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.

August 26, 2009 Wednesday

Recycler CI 5:50pm EST

Hi Pro Buddies!

At the gym this morning, I did my full routine of stretching and ab exercises. No cardio, since still no clearance from my doctor.

This morning at work, I got some things ready for my boss before they went on their trip. At lunchtime, I did an errand, and while I was out, I got some food to eat. In the afternoon I mostly did emails, but also worked on my project list. Before the end of the workday, I updated and highlighted my list for tomorrow. There is one thing I will need to do asap upon arrival, to have it ready for another boss who will be back in the office that day.

Next: I have an activity to go to tonight. I have about 50 minutes before I go. Do I want to do anything? Not really. I'm going to surf the Internet for a few minutes to see if I get inspired ;) I probably won't get to update my CI later.

Have a great night! :)

Recycler


Recycler

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

crayon CI - 1 pm

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their kind words/advice after my (first) post last night.  I'm really glad I found this group--I think that the support everyone seems to give each other here is really somewhat hard to find in the rest of the world.

Here is my to do list for the day:
•    Morning routine-get ready/take vitamins/etc.
•    check in here
•    class (until 12)
•    Homework for tomorrow's class
•    check for urgent emails only
•    pay BOA credit card
•    remember to brush teeth/floss after lunch
•    remember to drink plenty of water (dumb, but writing it down helps)
•    journal
•    Call E
•    Read research (again) & take notes for report-complete no later than 5
•    outline for report - complete no later than 6p
•    write report-complete no later than 6a
•    edits to report - complete no later than 7a
•    email (again) saying that report will be done soon?
•    check in here again (later) with update

My plan is to stay up tonight to finish the report now that I have a good night's sleep behind me.  Obviously I'll be totally sleep deprived for class tomorrow morning, but hopefully the report will be out of my life.
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Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.  
~William James

crayon CI - 7 pm

It is now 7 pm and I still haven't begun the rereading/outlining process which I said I'd finish by 5.  Instead, I researched procrastination (not the point of PA, I know). Then got caught in conversations with the family. invited out to dinner, said I couldn't go (again).  ARRRRRRRRRRRG!

I guess the plan now is:
•    Read research (again) & take notes for report-complete no later than 8:30p
•    outline for report - complete no later than 9:30p
•    write draft report-complete no later than 6a
•    edits to report - complete no later than 7a
•    email (again) saying that report will be done soon?  I'm thinking it is better just to email when it is actually done, no?

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Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. 

~William James

Crayon CI - 10:45pm

It's 10:45 and I still haven't begun. Again.

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Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. 

~William James

crayon suggestion

The breakthrough place for me when I have something terrifying to work on is the Chatbox. When I go in there it is like going to 'the office': even if I am alone I can type into the blank space about the little thing I am going to do and then go off and do that 30 second task and feel a sense of accomplishment. Any tiny little nibble on a big huge task creates momentum for me, and the chatbox helps me do this. If others are in the Chatbox at the same time then it is even better, because they are often working alongside on their tasks.

You will see posts in here about microbursts: they are the key for me. I might type in the chatbox: okay, getting thesis materials out. I don't say I am going to do an hour of it, because then it feels overwhelming. But, I might be able to get the papers out of the box. That is all I am committing to and as it feels like I am not really working on it anyway, I can do it. Once that task is done, I feel more willing to do the next bit. However, the feelings of anxiety don't necessarily go away. That is where the Chatbox comes in for me. I might type in the Serenity Prayer (which is what works for me) or even the word 'breathing'. Then I might agree to open the top folder. You get the idea I am sure.

In any case, I was able to work through a HUGELY anxious task on taxes in here. It took months, this fellowship and certain soothing things which I realized helped my momentum. I found that having background noise helped me, so Law and Order reruns were on the tv. If I had a sorting task I found that if I stood up to sort it went faster.

In any case, welcome: you have come to the right place.

asking for help to do the next right thing

good advice

Thanks so much for the advice... I'm definitely going to try this today since, clearly, yesterday didn't go so well :(

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Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. 

~William James

It's Wednesday

Hi all.  This is my first time posting.  I have made a list of things to do, for 15 minutes each.  I use a timer.  The list includes both some easy to do and a couple that I have put off.   (Namely sewing for my home-design business.  One of the most pleasurable and could-be-profitable things I could do, and I put it off.  I have for a couple years now.)  I have enough time to do these things before I go out to dinner with a friend tonight.

I made the PA site my home page, per Pro's suggestion, and I think that will be a really powerful tool.  I have a sponosor in my other program who knows I am on this site, and supports me, and it feels really good.

