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.
Tuesday 18th July 2006
A cheery smile?
or a bit of bootstrapping?
Take your pick!
And everyone send lots of vibes and good wishes pro's way - it's Interview Day!
You can do it pro; you can do it!
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slider's be 1:40 pm
yeah, right--late start on checking in
Ta Da already
*Got up (at 7:26 instead of 7:00)
*Got showered and dressed
*Got to chiropracter on time
*got to co-op meeting on time
*got to orientation appointment on time
*bookend
To Do
-make communion appointments
-be on time to communion appointments
-take everything I need for communion appointments (i.e, make sure
wine and wafer containers are full)
-take DS to friend's house
-put away laundry
-make packing list for Friday's trip
-review planner and myriad notes so all is taken care of before I leave
-tend to plants and write istructions for DH for while I am gone
-review yesterday's list and incorporate whatever I'm leaving out
_have a little fun
Slider's BE 10:18 p.m.
Ta Da
*Got up (at 7:26 instead of 7:00)
*Got showered and dressed
*Got to chiropracter on time
*got to co-op meeting on time
*got to orientation appointment on time
*bookend
*2 out of 5 communion appointments
*2 out of 5 communion visits
*bought communion wine
*take DS to friend's house
To Do
-make 3 more communion appointments
-be on time to communion appointments
-get more plastic communion cups
-put wine receipt in an envelope so I can get reimbursed
-put away laundry
-make packing list for Friday's trip
-review planner and myriad notes so all is taken care of before I leave
-tend to plants and write instructions for DH for while I am gone
-review yesterday's list and incorporate whatever I'm leaving out
_have a little fun
Nothing changed on this list--didn't do any of the rest. Switched instead to searching out downloadable forms for planner, cuop, etc. Didn't even finish laundry. Bummer.
slider's CI 4:58 pm
Ta Da
*Got up (at 7:26 instead of 7:00)
*Got showered and dressed
*Got to chiropracter on time
*got to co-op meeting on time
*got to orientation appointment on time
*bookend
*2 out of 5 communion appointments
*2 out of 5 communion visits
*bought communion wine
*take DS to friend's house
To Do
-make 3 more communion appointments
-be on time to communion appointments
-get more plastic communion cups
-put wine receipt in an envelope so I can get reimbursed
-put away laundry
-make packing list for Friday's trip
-review planner and myriad notes so all is taken care of before I leave
-tend to plants and write instructions for DH for while I am gone
-review yesterday's list and incorporate whatever I'm leaving out
_have a little fun
Haven't done everything I intended to do--had to stop with communions because I ran out of little plastic cups--but felt a real desire to post that I had AT LEAST done this. Now, there are more plastic cups at the church, next door, and I was simply too lazy to go over there and get them before I left. And the communion wine I bought was not on my list. I added going to the grocery store as I was driving by, because my chaplaincy at the nursing home needs wine and I remembered that I am out of calcium supplement. But the reason why I drove that way and asked myself if I need anything at the store was because I didn't want to call the next people on my list and set up communion. I was procrastinating by shopping. Perhaps that is also why I didn't bother to go next door and get more cups--I was setting a limit on how many visits I did today.
So tomorrow I will have to call early in the morning and see when else I can do these visits. I have my hot rock massage tomorrow afternoon, and I'm tempted to call and cancel because that time would probably be a good time for visits, but even more because it makes me feel a little guilty to think of going after I have failed to do all that I said I would do. But part of me says it's just unrealistic to try to do more than a few communion calls a day, and that I will build up despair and resentment if I don't go to my massage. So, tomorrow morning I do the phone calls --and hopefully the visits--and tomorrow afternoon I do my massage.
Besides all this, I have an appointment with my father for lunch that I would miss if I cancelled the massage to do visits (we are meeting for lunch in the city; he and I live in towns about a mile from the city but on opposite sides of the city; I almost forgot I have that appointment with him). Anybody else here find that you consider your family an extension of yourself, so that when it comes to work, you treat your family's time and hopes as badly as your own?
Family
So, tomorrow morning I do the phone calls --and hopefully the visits--and tomorrow afternoon I do my massage.
Sounds like a reasonable, and manageable, plan to me slider.
I don't have the thing with the family. My parents are dead, and I have hardly any contact with siblings. Actually, come to think of it, I was late for my Dad's funeral so maybe it ~would~ apply to me.
Hi Slider!
Well you're here now, sliderand you've already got lots done. WTG!
