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.
Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
pro's last check-in - 12:30am (TUESDAY!!)
I finished my whole bedtime routine - even took my pills. Of course it was only dose #2, but 2 out of 3 is better than none.
pro's CI - 11:50pm
I spent the evening reading, as I was planning to do. I've bought quite a few books recently, and I finished one of them. Reading is a much more productive activity than mindless TV watching.
It's time to get ready for bed now - brush teeth, pull out futon, etc. I'm planning to watch my one hour of TV once I'm done with that. I love the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report on the Comedy Channel. I record them so I can speed through the commercials. This will be the first TV I've watched today, so that's good. Also, I'm no longer recording The Tonight Show or Late Night with Conan O'Brien. I like Jay Leno's monologue, but I end up watching more than that and it's a waste of time.
Ta da?
Hi, Thomas C. here.
Thanks, pro.
I'm still somewhat confused, but it seems like the main thing you all do is use this particular forum (Checking in and bookending) for recovery. Are any of the other forums high-traffic? It didn't seem so.
Also, I don't know if "ta da" is "what I did" and "to do" is "what I need to do," but it sure sounds like that. Cute.
Reporting on my own bookend from this morning (ta da?):
1. Stuff for students: done.
2. Job applications: I went to the website of the first job, and realized I didn't want to apply. It might sound like avoidance, but I honestly didn't want to work there, and it took a little time to admit that to myself. I went to the website of the second job, and got a bit confused. I'm *not sure* if I want to apply. But I have a few days before the application needs to be in the mail.
3. Didn't get the article finished, but that was probably unrealistic. I did type up my latest hand-made changes. But out of the 21 pages I need to cut, I've only cut 6.5. There's a lot to go.
4. Not bookended, but something I needed to do: I sent contact information for letters of recommendation to my letter-writers. Took a while, because I'm sending different lists to different people.
Bookend for tonight:
1. balance checkbook
2. go over spending plan, revise
3. pay bills
These three tasks are DEFINITELY jobs I want to avoid, and do avoid quite actively, quite often. But they need to be done, and I don't want to do them during my work-day.
Thanks.
thomasc - sounds like a good day!
Yes, "ta da" is what you accomplished. I like moving my to-do items to a ta-da list when I do them so that at the end of the day I can see what I actually did. I used to get to the end of the day and have no idea what I did, strange as that may sound. Also, I started off with a very poor sense of how long different things took, and checking in (while noting times) has helped me with that.
It think it's great that you were able to look into yourself and decide that applying for this job was not something you wanted. Many of us have a much easier time saying what we think we "should" be doing than knowing what we actually WANT to do, and that can underlie a lot of procrastination (unconscious avoidance of things we have good reason for not wanting to do).
Re your work in the evening... Be very careful to avoid time bingeing. It sounds like you have already put in a full day's work. Now give yourself a reward - relax, do something you enjoy before going to bed!
The check-in board is the most active right now, but other boards have been active at other times. For a while we were all reading books on procrastination. This generated a bunch of threads in the "Insights" board, plus I posted quite a few articles that also generated comments. We also started a book review forum that was very active for a while.
Feel free to post about issues related to procrastination in the "Insights" board - things you're thinking about, general issues in your life, whatever. Nobody has been doing it lately, but that doesn't mean you can't. People will respond.
Housereclaimer first/final checkin
to day was a busy day.
I had an appointment for 3 hour and it was freezing cold.
tada
wash/teeth/hair[done]
dress[done]
meds/vitamins[done]
breakfast[done]
appointment[done]
home at 4:00pm[done]
nap[done]
todo
hair
wash
treatment
set
make master list for december
HOUSERECLAIMER
pro's CI - 7:20pm
I think I won't make "blown off" or "rollover" lists today since I failed to do so much. It will just depress me. Here's what I have done, and what I still might do today. I got some books I ordered in the mail, and I probably will end up looking at them and not trying to do anything else.
Ta Da~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Do~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
pro's CI - 4:30pm
I spent two hours writing an email to a family member - way too much time. I'm not going to put this on my "ta da" list because I spent more time than the issue was worth, and that is one of my ways of procrastinating. The message needed writing, but it warranted 15 minutes, not two hours.
I blew off this whole day again. It's the end of the day, and I'm still not fully dressed.
Ugh... Phone call from unhappy client as I was posting this. Talked to him for a while. I thought about not answering, but I did that last week. :(
Ta Da~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Do~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
scarlett CI 2:50 pm
Whizzed through another task I've been putting off and dreading in a minor fashion. It's not done, but I'm now waiting to hear back from others. Yay. Out of here for the day.
Already done:
Eat breakfast
Take pills
Update master to-do list
Email P&D
Set up meeting
Prep meeting
Meeting follow-up
Goals for 2007
Licenses – pull folder and review process
Licenses - send out emails
To do:
Respond to LP email
Review tix
Tonight:
make dip
fix hair
makeup
check costume - find pants
CL costume?
feed cats/scoop pan
dishes
meditation
iwant2workharder - CI 20:32
:) IT meeting finished.