 

Welcome Jules!

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."  - Kurt Vonnegut 

e ci 8/26

Good morning (or afternoon, as I got up really late!)
Today feels good. I am puttering along in the right direction and that is making progress. Today I want to act as if my only responsibilities were to take care of the house. Even though I am not working, I spend a lot of time each day worrying about not working and then I don't really work on things in the house, which ends up feeling like I did nothing all day. Today, so far, I have eaten breakfast, meditated, washed dishes, washed up the table, the stove, started cooking chickpeas, put away dishes, made up the futon, straightened the living room and spent some time learning how to recallibrate my laptop battery.

Todotoday: plan dinner and make it ahead of time.
make lunch for C and me.
swish and wipe the bath
shower
quick vacuum
get c to wash the floor
get c to sweep the porch and the front steps or do it myself
make some payment plans
laundry
iron a bit
do some work on my wardrobe
organize something, anything, in the diningroom
paper, paper, paper

still in a good mood even if rereading this it sounds like I am whining and put upon. Silly me.

asking for help to do the next right thing

Journey 10 am

Good morning!  Yesterday was a pretty good day for a work-at-home day.   This morning I have a half-day training session, which is being done by live meeting and conference call.   I like this much better than sitting in a boring classroom for half a day!  And I can multi-task a bit too.

I'm still tracking hours with myhours.com and I'm having fun with that so I'll keep doing it for a while longer.  It really helps me to see where I'm spending my time and entering it into the spreadsheet keeps me from drifting off into goofland for too long, when I know I am going to post it  :grin: .  What's really funny is that I have caught myself fudging my break times a bit.  I'm only cheating myself when I do that!  No one sees this report but ME.

Jo

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."  - Kurt Vonnegut 

I love myhours.com!

I was really good about using it for a few weeks a while back (maybe even a month plus) but then it, along with my other things, fell by the wayside.  Thanks for mentioning it though.  Good reminder of another tool to get back into using!

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Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. 

~William James

CL daily overcoming

i used the phrase "daily overcoming" yesterday and since today it's no longer novel, i tire of it. but my new self does routine things because they are the will of HP, not to mention healthy and helpful.

10am CI

i have a lunch and meeting today which i have to work out. - DONE

i guess i have to do b.r. that i didnt do yesterday. so that's next. ugh. - DONE

canceled the meeting and gave an email instead.

now lunch (and 2 errands) can be done.

that was painful, but i'm glad i got just enuf strength from HP to do it.

What's next?

11 qt
11:30 work

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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

GeorgeSmiley. Another day. Check in. 9 AM

Here I am again.

The list on my task pad (Outlook feature) is relatively doable.

I've spent the last 90 minutes goofing off, however.

So now I begin real work.

Later this morning I plan to do some journaling here about the last 6 weeks or so.

For now, something Journey said this morning resonates well with me:

 I think of
all that time I spend on beating myself up and going over past mistakes
as 1) wasted 2) selfish.   Once I began to see that I was spending a
lot of time just thinking about myself and wallowing in my
self-disgust, I started to see that process as being self-absorbed and
egotistical.  Thinking of it that way helps me to move forward.   

Well said.

 

~~

Want what you have. Be who you are. Do what you can. ~Forrest Church

The Hero's Code:

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

update 11:55 AM; 1:31 pm; 2:47 p.m.

Got a project finished that's been lingering for weeks. Off to the editor.

Now some lunch.

Then more to do.

Update, 1:31 PM

back from lunch. Working on another project that's been in stasis for 2 weeks. 

I think I may wait and do the Journaling until tonight, if there's some dead time on my part-time job.

Update, 2:47 PM

Some progress but some dithering. Done for the day, back tomorrow, except as noted before I might do some Journaling here tonight.

 

~~

Want what you have. Be who you are. Do what you can. ~Forrest Church

The Hero's Code:

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

glad you liked it!

and good to see you here again. 

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."  - Kurt Vonnegut 

kromer 9:30 CI

OK, I have a big mtg tomorrow that I need to prep for. To prep, I need to:
1)Finish basic meiotic blocks proposal (working on this now)
2)Respond to TE's comments on my RA injection proposal
3)Work on ppt pres for mtg (have microbursted this)
4)Microburst analysis of embryonic data

Other (lower priority) tasks are:
1)Make schedule for next few days
2)Finish writing up fgf and hh results
3)Work on assembling training compendium (did a little bit of work on this)
4)Finish G's project

I have subgroup mtg 1-2:30 and coffee w/ visiting scientist 4-4:45, and I plan to take some time off for lunch (11:45-12:30ish) and maybe to go dancing this evening (lesson starts at 7:30, I'll email friends to ask if they want to go)

I'm feeling a bit out of it this morning, so I'll start w/ 20 min working on training compendium (this is easy and mindless and I think will help me get started.) Then I'll spend an hour responding to TE's comments about my proposal. Heading to the chatbox now. 

