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 you already have everything you need to get better?

Based on my experience people, like me, who have been struggling with this problem over many years, are always on the lookout for a new solution or a better solution, one that will rid us of our procrastination problem forever. That's why we came to this forum right? To look for a solution.

Personally, I've read and know of many different 'solutions', including various time management systems, habit changing regimes and other inspirational material. And yet I'm still the way I am.... a procrastinator.

But something just occurred to me a minute ago.

Maybe I've already got everything that I could ever need?

I mean, I've got loads of great books (that I've not even read), really great websites with tons of useful ideas that could take me a lifetime if I wanted to try out every single one of them, great ideas/theories/inspiration from countless places, countless time management systems available, great videos online, great heroes that inspire me, great people around me (gf must get a special mention), enough money to get by, arms, legs and a half-decent brain (I know I'm not stupid).

Maybe everything I thought I needed to have in order to get better, I already have.

Maybe everything that I thought I needed to read and see, I've already experienced.

Maybe everything that I thought I needed to know, I already know.

Maybe the solutions I've been looking for is already in front of my eyes.

Maybe the solution that I've been searching for is to simply USE the things that I already possess?

very interesting discussion

fascinating, actually.

i am pondering this all. good points of view here.

steve, i have moments of clarity. Or at least, they seem like clarity to me. I've had many. The trouble with them, at least in my experience, is they were always fleeting. Always. And that record stands today.

In fact, it was not a moment of clarity that has brought me into recovery. It was more like what you're saying--using the things i already kno.

And frankly, for me, that's boring. Ho hum, i've already read that. As opposed to, oh wow that's some new interesting shiny new toy.

And i notice that your moment of clarity was to use the stuff you already kno. So we're on the same wavelength.

My experience has shown that using, and continuing to use, the same same old boring thing again and again is what has helped.

Like posting here. I am trying to be boring. Even the insights here could distract me. But i have learned to enjoy them, sort of as a concert or movie, and then get back to my old boring life.

But there's other stuff in here for me. There are some times that I JUST DONT WANT TO DO IT. There are times where i'm too depressed, feeling too much pain, too much resistance, or dread, to even form the motivation to actually use the techniques that i kno. Even tho i've accepted the idea of just doing the same old boring technique.

So my greatest joy (at least, looking back) is that i have received the power to do...even when i feel horrible. I can't quite explain that, but i happen to trust that it's steps 1-3 of the 12 steps. I feel like i get supernatural help at those times to do what i am powerless to do.

Might it come from someplace deep inside me? Well i guess that's possible, since i can't see the source myself. And at those moments, i dont even care.

It is encouraging to me to write about this. I have power in those darkest moments, power that i never had before. I was always a believer in, even a devotee of, god, but the 12 steps have shown me a pathway that god can help my procrastination. That feels like a gift to me. I dont think i ever would have got there myself, evem given infinite time. Am grateful. and/or lucky.

Ok i did preview. Not as brave as steve, and his not editing. I am proud of you steve. I know that urge myself.

And i must be off. part of my recovery is to not waste too much time here. ironic.

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http://www.procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/1114#comment-23050

I've had a really tough,

I've had a really tough, TESTING day today (i try to think of all my bad days as a test).

But I was just thinking about what I wrote above, and, I think I struggle MOST with perfectionism. Sometimes, no, I mean often, I lose sight of what I am trying to achieve and end up being torn between two goals, which makes me stay still rather than move forward.

Wow. I didn't make that insight before I just wrote that paragraph above.

Of course! When I have one goal (lose weight) but then become obsessed with another goal (beat this record on Wii Sports), then I obviously get dragged both ways and end up being frustrated and not performing to my maxim. Of course!

It's a test. I think I just passed. I need to keep thinking about the 'higher goals' and lower my standards.

Hmm... sometimes I think that the best person to help us is ourselves. Weird. I guess that coincides with the original post: we already know everything we need to know. We just need to use it.

And that's why it must be so hard to use it! Because sometimes your mind becomes clouded with other stuff and you can't see clearly what you already know!

Wow.

Do you guys have moments of clarity like this too?

I'm gonna do my my absolute best, no, my absolute ok-ness, for the rest of the day and recover this day.

Like this post. I'm NOT gonna edit this. It's how it's coming out of my mind, and how it will stay.

K. Thanks PA for allowing me the place to gain my thoughts.

Wow, I'm glad to hear that

Wow, I'm glad to hear that you all think the same too.

Along the lines of not trying to look for any new solutions until I've tried all the ones that I've already got I've made a pledge to not buy any new books unless I've read one first, or I'm willing to trade in another book i.e. give it away so that I can have the new book on my shelf.

Everything I need...

...that's often been my hunch--that I've got what I need to do this stuff.

It's figuring out how to make using it second nature that seems to hang me up.

*sigh*

Two reflections on the notion that we already have what we need

Since I first read Steven's note about this I've been thinking about a Buddhist allegory, and I've finally gotten a version of it. (I am not a Buddhist myself but find some of that faith's understanding of the universe very helpful in my own spiritual path.)

It is, O Lord, as if some man having come to a friend's house got drunk
or fell asleep, and that friend bound a priceless gem within his
garment, with the thought: Let this gem be his. After a while, O Lord,
that man rises from his seat and travels further; he goes to some other
country, where he is befallen by incessant difficulties, and has great
trouble to find food and clothing. By dint of great exertion he is
hardly able to obtain a bit of food, with which (however) he is
contented and satisfied. The old friend of that man, O Lord, who bound
within the man's garment that priceless gem, happens to see him again
and says: How is it, good friend, that thou hast such difficulty in
seeking food and clothing, while I, in order that thou shouldst live in
ease, good friend, have bound within thy garment a priceless gem, quite
sufficient to fulfil all thy wishes? I have given thee that gem, my
good friend, the very gem I have bound within thy garment. .... Go,
my good friend, betake thyself, with this gem, to some great city,
exchange the gem for money, and with that money do all that can be done
with money.

And that same message is in the third verse of a song called "Swimming to the other side" by Pat Humphries:

When we get there we'll discover all of the gifts we've been given to share

have been with us since the beginning and we never noticed they were there

we can balance at the brink of wisdom never recognizing that we've arrived

loving spirits will live together we're all swimming to the other side.

Both of these are reminders of the profound truth that you have presented here! 

GeorgeSmiley

The Hero's Code:

Show up. Pay Attention. Speak the Truth. Let Go of the Outcome.

Ya

Hi Steven!

Yeah, I think you've got it! ;)

Thanks for the post! :)

Recycler

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

yes...

I think you are right Steven.

What do I need to change? HP. And the awareness to do the right thing one minute, one hour or one day at a time.

Easier said than done. But admitting I don't need a new book is a help.