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.
No BE for Normy
Didn't get to bookend today - went to payroll job early and came home late. Have just been CUOP and now it's gone my bedtime. I know that I function better and procrastinate less when I get a decent night's sleep, but I just wanna play! (I realised I just slipped that one in there - yes, it's true as I discovered earlier this year, I procrastinate less if I get to bed and get up at a decent time. Who'd have thought it?).
I'm at a day long networking meeting tomorrow, followed by trying to get myself out of a scrape that I got into through procrastination, and then it's DATE NIGHT!
Actually, we're going to the pictures, so there won't be too much of that going on, LOL!
Friday I'm off to London again for my course, and I won't be back until Sunday evening. Monday is the day I'm doing the scary job that I've been procrastinating about, so I may not be able to check in again until Tuesday. If I do really well, I might just sneak in to CUOP - I'm going to need a timer and an iron will.
My first (desperate) bookend
Hello everyone,
I am brand new here and really have only the vaguest clue about how this all works and where to post etc, so please offer feedbacks and corrections. I apologize in advance for a long post, but also this is an introduction.
My situation:
I have been the world's worst procastinator all my life (just like you?) and also a depressive. I was recently diagnosed as Bipolar or manic-depressive, which explains so much in my life. Turns out depressed people are often mis-diagnosed. More on that another time, I'll try to get to the point.
My illness has worsened over the last couple of years to the point that I am now disabled and living in public housing (not as bad as it sounds considering I live in a wonderful mountain town).
Every six months our apartments are inspected and they do go over it with a fine tooth comb. My apartment is FILTHY. My ability to keep things tidy has worsened with the illness. I have known the inspection is coming up for three weeks and I have done nothing. NOTHING. Now I have until next Tuesday, July 18th to get everything shipshape.
SO my bookend is starting now with my first tasks for today. I've already wasted the morning - well I slept in also. So at 3:00 Central Time (Greenwich minus 6), I will begin the following list, to be finished by 9.00 my time.
1. Clean all surfaces and fridge in kitchen.
2. Switch office furniture for bedroom furniture. (a long story)
3. Throw out old sofa and trash.
4. Thoroughly clean bathroom.
5. Sweep/vacuum the living room and kitchen.
Ok, there, I said it.
If I am not doing this in the proper manner, please feel free to give me feedback. Thanks for this site and the insight that I've gathered so far. I look forward to learning a lot more and getting to know all of you.
Jonny
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Internet Junkie
Hi Jonny - welcome! How's the to-do list coming along?
Are you still there, Jonny? How's the house cleaning going? It's good to bookend very frequently at first - even every 15 minutes. It keeps you going. Just break the tasks down into tiny little pieces.
Did you read the articles on the site yet? Click the "Articles" button at the top of the page for the full list. Also click "Polls" and vote! :)
Hi Jonny
Your manner looks absolutely fine to me Jonny! :)
Sometimes our posts get long when we've got a lot to say, sometimes they're short - don't worry about it.
I've a friend in a similar situation to yourself - she managed to speak to her doctor who sent a letter to the housing people saying the house was like it was due to a medical condition, and them hassling her was making it worse. I don't know if you could ask for something like that where you live, although the impending visit does seem to have galvanised you so hopefully you won't need to.
Don't forget to take breaks, or you'll just burn out. Also, you might like to bookend more often for support - you could try checking in TOTH (top of the hour) or BOTH (bottom of the hour). When I've been really dragging myself through mud I've done both of them :)
TL - BE - 12:30 PM
Hello Anouk, Pro, and everyone :)
Pro – how’s the reports? How do you get colored fonts?
Anouk – how’s the presentation prep?
To Do
I have so much to do so I’m going to read GTD – does that make since? Really – I need to get some sort of system going.
Run sprints and maybe swim or lift weights.
Edited to fix HTML coding (close the tags). -pro
colored fonts (using HTML in posts)
I changed the color of my text with HTML code. The forum software supports filtered HTML. Not all codes are supported, but some are.
Please be very careful when adding HTML code to a post because (as we've just seen) Drupal (our content management system) does not contain HTML errors within a post, and they propagate to the whole thread and who knows what else. If you're not familiar with HTML, you might want to read up on it a little before using it. It's not hard. Just make sure you close all the tags.
Just an HTML correction
Bold off.
--
flexiblefine
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheNowHabit/
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Edit: Thanks, flexiblefine. I fixed the boldface problem by correcting the HTML in tl's post. Drupal is such drek. Changing the site software at this point would be a nightmare and I guess we can live with it, but I wish I'd chosen something else. -pro
Pro's Check-In (Book-ending) Section
Good morning, everyone. I did a report on Monday (if you can call that Monday - more like 1am on Tuesday) and no reports on Tuesday, so I want to do two today (Wednesday). I want to get them done in two hours (one hour each), then turn my attention to studying for this job interview next Tuesday. I have very little time, but I can get it all done if I don't fool around. I haven't been too good at not fooling around so far this week, but maybe I'll be better today.
pro's CI (again - quick succession check-in)
I'm checking in again because I'm starting to procrastinate. Earlier I was working, just on the wrong thing. (I'll solve that tomorrow with Normy's suggestion to start with something besides email.) Now I'm stalling because I don't want to handle the papers on my desk.
