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.
Maybe if I rat on myself it will get me to go to bed. I just fixed another major bug in the chat software - this one affects administrators, but not users, so you won't notice anything.
There are some new PA members to let in, and then I'll get ready for bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
ah, nice feeling. My MIT for the last several weeks got to a milestone today. It's not complete, totally, but the deadline for getting to this certain point was early this week and it's done. That's nice.
Well, we are getting rain, but not enough to melt lol!
Today: gym, treadmill, work; even if a dept budget is not done perfectly, got 90% of it done; called & set up appt that I've procrastinated 2 months about, chiropractor appt, support group, met with sponsor, unboxed package that I received today rather than procrastinating about it lol; brushed teeth.
Time to sleep now! Have a great night everyone! :)
just reading everbody's story here today has pulled me out of my distraction and i think i am ready to work. Or at least figure out my MITs.
Thanks folks!
We're compulsive procrastinators who have banded together to solve our common problem. I feel that today very strongly as i read thru everybody's posts. It helps so much to not feel like i am alone.
I've been to the gym and read my email. There was an extremely annoying missive in my inbox re: the horrid never ending meeting. One of our meeting members is trying to further her own political agenda at the expense of our project and I'm really steaming. The meeting is at 11:00. I have a really hard time expressing myself confidently and cogently in a situation like this. (the reason I'm in toastmasters is to improve that skill!) I'm going to try to write down my thoughts ahead of time so that I can speak up and be convincing. I have a tendency to get a little "shrill" when I'm upset and I can see that people just stop listening when I do that, so I'll keep my voice calm and be the voice of reason. wish me luck!
8-) ::cool::
Yesterday was a fine day, got everything done AND leveled up in WoW. The timer hack works great for housework and chores. Thanks Falcon for the timer hack! It makes boring chores into a "racing the clock" game.
Today, I know I have the horrid meeting which I need to prepare for and then attend, my OPM project, and the status report.
I'll review my todo list and set my MITs for the day, and come back at 10:15.
Journey
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
There was discussion and disagreement but we came to a meeting of the minds. I said my piece, clearly and with conviction. We will meet our deadline AND the cow-orker will get to further their own political agenda. So it's all cool and the horrid meetings are at an end for now.
Lunch break, I will fax some stuff for dd, eat my clif bar, and then get back to work on my MITs.
check back at 1:30 . . .
Jo
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
Just wanted to mention that I'm really impressed. . . that was a situation you knew would be stressful, and you thought ahead, planned to succeed, and followed through. AND you're doing Toastmasters so you'll improve your skills. Rock on!
working on OPM but letting my fears get the better of me. I will take a moment to re-center and think on step 3. I can't do and/or control everything, but I can break this task down and do it one step at a time. There, that's better. Back at 5.
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
I hope that HP gives peace during this time of heightened anxiety for you. I find the more i live out step 3, the less things bother me. Which means... i better get back to living that cause a lot of things are bothering me :(
I've been picking up my apartment - stuff I should have done last night, really. I have a bad habit of working on the computer until I'm exhausted, then doing housework in the morning when I should be getting ready for work.
Meanwhile, there's something on the computer I'm still looking at. I want the chat block (that shows who's chatting) to update automatically. I can get a little obsessive.
Must get ready for work. But also must water plants, which I should have done yesterday. I almost killed them recently - can't keep starving them.
I took down some of the pictures of my dead loved-one yesterday. The rabbi said at the unveiling that intense grief shouldn't last longer than a year - unhealthy. One most move on with their life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
I wasn't able to post last night, so here goes nothing. Way too much "stuff" around here to do, so instead of progress, I need to finish a project or two.
Today:
morning things
spiritual time
car to dealer's
kitty box
put laundry away (all of it!)
get trash ready for tomorrow
one hour on project A
one hour on project B
one hour on project C
finish one of the above
check in after lunch
sounds like a lot to do, and a lot of pressure. I wish you well in dealing with it. Are you a 12-stepper? If so, i pray HP will give you strength and wisdom today.
Hey, thanks. The day isn't going as well as I'd planned. Think I'm going to take a couple hours off and not feeling guilty. After that, well... On my errand trek today, I stopped at my 12 step group noon meeting. Needed a recharge. Though it doesn't work all the time I try it, saying I'll catch up tonight sounds good on paper. I just don't want to deal with anyone this afternoon, and being in the shop assumes I'm wanting to. Same for the phone. I only have a dial up internet connection here in the boonies, and when online there are no calls! Maybe later. Glad you;re doing well Clement.