Now going back to finish website1 and website3.
To Do
- :( website3: 6 steps
- ;) website1: 1 step
- :( website4
- :( finance report
- :( personal accounts not linked to job
- :D book for 2007 classes
scarlett CI 2 pm
Already done:
Eat breakfast
Take pills
Update master to-do list
Email P&D
Set up meeting
Prep meeting
Meeting follow-up
Check tribe
To do:
Goals for 2007
Licenses – pull folder and review process
Respond to LP email
Review tix
Tonight:
make dip
fix hair
makeup
check costume - find pants
CL costume?
feed cats/scoop pan
dishes
meditation
Thanks
Thanks for the welcome, iwant2workharder and scarlett.
I've seen some pretty serious flame wars on dontdebt; they happen about once a year. The listmoms have gotten better about cutting them off at the pass when they start. In the meantime, I'm not interested. I just want recovery from procrastinating.
I'm pretty familiar with 12-step stuff, so I know what bookending is. I've never seen it done to the extent that people do it here. But it makes sense.
So...why not start myself? I have three major tasks today:
1. Prepare stuff for my students (college teacher).
2. Send out two applications for academic jobs (recent Ph.D.).
3. Finish that article! I've been working on an article for months and months.
Thanks for listening.
thomasc - I cross-posted to you...
I was writing to you as you were writing this message...
There are no flame wars here. I agree with you that's a big waste of time!
In DA, bookending is only done for actions that entail some sort of risk - things that are hard to handle well, or particularly scary things. But in PA, we bookend everything, because what we tend to waste here is time rather than money. Bookending in PA is like keeping a spending log in DA - we're keeping a time log, and posting it here so others can help us be responsible for how we spend our time. You'll occasionally see us giving each other a gentle nudge if a particuilar item appears on a to-do list day after day without getting done.
pro's CI - 11:55am
Ta Da~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Do~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr - NO WATER!!!!
I am very frustrated and annoyed. Once again, the water in the building was turned off without warning. I can't brush my teeth and I can't shower.
At least I wasn't in the shower with a head full of shampoo, as happened the last time.
on again, but for how long??
The water is on again, but I'm afraid to get in the shower in case they turn it off again (as happened the last time they did this - I was in the shower with conditioner in my hair). It's massively annoying that they turn off the water in this building without notice. That's supposed to be against the NYC Housing law. I called the landlord and they said they know nothing about the water being turned off. The assistant building manager is calling the super to find out what's happening.
I guess it's safe to brush my teeth, at least.
pro's CI - 11:10am
An hour has passed since my last check-in. Here's what I've done:
Geesh. That doesn't seem like much to fill an hour.
I've been operating in a very unconscious way lately - my big danger. It's when I slip into unconscious living that I get into trouble - too much TV, too much Web surfing, too much reading books, not enough action, not enough living in the world, not enough Being Present.
I spent some time reading this morning, but I cut it short. I also made a conscious decision to not have the TV or radio on this morning, and to cancel my recordings of certain TV shows I've been watching regularly. I realized recently that I'm spending 3+ hours per day watching TV, and that's WAY too much. I never used to watch TV at all.
Me, too.
I've been operating in a very unconscious way lately - my big danger. It's when I slip into unconscious living that I get into trouble - too much TV, too much Web surfing, too much reading books, not enough action, not enough living in the world, not enough Being Present.
It's a constant struggle not to check out.
exactly!
Yes, checking out - that's it exactly. I have such an extremely strong tendency to do that. I don't do it chemically anymore, but I have a million other ways to do it. As the Buddha would say, I'm sleep-walking through my life. I frustrate myself.
iwant2workharder - CI 16:45
:) 3 steps done.
Going for next step.
To Do
- ;) IT meeting: 7 steps
- :( website3: 6 steps
- ;) website1: 1 step
- :( website4
- :( finance report
- :( personal accounts not linked to job
- :D book for 2007 classes
pro's first check-in - 10:40am
I haven't been doing so well - just lost in a dream world. Trying to pull out of it now...
scarlett CI 10:05 am
Oy, it's Monday. Here, have the warm delicious beverage of your choice.
Already done:
Eat breakfast
Take pills
Update master to-do list
Process emails 10 minutes
To do:
Set up meeting
Prep meeting
Email P&D
Licenses – pull folder and review process
Respond to LP email
Review tix
Tonight:
make dip
fix hair
makeup
check costume - find pants
CL costume?
feed cats/scoop pan
dishes
meditation
iwant2workharder - CI 16:04
One step is not going very well.
I am going for another break.
To Do
- ;) IT meeting: 10 steps
- :( website3: 6 steps
- ;) website1: 1 step
- :( website4
- :( finance report
- :( personal accounts not linked to job
- :D book to 2007 classes
Dec 4 CI for Lark
It seems there are problems with the big job I've been working on last week, and it's not with perfectionism. Instead of correcting them at this time, I need to work on other things first.