What was that saying that helped me the other day - "Command your muscles"? Time to do that!
The difference between a child and an adult is that a child does what he wants to do, and an adult does what he needs to do. I heard that somewhere.
Self-care means doing what needs doing.
I will feel FABULOUS if I sort through all this paper, and then I can move onto something else - maybe even something fun.
(I'm trying to inspire myself here.)
pro's CI - as Normy predicted...
...I once again got totally off-track and day screwed up because I spent too long on the email (that's been a problem for years). I'm going to take Normy's suggestion starting tomorrow, and do that LAST rather than first.
Come to think of it, I've seen that recommendation before. It's in one of the procrastination books I have - do email LAST.
Trying different things
It ~is~ good to try different ways of doing things, and sometimes I find that something I've tried before that didn't work then, ~does~ work now - and, sadly, the corollary (is that even spelt right?) - what has worked in the past doesn't always work now. There is no ~one~ solution - it takes a whole barrage of tips and tricks, some of which are more effective than the other.
Remember the story about getting rocks and gravel into a jar? If you put the gravel (in this case Email etc) in first there's no room for the rocks (reports), but if you put the rocks in first there's still room for important bits of gravel (work Email, ~does~ need attending to on a regular basis).
pro's CI - 2:15pm (Drupal bugs!)
Whoa - that's interesting. tl's HTML code seemed to affect all the other messages in the thread. Drupal really is a piece of sh*t. I'm going to edit tl's HTML to fix that.
I need to guard against time-bingeing. I noticed I'm doing it lately. I'm going to start taking enforced breaks every 45 minutes (I'm going to set a timer). and then in the last 15 minutes of the hour I'm going to evaluate what I've done and what still needs doing to make sure I'm on track (and check in here while I'm at it).
I just finished my work email, and it took way too long. I'm going to now finish turning my studio apartment into an office (but converting my bed back into a couch - this has a big effect on my state of mind), and then write out a prioritized to-do list before I do anything else.
Pro's Email
Pro the Email always seems to take ages, and sometimes you start off really focused and end up getting sidetracked - it might be an idea to do one of the reports first, ~then~ check the mail as a break from report writing. That way you start with the thing you put off most, and you get a break from it whilst still getting some work done.
Another suggestion is to just focus on doing one report at a time. If you get it done early, then go to the next, and you'll still end up with both of them done. But if you only get the first one done you can still give yourself credit for what you've achieved without thinking 'but I didn't do what I'd set out to do'.
HTH
Normy - thanks! of course I should do that!
Pro the Email always seems to take ages, and sometimes you start off really focused and end up getting sidetracked - it might be an idea to do one of the reports first, ~then~ check the mail as a break from report writing.
Normy, that's so obviously a good idea that I'm blushing that I didn't think of that. In the future, that will be the order of things!!!!
Anouk's CI session
There are lots of things to be done and I have to adjust to new circumstances.
Ta Da:
- sleep in ;-)
- make coffee for DSO
- put washing in machine
- cleaned desk
- brushed teeth
To Do:
- get washed and dressed
- have breakfast
- walk DDog
- do linguistics homework
- read and take notes for presentation on Friday
- empty trash
- put up laundry
- take down and fold and put away laundry
- vakuum....
Hope to see you all later!
Anouk's CI (2)
Hi everybody,
I am working on my presentation, but the article our lecturer wants us to read and present doesn't really help, so I have to find more material.
Ta Da:
- folded and put away washing
- 2x30 minutes of reading and taking notes; 55 minutes of reading (in uni because the lecture is so bad)
- meeting with the girl who is going to do the presentation with me
To Do:
- find better material for presentation
Anouk's CI (1)
Ta Da
- got washed and dressed
- had breakfast
- walked DDog
- emptied trash
- put up laundry (DSO just put it down)
- grocery shopping
To DO
- read for presentation on friday.
hello Anouk!! I love the "ta da" list - that's great.
Hi Anouk! It's so nice to see you back. I missed you!
I love the idea of a To Do list and a Ta Da list. That is great!! I'm going to borrow it.
And of course, good job on the Ta Da list!! :)
ta da list
Hi Pro,
got the idea of the ta da list from Normy and I saw it on Flylady. So it's not my idea - but I agree with you: it is great!
I have written so many To Do lists and was always frustrated. With a Ta Da list, you see what you have achieved.