I didn't get nearly as much done this weekend as I would like, and now I'm getting very nervous for my mtg with my prof. at 1. I also have Spanish at 10 that I need to get ready for
What I'd like to get done before the meeting is: *Run 2 calculations on new data point MIT
*Run four transcription factor->gene calculations *Run MoD on consistently upregulated genes *Visualize results from all calculations MIT
*Fix bug MIT *Take notes on what I've done this week MIT
Before Spanish, I need to finish my textbook reading. I'd like to get my workbook exercises done as well, but I don't think that's going to happen until this afternoon.
Did Spanish textbook reading and went to Spanish, did most of the necessary prep for my mtg, went to mtg, had lunch with a friend, now I've been goofing off for about 20 minutes but I'm ready to focus now!
I have another mtg at 5 (though luckily I don't need to prep too much for this one, just need to spend approx. 15 minutes)
Before that, I would like to:
*Take notes on possible new data sets
*Download N. data, talk to KM about how to use it.
*Try running algorithm on liver data
*Add error bars to graph and post
*Revise methods section
Hehe, I think we're safe from being recognized as such as long as we're not wearing high heels or striped socks, eh e ;-) :grin:
Morning everyone :-)
What I would like to do today:
- shower
- morning med
- finish finance chapter
- 5:00pm biz class
- return biz papers to Ay.
- laundry
- wash litter box
- evening med
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
Studying now. Institute people called and I have another class tomorrow at 12pm, so adding the Ar paper to today's to-dos.
What I did today:
x shower
x morning med
What I would like to do today:
- finish finance chapter
- 5:00pm biz class
- finish Ar paper 2
- return biz papers to Ay.
- laundry
- wash litter box
- evening med
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
Lol, bah, it has been waiting for me since yesterday
But I'm going to deal with it early on today so I don't get all angsty and miserable tonight when I'm tired and not in the mood for it :grin: I love my cats, but seriously, moments like these make me wonder why I bothered :rolleyes:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
Lol, moving :grin: When I got back from class and logged on here and saw this, it kind of spurred me on, heh. Didn't want to leave it for another day - that would have been suriously scury, suriously!
(I have two litter boxes which I put out alternately for my cats when I need to wash the one they're currently using, and the box in the pic looks EXACTLY like one of them!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
There is only one thing I have to do today, and that is output content for my literature study report. To "de-chunk", let me be more specific: write about the observed problems in the field, and work towards a proposal. End of the day, I would like to have 2 pages done.
Aaaaandd... here I go again... another probably well known problem I've bumped into, which I thought I'd share with you guys:
As I was trying to refactor and extend my own report, I came across some paper that made me realise how much is still missing in this section that I'm writing. Thinking about and reading the things I need to mention and tie together in my report caused an "information cascade" or overflow which made me give up trying to understand it all which in turn made me want to give it all up more, in a sad way. Also, while that happened the sun set, which gave me the feeling time's up, and I haven't produced enough, nor will be able to, in light of the new information from that paper.
Pfew, a lot happened inside my head in that instant. It's a good thing to write it down. I used to have a log, a simple text file, on my computer's desktop that I would write these thoughts in, but writing it down with the knowledge that others will read or even benefit from it is much more useful!
Alright, I'm going to take a 5 minute break to remotivate myself, and then I'm going to take another look at that paper, make some small notes and try to fit that info in. When the clock strikes 11 PM, I'll mail whatever I have to my prof. At least it's better than last week.
wdv, you sound like you're writing my journal. I have had that EXACT feeling: almost done... oh no! there's 200% more i have to do!
Oh i can feel my stomach knotting just thinking about it.
all i can tell you is that i let go and let god as they say. The basis of the 12 steps, as journey said in today's thread, even, is that we can not control everything. This is the way i approach it--now that i've been here a while and "in recovery" for a while: There might be much i can not control. I can't control how people will react to me nor how much work there is to do (nor information to organize). All i can control is what i do. Well... what i do when i'm in control--which is what this site helps with.
That makes me ignore, yes, ignore the whole big picture. If you're like me, that'll be scary to consider. But the logic of it always hits me in the face: if i do something by ignoring the big picture, i'll get *something* done. If i get overwhelmed by looking at the big picture, i'll get zero done. Something, however small, is greater than zero.