Update 11:20: I'm currently working on meiotic blocks proposal; first step is to read paper on Dmc1 and take notes. Will go through this paper in the chatbox. 

Update 5:40: Having a hard time working, but at least I'm moving slowly forward. To get meiotic blocks project done, I need to:
1)Summarize possible earlier meiotic blocks
2)Lit. search on Dmc1 timing
3)Write up Atm stuff
4)Maybe do lit. search on other blocks (lower priority)

Will cross each of these off as I complete it. 

Vic 8/26

Showing up (done) I am just so grateful and happy to be with people who "want" to do things and support me to do things I "want to" but am blocked.

Today, I want to at least listen to phone meeting that Spirit posted (Each morning at 7:30 am est we will have a 15 minute phone check in. The phone number is free but for those who pay for long distance usage your phones will be charged for the minutes.  The number is 218-339-3600 the participant access code is 119655#.  It's great for share that get you focused and shed light on the road of recovery,  I have found morning check ins extremely helpful in recovery programs and invite anyone to join even if it is from your bed ). Step work, walk, check in. Baby steps)Thanks

No one was at the phone meeting, I wonder if we should have a volunteer to man the phone so at least someone is on?

Step work (done) walk, papers.

The "condition"

I did day 7 of the workbook. I keep wanting to replace the word "alcohol" with?Like if I had a word, I would know what to do. But in OA, I didn't care aobut the word- compulsive overeater, bulimic, yo-yo, food addict, sugar addict- I just wanted the recvery- which after many years and much work, I have the grace of a daily reprive.

With procratination, I want to replace the word avoidance, passive agressive, add, demand resistance, sabotage, etc. but it doesn't matter, like oa, I want the recovery. The problem here is what is the recovery? Who has it? Can we see it? Are we the first to "recover" and the BIG QUESTION: wILL THE 12 STEPS REALLY WORK FOR THIS CONDITION?

i DON'T WANT TO DO ALL THAT WORK FOR NOTHING, BUT WHAT CHOICE DO i HAVE? Even if it doesn't work, doing the steps agian is never a waste. But will there be no hope?

The things that hit me in the BB in chapter 3 (day 7) inhttp://www.12stepworkbook.org/

I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots. I had never been able to understand people who said that a problem had them hopelessly defeated. I knew then. It was the crushing blow.

But there was always the curious mental phenomenon that parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for not doing what we need to do. Our sound reasoning failed to hold us in check. The insane idea won out. Next day we would ask ourselves, in all earnestness and sincerity, how it could have happened.Our behavior is as absurd and incomprehensible with respect to not doing our work  as that of an individual with a passion, say, for jay-walking.

a word: Stalling?

If I'm readling you right, you're looking for a word that would equate to "drinking". Would "stalling" be such a word?

And the obverse: "Taking action" or "acting" ?

(I fear I might be missing your point, though. Apologies if I am.) 

 

~~

Want what you have. Be who you are. Do what you can. ~Forrest Church

The Hero's Code:

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

Thanks GS

Yes, stalling is as good as any other, I was thinking "avoiding" maybe there is a greek or latin word that fits better. I have never been able to describe "it" to anyone outside of PA, but then again, I have never been able to descibe "alcoholism" to anyone outside "AA", but in the rooms, "WE KNOW", we don't have to use the "word", I guess this PA thing is kind of like "codependence", there is no one definition and the symptoms can overlap. Like a post tramatic stress person can have the same characteristics as a codependent. I do have ADHD, so is it my ADHD? In my heart I know there is more to it. Some of the people who have stomach surgery, still have the obsession/compulsion to bindge and eat. I better stick with the recovery, I know that "showing up" is a big step for me. I have been able to do the taxes and plane tickets in one day because of PA, if someone would have locked my in a room with a gun to my head, I would not have done them, so the recovery is here.

12&12 says: all you really need is a truly open mind. Just resign from the debating society and quit bothering yourself with such deep questions as whether it was the hen or the egg that came first. Again I say, all you need is the open mind." and

humility and intellect could be compatible, provided we placed humility first. When we began to do that, we received the gift of faith, a faith which works. This faith is for you, too."