1. morning routine
2. prayer and meditation
3. focus on project B as much as possible
4. go over list of to do things, and decide whether to just take some off. Some just never get done.
5. work on any project later that needs done.
Later!
Final CI, Dec 4 for Lark 12:45 AM
Put in a rough day today, and quit a short while ago. I got most of the cleaning, etc. tasks done, but little at work worked out, with much being done over and over. Put in about 15 hours for very little results. I'm pretty discouraged.
Rexroth 08.09 GMT
Todo today
up prayer and reflection
post this
check emails and phone
organise flat so it becomes office
brief friend at 9.00am on tasks
get on myself with legal/admin work
phone dentist filling out
go to Building Society
do some shopping
deal with post
finish end of month accounts
journal
phone friends
prayer and reflection
bed and sleep
Today I've already done one thing which is to post this early. Usually I leave it till late and its more a list of what I have done.
Regards Rexroth
Rexroth 13.03 GMT
I feel miserable and I'm getting on with stuff. I've got a dental appointment which was something I was putting off. I don't know why as I'm not bothered about going to the dentist.
So far so good.
Regards Rexroth
Rexroth 21.30 GMT
Done most on list apart from bed time things and can't finish accounts as info from bank didn't come this morning. A big breakthrough on the legal/admin front as a major part of the evidence I need is found and clear. There is still so much work to do on it though.
Did extras, renewed my antivirus subscription, not easy, spent 30 or so minutes (I'm not kidding on the phone) and it's done, also someone called to collect some old furniture. They wanted it this afternoon and I nearly said no. Why, my old habits of procrastination, so I said yes and then they found they couldn't come but should be here on Thursday.
So a day of much done. I don't understand why I don't feel good about it all. Must try to be grateful.
Regards Rexroth
Newbie
Hi, I'm Thomas, a compulsive procrastinator.
I've been active in Debtors Anonymous at various levels for nine years. Lately it's been lower-level--not working the program much.
I just posted to the dontdebt email list about procrastinating, then Googled "Procrastinators Anonymous," and found this website. Over a year ago I found a website with that name, but it really wasn't a site based on the Twelve Steps, which is what I really want.
So...I feel huge relief finding this site, because procrastination has always felt like a more central problem than getting behind financially, though that's also something I do.
So here's my check-in: now what? I'm absolutely lost on this website. There are so many threads and forums and ways to post that I don't really know where to start.
Any advice? Thanks.
Hi thomasc
Welcome! As Scarlett says, we are a laid back group. I only get upset when someone (a) picks fights or is mean, or (b) doesn't take the time to look around and get a sense of what we are doing here (and thus makes a big mess in the forums).
Checking in - or what DA calls "bookending" - is PA's most powerful tool, and we do it in the bookending forum. If you click the Forums button at the top of the page, you'll see it there. Click on that and you'll see an introductory message at the top of the message list here.
We don't have online meetings - though you'll find meeting materials here - because the checking in tool is so very effective that we haven't felt the need. If a group of people here wants to start an online meeting, however, everything is here to do it. We have the meeting materials (format, readings), and there's an integrated chat feature that can be used for that purpose.
Welcome thomasc
Hi welcome to the site.
Suggestions, read threads stating with recent checking in ones, and the one showing the basic principles.
From my own experience in DA many of the concepts are the same.
Perhaps you might work the steps in PA.
Also as you can see from discussion elsewhere the site is open so it is not like a closed meeting. For myself this makes it important to share anonymously.
Wishing you well
Rexroth
welcome newbie
First of all knows that this website belongs to pro. Remember it well as he can boot you out.
You are a 'guest' of his website.
I am myself a 'guest' of it, will give you some directions, but only pro can confirm these. If I make mistakes, please note that I am just giving you directions and it would be better for you to check these with Pro.
First you might want to read the forums : it does help a lot.
then read the archives using the calendar.
This will give you an idea of how it works.
Here, this is what's called the checking-board.
You write what you intend to do and reports on what you have done.
You can use pictured in your posts. I use these as a way of procrastinating.
So you have woken up to the truth...
hiya!
First of all knows that this website belongs to pro. Remember it well as he can boot you out.
You are a 'guest' of his website.
He or she. ;) Pro takes anonymity pretty seriously.
And as long as you don't flame or bring in controversial topics, you don't really have anything to worry about. We're pretty laid back around here for the most part.
Check out the articles link at the top of the page, too. Some very helpful stuff in there.
iwant2workharder - CI 08:58
This is monday already. I regret not to have started work
earlier yesterday: my list would have been nearly finished/done.
Getting back to preparing the IT meeting, so that I can then
call this meeting.
Took 30 minutes browsing the PA site and posting....
Now back to work. I do like the next thing I am doing as it is easier.
To Do
- ;) IT meeting: 10 steps
- :( website3: 6 steps
- ;) website1: 1 step
- :( website4
- :( finance report
- :( personal accounts not linked to job
- :D book to 2007 classes