At least, that's what i do. That's helped me. I hope the idea helps you, or that you find some other help here on this site or somewhere.
Thanks for the support! It's really refreshing and nice to exchange these experiences with people that actually acknowledge their problem of procrastination, in stead of laughing and saying "yes, yes, I have that too sometimes, lahdiedah... ". Or some that do really have that problem but won't acknowledge it.
Anyway, I've finished just over one fat page of text today. Not bad. Though it could've been more, I should be happy with the results, and forget about whatever I can't change now (you're completely right about that).
I could write for hours about my procrastination, ironically, then why not about my thesis subject? (yes, fear, etc..)
Alright, time for short pre-bedtime mindclearing relaxation and then to bed.
:(, yes, I took only a 5 minute break, but then, instead of working on the paper I started reading forum posts here. While reading a long and interesting thread I realised several times that I was procrastinating, but couldn't stop.
I do that a lot. Now, I've wasted half the time I gave myself for this, and now I won't be able to enjoy the reward I promised myself after I finished, because it didn't go as planned (i.e., I failed). I guess that's a hard thing for me specifically (correct me if you all also feel this way), not being able to recover from unsuccessful resolutions. It's a waste actually, because in stead of strictly forcing myself to do the intended task and nothing else, for at least the time allocated (sometimes obsessively to the second), I should be more forgiving and flexible to myself. Then, when I do find myself procrastinating, I won't hold on to it out of fear of having to deal with the failure delay.
i have had to get very used to failure. I fail every day. Someone said to me once: it's not how many times you fall off the horse, it's how many times you get back on.
Journey (using here again) had to get back on the wagon once or twice today.
For me it's like 4 times.
This is my life. Plan tasks, so some, get distracted, get back on track, repeat.
Good luck. I'm in danger of being late for an appt. so gotta go. Wont' be back til 3hrs from now, mabye more.
yeah, e's advice is good--since thats EXACTLY what i'm doing right now. Well i am still procrastinating reading these posts, but i'm keeping track of my time. 5 min so far.
This is a great place for me. I hope it helps you too. good luck today!
way, WAY past bedtime
Maybe if I rat on myself it will get me to go to bed. I just fixed another major bug in the chat software - this one affects administrators, but not users, so you won't notice anything.
There are some new PA members to let in, and then I'll get ready for bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
ready for bed - finally
Dishes are washed, teeth brushed, jammies on - if only it weren't 2:30am. I'll try to do better next time.
Good night!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
let in 3 new members, banned 1 spammer
We have three new members, and one more banned spammer. They keep on trying.
Okay - that's done, time to brush my teeth (way past time).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
big MIT complete!
ah, nice feeling. My MIT for the last several weeks got to a milestone today. It's not complete, totally, but the deadline for getting to this certain point was early this week and it's done. That's nice.
Thank you HiPo!
yay HiPo :)
Gonna remember that one. (and Yay clement, too).
Nice feeling indeed. You will sleep well tonight.
what's "HiPo"?
:?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
HiPo = Higher Power :)
It seems that we have all sorts of names for Higher Power on this board.
and
I was smiling at clement using "HiPo" because I hadn't seen/heard that one before.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_Power
Recycler CI 10pm EST
Hi!
I'm melting, I'm melting lol!
Well, we are getting rain, but not enough to melt lol!
Today: gym, treadmill, work; even if a dept budget is not done perfectly, got 90% of it done; called & set up appt that I've procrastinated 2 months about, chiropractor appt, support group, met with sponsor, unboxed package that I received today rather than procrastinating about it lol; brushed teeth.
Time to sleep now! Have a great night everyone! :)
Recycler
Thank you, gals & guys, for being here! :)
Way to go, recycler !
Wow you got a lot done! Lots of breakthroughs today!
lol starter
btw, e, lol starter. "death by chores"!! :)
douglas
made deliveries
rewrote two chapters
record 3 chapters on CD
miss everyone
douglas
Glad to see you, Douglas!
We miss you, too.
I still use the idea about "roles" that you posted here . It has really helped me.
Peace,
Movingalong
thank you pa members
just reading everbody's story here today has pulled me out of my distraction and i think i am ready to work. Or at least figure out my MITs.
Thanks folks!
We're compulsive procrastinators who have banded together to solve our common problem. I feel that today very strongly as i read thru everybody's posts. It helps so much to not feel like i am alone.