Teri's BE 9:20 AM
To Do
class
hw
post here b/c it helps :)
gotta go
good luck Pro
Normy - nice graphics :P
TL - BE - 6:30 PM
Ta Da
hw
class
yoga
Hi TL!
Norm's first BE 10.30 am
Well, I'm full of snot and probably infectious, so I'm staying away from my clients today (many of whom are immunosuppressed). I feel OK though, so I'm going to continue to potter and get on with jobs. I'm going to use pro's idea of just posting the top few things on my list, and I'm also going to follow my own advice and not make everything on the list a horrible ToDo - there are going to be some fun, possibly creative things in there too!
*Well, I finally did it. I finally watched that DVD last night that's been sitting here for nearly two months - and for which we've been paying monthly rental fees :O
*Morning routine done
*Mostly CUOP - I'm not going to do it all at once today. I realise that CUOP is something I time binge on.
1) Clear the desk (just bung everything in a box)
2) Open the homework folder and see what's next
3) Only put stuff on the desk that relates to the next topic
4) Briefly outline how I'm going to tackle it
5) 15 mins register books on Bookcrossing
6) Read a chapter of my book (this is the fun bit!)
Normy's 12.40 am BE
TaDa
I forgot to say I'd checked bank balances earlier on, and I also gave apologies for a meeting tomorrow and told them I wouldn't be minuting it either (still probably infectious).
Looked into endowment thingy. This is one of those moments pro talked about - having to sort something out due to someone else's incompetence. My endowment company demutualised, and I elected to have money, not shares. They sent me shares anyway. So now I've just sold them. DSO had got shares due to procrastination on his part, and sold them this morning. Apparently they've gone up since this then, which will go towards the brokerage charge that's been levied (which I wouldn't have had if they'd acted on my original instructions).
ToDo
Go to bed. I'm too tired to play now.
When I get up I'm going to do:
1) Morning Routine
2) Phone to pay home insurance
3) Phone brokers re car insurance (and pay it)
4) Online shopping (the fun thing left over from tonight, and which I'll probably be ready for after making those phone calls - I hate making phone calls!)
5) 15 mins Bookcrossing journalling
6) Fun thing - 30 mins computer time e.g. CUOP
Normy's 12.15 am BE
TaDa
4) Check out car insurance renewal
I've spent nearly two hours on this, and I need to check some things out with a couple of brokers before I can make any further progress. Will have to phone in the morning.
ToDo
5) Check out what that letter from the endowment people means
Normy's 10.15 pm BE
TaDa
3) Check out home insurance renewal
Well, I thought I'd just do a 'rough estimate' but needed to check the sum insured anyway, so I had to get the survey documents out, so I thought I might as well do a 'proper' cost comparison. I went to a site that compared 13 different companies, and the one I'm with is already giving me the best deal. And my sum insured is still OK. :) BTW - when I went to check last year's documents I hadn't even opened the envelope! So it's about time I checked it properly.
ToDo
I'm flagging - I'll see how it goes. I need to tidy my desk up first though - I trashed it with checking out home insurance.
4) Check out car insurance renewal
5) Check out what that letter from the endowment people means
Norm's 9pm BE
TaDa
2) Write to M (the biggest rock in the pile, but pension has to be done before offices close for the day)
That was hell. No wonder I've been putting it off. I just didn't know how to approach it, and completely changed tack part way through. I don't know if I've done the right thing (which is probably why I was tempted to do nothing), and I've got so worked up that I don't feel any better for having got it done.
ToDo
3) Check out home insurance renewal
4) Check out car insurance renewal
5) Check out what that letter from the endowment people means
Normy's 8.10 BE
Uh-oh, just checking in to let you know what I've done since my last post - then I realised I haven't actually done anything off my list. I've just been playing CUOP for the last 45 mins or so (oh, actually I did have a meal and cleared up as well. Phew! That's not ~quite~ so bad, considering I hadn't noticed getting sidetracked).
OK, back to it - letter!
Normy's 7.15 pm BE
TaDa
6) Read next chapter
1) Pension application (put off for months)
I originally got this form last summer, and procrastinated on filling it in until April this year - I had to request further info and try to figure out what it meant before I could complete but. But then I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to delete in the Terms of Business letter, and procrastinated on ~that~ until today. So I rang up the broker (or whatever they're called) and asked them what it meant, but they didn't know either and said they'd ring back. They rang back later and said it would have to be passed on to someone else who knew more about it BUT because it's taken me so long, it turns out that they've changed trading names so there'll be ~new~ Terms of Business, and I may have to start the whole thing from scratch. Arghh! I should find out tomorrow when they ring back again.
