lawnmower out of the shed, he didn't actually have to mow the lawn.
He suggested starting in increments of 5 minutes (rather than an hour!), if that's what worked.

One technique from 'Get Everything Done & Still have time to play' was only doing 5 minutes on each item in my task list, and repeatedly going through it and increasing it to 10 minutes, then 15 etc - I didn't
Like this:
Update CV 5 10 15 20
Water plants 5
Tidy Room 5 10 15 20
Check email 5 10
Update website 5 10 15

(it also gives you an idea of how long things take on a daily basis, so you can start just giving yourself a longer timed burst to start with if you're not resisting it)

That list thing was useful in the past, but unfortunately doesn't work for my current job.
Which. Speaking of - I should get back to.

Good luck?

* From a real, but instantly forgotten organisation book. :P

bought Forster's book from a store in the UK

I ordered the Forster book from the UK. The book was cheap, but the shipping was three times what the book cost. Oh well. I think it will help me. He has a Web site:

http://www.markforster.net/do-it-tomorrow/

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Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

Forster's book is unavailable - where did you get it?

Neither B&N nor amazon.com have the Forster book. B&N says it won't be available until November 1st. Where did you get it?

Edit... Are you in the UK, perhaps? It's available from amazon.com in the UK.

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Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.

the early morning theory intrigues me, too.

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