Thanks again.
Journey 9:25 pissed!
Good Monday morning
I've been to the gym and read my email. There was an extremely annoying missive in my inbox re: the horrid never ending meeting. One of our meeting members is trying to further her own political agenda at the expense of our project and I'm really steaming. The meeting is at 11:00. I have a really hard time expressing myself confidently and cogently in a situation like this. (the reason I'm in toastmasters is to improve that skill!) I'm going to try to write down my thoughts ahead of time so that I can speak up and be convincing. I have a tendency to get a little "shrill" when I'm upset and I can see that people just stop listening when I do that, so I'll keep my voice calm and be the voice of reason. wish me luck!
8-) ::cool::
Yesterday was a fine day, got everything done AND leveled up in WoW. The timer hack works great for housework and chores. Thanks Falcon for the timer hack! It makes boring chores into a "racing the clock" game.
Today, I know I have the horrid meeting which I need to prepare for and then attend, my OPM project, and the status report.
I'll review my todo list and set my MITs for the day, and come back at 10:15.
Journey
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
journey 12:20 the meeting wasn't so bad
There was discussion and disagreement but we came to a meeting of the minds. I said my piece, clearly and with conviction. We will meet our deadline AND the cow-orker will get to further their own political agenda. So it's all cool and the horrid meetings are at an end for now.
Lunch break, I will fax some stuff for dd, eat my clif bar, and then get back to work on my MITs.
check back at 1:30 . . .
Jo
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
Horrid meeting
Hi Journey,
Just wanted to mention that I'm really impressed. . . that was a situation you knew would be stressful, and you thought ahead, planned to succeed, and followed through. AND you're doing Toastmasters so you'll improve your skills. Rock on!
Falcon
journey 2:10 lost 40 minutes somewhere . . . have you seen them?
OK, I fell off the wagon after lunch. Getting back on.
OPM project for the next hour.
check back 3:30-ish
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
journey 3:45
working on OPM but letting my fears get the better of me. I will take a moment to re-center and think on step 3. I can't do and/or control everything, but I can break this task down and do it one step at a time. There, that's better. Back at 5.
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
way to work it. I was there
way to work it. I was there today, jo. Several times.
chillax jo
I hope that HP gives peace during this time of heightened anxiety for you. I find the more i live out step 3, the less things bother me. Which means... i better get back to living that cause a lot of things are bothering me :(
I hope it goes as well as it can for you.
thanks clem!
I will try not to leap across the table and strangle my co-worker (or cow-orker in this case lol).
I am feeling much better, just getting the feelings out of my head and onto paper - or screen - helps. Hope you are feeling better too.
Cheers
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
pro's CI - 9am
I've been picking up my apartment - stuff I should have done last night, really. I have a bad habit of working on the computer until I'm exhausted, then doing housework in the morning when I should be getting ready for work.
Meanwhile, there's something on the computer I'm still looking at. I want the chat block (that shows who's chatting) to update automatically. I can get a little obsessive.
Must get ready for work. But also must water plants, which I should have done yesterday. I almost killed them recently - can't keep starving them.
I took down some of the pictures of my dead loved-one yesterday. The rabbi said at the unveiling that intense grief shouldn't last longer than a year - unhealthy. One most move on with their life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
tough times
it must be very hard to go thru what you're going thru. I'm sorry. I wish you comfort and courage as you face this situation.
And once again, thanks for all you do here, and thanks for our new chat. Which i'm using right now to BE these posts.
re: pro's pictures
I haven't had to deal with that sort of situation (*yet*), but I feel for you.
Jo
“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” - Stephen Covey
8:21 am, Lark
I wasn't able to post last night, so here goes nothing. Way too much "stuff" around here to do, so instead of progress, I need to finish a project or two.
Today:
morning things
spiritual time
car to dealer's
kitty box
put laundry away (all of it!)
get trash ready for tomorrow
one hour on project A
one hour on project B
one hour on project C
finish one of the above
check in after lunch
hey lark
sounds like a lot to do, and a lot of pressure. I wish you well in dealing with it. Are you a 12-stepper? If so, i pray HP will give you strength and wisdom today.