ToDo
2) Write to M (the biggest rock in the pile, but pension has to be done before offices close for the day)
3) Check out home insurance renewal
4) Check out car insurance renewal
5) Check out what that letter from the endowment people means
Normy's 4.15 BE
TaDa
4) Type up list
5) Prioritise list
I did it on Excel and prioritised according to the 'Important & Urgent' etc thing. There are some horrible things at the top! LOL! I also put in some nice things, but there's not enough for one every six! Maybe that's why procrastinators don't want to get things done - they'll realise there ~isn't~ anything nice left to do when the stinky jobs are done (that can't be true - I'm sure some of us have been having some fun!). The things I've been really really putting off I've done in bold pink, and the things that are fun are in bold cyan. (The rest is in pink too, for that matter, because the black ink won't work).
ToDo
6) Read next chapter
and the next six...
1) Finish pension application (put off for months)
2) Write to M (the biggest rock in the pile, but pension has to be done before offices close for the day)
3) Check out home insurance renewal
4) Check out car insurance renewal
5) Check out what that letter from the endowment people means
6) Online Shopping
To be honest, I can't envision getting this lot done. I'm just going to take it one step at a time. If anyone else checks in please send me some good wishes!
Pension
Phoned up about the pension thing I don't understand. The person I spoke to didn't understand it either so is going to check it out and ring me back.
Normy's 3.25 BE
Oops - lost my list.
6) Read a chapter of my book
1) Daytime Routine
2) DDog walk (couldn't collect specimen - I swear she's withholding!)
3) Meal prep, meal, clear up
4) Type up list
5) Prioritise list
6) Read next chapter
Normy's 12.45 BE
1) Clear the desk (just bung everything in a box)
2) Open the homework folder and see what's next
3) Only put stuff on the desk that relates to the next topic
4) Briefly outline how I'm going to tackle it
5) 15 mins register books on Bookcrossing
Discovered DSO had sneaked several of his books into my pile. Well, I've extracted them and journalled six of my own. Just another nine to go - it looked like a huge pile before. Just nibbling at it 15 mins at a time is much better than thinking I've got to do it all at once.
6) Read a chapter of my book (this is the fun bit!)
And I'm ready to add my next few:
1) Daytime Routine including:
2) - DDog walk (try to collect DDog urine sample)
3) - Meal prep, eat, clear away
4) Type up the list of things I scribbled down when going through in-tray
5) Prioritise said list
6) Fun Thing: Read another chapter
2nd BE 12.00 noon
1) Clear desk
I set the timer for 30 mins and went a little over, but I got the desk cleared.
I really had to reign myself in and not get sidetracked. I kept thinking things like 'I could just file this - I just need to clear a space in the filing cabinet first', or 'I could just sort out that hotspot on the chair' (and what's that got to do with the desk? Nothing). I was worried about bunging things in a box because I kept finding important stuff - but it was all bunged on my desk anyway, so I had to remind myself there's no difference. Except now it's BETTER because I've got a clear desk (I really ~do~ feel and work better with a clear desk), and as I went along I just made a quick note of all the important stuff, so I've got a list (more than I had before), and I know that everything on that list is somewhere in the box. It's so tempting to sort out the box, but it's really not my priority right now.
There were some fun things in there too, that I nearly didn't put on the list - now isn't that odd. That's at least two of us that don't tend to put fun thing on our lists. Do you think that's a procrastinator trait, or do you reckon everyone does it?
2)Open the homework folder and see what's next.
OK it's Pregnancy. Good - that's the one for which I'm going to reward myself with a new camera, and I really want that camera! I'm not at all internally motivated to finish this module, so I need that external reward.
4) Briefly outline how I'm going to tackle it
*Finish H/O on pelvic floor practices (nearly done - the classic procrastinator's 90% done and then abandoned thing applies here)
*Finish H/O on do's and don'ts (ditto)
*Case studies
a) plan sessions (needs to be broken down in smaller steps)
b) advertising
c) run classes
d) write up case studies
5) 15 mins register books on Bookcrossing
6) Read a chapter of my book (this is the fun bit!)
pro's bookending section
I probably won't be bookending much until after my interview, but later I will.
I did a thorough job of researching the company last night and the general industry the company is in, but I didn't leave enough time to bone up on the new technologies I'd need to know. I'll look at that a little this morning - won't have a lot of time, but I can do a few things.
thank you, Normy!!!
You are so funny. Your graphics gave me a smile and a laugh on a day that I (in general) am feeling terrified. Thank you.
I'm going to go jump in the shower.