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.

updated meeting materials

I have updated the PA meeting materials. There are now 12 signs and 12 tools, and they are connected - sign #1 is related to tool #1, etc. 

http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/meeting_materials

Procrastinators AnonymousSigns of Compulsive Procrastination

 

1.     Disappointment is a way of life. We constantly disappoint other people and ourselves by not keeping our promises.

 

2.     We have enormous difficulty getting started on new projects, or transitioning from one project to another.

 

3.     We have a very poor sense of time, chronically underestimating or overestimating how long a task will take us to complete.

 

4.     We have difficulty organizing projects; we don't know where to start, even when we're willing to start.

 

5.     Some of us are surrounded by clutter and disorganization in our homes and work spaces.

 

6.     We are regularly late for appointments.

 

7.     We are acutely aware of what we should be doing, or think we should be doing, and oddly out of touch with what we actually want and need.

 

8.     We feel uncomfortable saying "no" to requests from others, and instead express our resentment through the passive resistance of procrastination.

 

9.     We feel paralyzed, powerless to move forward though the task is critical and deadlines are looming.

 

10.  We are short-term thinkers, tending to focus on short-term pleasure while ignoring long-term well-being.

 

11.  We feel overwhelmed by the tasks before us, and escape the bad feeling by doing something else.

 

12.  We do things in “least odious” order rather than priority order, so we run out of time for the most important tasks.

 
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Procrastinators AnonymousTools for Recovery

 

1.     Reward Success: Acknowledge and celebrate your progress and accomplishments, no matter how small.

2.     Bookend Tasks and Time: Use an accountability partner or the P.A. Web site (procrastinators-anonymous.org) to check in throughout the day, or at the beginning or end of specific tasks you are dreading.

3.     Keep a Time Log: Increase your awareness of time by logging what you are doing throughout the day. This is a great diagnostic tool for discovering where your time went, and an excellent way to become better at estimating how long tasks take.

 

4.     Break It Down: Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown.

 

5.     Develop Routines: Routines help structure your day, and make habits of tasks you always need to do like making the bed or handling mail. Develop routines for what you do when you wake up, regular tasks of your workday, and what you need to do before going to bed.

 

6.     Avoid Time Bingeing: One reason procrastinators dread starting is that once they start they don't let themselves stop. Plan to work on a task for a defined period of time, then set a timer. When the timer goes off, you're done.

 

7.     Avoid Perfectionism: Procrastinators have a tendency to spend more time on a task than it warrants, so tasks that should be quick to do take an agonizingly long time. Notice this tendency and stop yourself. Some things require completion, not perfection.

 

8.     Recognize You Can’t Do Everything: All of us have infinite to-do lists, but limited time. We can’t do everything; we have to make choices. Procrastination is about making choices that are not in our best interest. Decide what to say yes to, and what to let go.

9.     Ask Yourself Why: Visualize doing the task, and see if you can detect what about it feels odious to you, what uncomfortable feeling you are avoiding. Knowing what's behind the avoidance can help you get past it - for example, address real problems or ignore irrational fears.

 

10.  Focus on Long-Term Consequences: Remind yourself why you want to do this task, how it will benefit you to complete it, how it aligns with your life goals and dreams.

 

11.  Use Small Blocks of Time: Procrastinators often have trouble doing tasks in incremental steps, and wait for big blocks of time that never come. When you have small blocks of time, use them to work on the task at hand.

 

12.  Do the Hardest Task First: Do the tasks you least want to do first, when you are fresh and best able to cope.