3:12 pm for Lark
Hey, thanks. The day isn't going as well as I'd planned. Think I'm going to take a couple hours off and not feeling guilty. After that, well... On my errand trek today, I stopped at my 12 step group noon meeting. Needed a recharge. Though it doesn't work all the time I try it, saying I'll catch up tonight sounds good on paper. I just don't want to deal with anyone this afternoon, and being in the shop assumes I'm wanting to. Same for the phone. I only have a dial up internet connection here in the boonies, and when online there are no calls! Maybe later. Glad you;re doing well Clement.
rolzup report
well, now:
shower and shave
e-mail the director of graduate studies
e-mail angele about directed readings
work on Heidegger essay
after class:
study Copleston
here goes.
hi rolzup
one day at a time, right? Welcome back. kaoba is back today too. It's a day of people coming back. Maybe cause it's monday?
I wish you well in your recovery from procrastination today.
kromer 7:30 CI
I didn't get nearly as much done this weekend as I would like, and now I'm getting very nervous for my mtg with my prof. at 1. I also have Spanish at 10 that I need to get ready for
What I'd like to get done before the meeting is:
*Run 2 calculations on new data point MIT*Run four transcription factor->gene calculations
*Run MoD on consistently upregulated genes*Visualize results from all calculations MIT*Fix bug MIT
*Take notes on what I've done this week MITBefore Spanish, I need to
finish my textbook reading. I'd like to get my workbook exercises done as well, but I don't think that's going to happen until this afternoon.kromer 3:20 CI
Did Spanish textbook reading and went to Spanish, did most of the necessary prep for my mtg, went to mtg, had lunch with a friend, now I've been goofing off for about 20 minutes but I'm ready to focus now!
I have another mtg at 5 (though luckily I don't need to prep too much for this one, just need to spend approx. 15 minutes)
Before that, I would like to:
*Take notes on possible new data sets
*Download N. data, talk to KM about how to use it.
*Try running algorithm on liver data
*Add error bars to graph and post
*Revise methods section
kaoba 6:50a
Hi,
I've been away for a bit, but want to get back on track.
What I want to do now:
( ) weigh
( ) groom and dress
( ) eat breakfast
( ) brush and floss
( ) pick up kitchen
My wishes for a good day to all!
welcom back kaoba
as long as you keep coming back, i trust and believe that you'll find recovery.
Your story here helps others.
welcome back. I hope you have a good day today!
Edge's CI - 11:45AM
Hehe, I think we're safe from being recognized as such as long as we're not wearing high heels or striped socks, eh e ;-) :grin:
Morning everyone :-)
What I would like to do today:
- shower
- morning med
- finish finance chapter
- 5:00pm biz class
- return biz papers to Ay.
- laundry
- wash litter box
- evening med
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
Edge's CI - 2:30PM
Studying now. Institute people called and I have another class tomorrow at 12pm, so adding the Ar paper to today's to-dos.
What I did today:
x shower
x morning med
What I would like to do today:
- finish finance chapter
- 5:00pm biz class
- finish Ar paper 2
- return biz papers to Ay.
- laundry
- wash litter box
- evening med
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
Edge's CI - 9:08PM
So sleepy :((
What I did today:
x shower
x morning med
x 5:00pm biz class
x return biz papers to Ay.
x wash litter box
What I would like to do today:
- finish finance chapter
- finish Ar paper 2
- laundry
- evening med
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
Edge's CI - 2:49AM (Tuesday)
Goodnight everyone.
What I did today:
x shower
x morning med
x 5:00pm biz class
x return biz papers to Ay.
x wash litter box
x evening med
What I would like to do today:
- finish finance chapter
- finish Ar paper 2
- laundry
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
high heels
no danger of catching me wearing those! Striped socks, on the other hand....and the pointy hat might be a tip off
Lol, e
hehe
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
litter box!
my favorite day of the week is when you remind me of a chore I don't have to do!
re:litter box
Lol, bah, it has been waiting for me since yesterday
But I'm going to deal with it early on today so I don't get all angsty and miserable tonight when I'm tired and not in the mood for it :grin: I love my cats, but seriously, moments like these make me wonder why I bothered :rolleyes:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
encouragement from Edge's kitty
[ image courtesy of http://www.glitter-graphics.com/gallery.php?keywords=litterbox ]
You can do it, edge!
re: encouragement from Edge's kitty
Lol, moving :grin: When I got back from class and logged on here and saw this, it kind of spurred me on, heh. Didn't want to leave it for another day - that would have been suriously scury, suriously!
(I have two litter boxes which I put out alternately for my cats when I need to wash the one they're currently using, and the box in the pic looks EXACTLY like one of them!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action - Walter Anderson
Write report
Goodmorning!
My first bookending post ever!
There is only one thing I have to do today, and that is output content for my literature study report. To "de-chunk", let me be more specific: write about the observed problems in the field, and work towards a proposal. End of the day, I would like to have 2 pages done.
Overload
Aaaaandd... here I go again... another probably well known problem I've bumped into, which I thought I'd share with you guys:
As I was trying to refactor and extend my own report, I came across some paper that made me realise how much is still missing in this section that I'm writing. Thinking about and reading the things I need to mention and tie together in my report caused an "information cascade" or overflow which made me give up trying to understand it all which in turn made me want to give it all up more, in a sad way. Also, while that happened the sun set, which gave me the feeling time's up, and I haven't produced enough, nor will be able to, in light of the new information from that paper.
Pfew, a lot happened inside my head in that instant. It's a good thing to write it down. I used to have a log, a simple text file, on my computer's desktop that I would write these thoughts in, but writing it down with the knowledge that others will read or even benefit from it is much more useful!
Alright, I'm going to take a 5 minute break to remotivate myself, and then I'm going to take another look at that paper, make some small notes and try to fit that info in. When the clock strikes 11 PM, I'll mail whatever I have to my prof. At least it's better than last week.
wdv == clement
wdv, you sound like you're writing my journal. I have had that EXACT feeling: almost done... oh no! there's 200% more i have to do!
Oh i can feel my stomach knotting just thinking about it.
all i can tell you is that i let go and let god as they say. The basis of the 12 steps, as journey said in today's thread, even, is that we can not control everything. This is the way i approach it--now that i've been here a while and "in recovery" for a while: There might be much i can not control. I can't control how people will react to me nor how much work there is to do (nor information to organize). All i can control is what i do. Well... what i do when i'm in control--which is what this site helps with.
That makes me ignore, yes, ignore the whole big picture. If you're like me, that'll be scary to consider. But the logic of it always hits me in the face: if i do something by ignoring the big picture, i'll get *something* done. If i get overwhelmed by looking at the big picture, i'll get zero done. Something, however small, is greater than zero.
At least, that's what i do. That's helped me. I hope the idea helps you, or that you find some other help here on this site or somewhere.
I'm routing for ya. Go wdv!
Thanks!
Thanks for the support! It's really refreshing and nice to exchange these experiences with people that actually acknowledge their problem of procrastination, in stead of laughing and saying "yes, yes, I have that too sometimes, lahdiedah... ". Or some that do really have that problem but won't acknowledge it.
Anyway, I've finished just over one fat page of text today. Not bad. Though it could've been more, I should be happy with the results, and forget about whatever I can't change now (you're completely right about that).
I could write for hours about my procrastination, ironically, then why not about my thesis subject? (yes, fear, etc..)
Alright, time for short pre-bedtime mindclearing relaxation and then to bed.
Darn
:(, yes, I took only a 5 minute break, but then, instead of working on the paper I started reading forum posts here. While reading a long and interesting thread I realised several times that I was procrastinating, but couldn't stop.
I do that a lot. Now, I've wasted half the time I gave myself for this, and now I won't be able to enjoy the reward I promised myself after I finished, because it didn't go as planned (i.e., I failed). I guess that's a hard thing for me specifically (correct me if you all also feel this way), not being able to recover from unsuccessful resolutions. It's a waste actually, because in stead of strictly forcing myself to do the intended task and nothing else, for at least the time allocated (sometimes obsessively to the second), I should be more forgiving and flexible to myself. Then, when I do find myself procrastinating, I won't hold on to it out of fear of having to deal with the
failuredelay.forgive yourself
i have had to get very used to failure. I fail every day. Someone said to me once: it's not how many times you fall off the horse, it's how many times you get back on.
Journey (using here again) had to get back on the wagon once or twice today.
For me it's like 4 times.
This is my life. Plan tasks, so some, get distracted, get back on track, repeat.
Good luck. I'm in danger of being late for an appt. so gotta go. Wont' be back til 3hrs from now, mabye more.
hi wdv
yeah, e's advice is good--since thats EXACTLY what i'm doing right now. Well i am still procrastinating reading these posts, but i'm keeping track of my time. 5 min so far.
This is a great place for me. I hope it helps you too. good luck today!