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.
Thank You!
Thank you so much to kp, journey, and clement for replying to my post! I have a better understanding of how the board and the CI's work now. Thank you also for the encouragement. This is a serious issue for me (I'm sure it is for all here); I have been working from home and in a job search for a while. I hope this is the appropriate place to post this thank you. I will try to check in again and update my progress. Again, Thank you so much! dave, in nj.
kromer 9:25 CI
I had a big experiment to do in lab today, so not much procrastination problem! (that's something I like about experimental bio, everything has to be done at a precise time or the experiment is ruined, so it's hard to procrastinate) :)
However, now I need to put an imformal presentation together (for noon tomorrow), and that is very easy to procrastinate on :rolleyes: I can finish it up tomorrow morning, but I want to get as much done on it tonight as I can.
My new research project MIT is: work on presentation!
My first step is to make an outline of the presentation, update when that's done.
Then I'm going to gather together all my notes for the new project.
UPDATE 9:55--OK, I think I know roughly what I'm going to say, now I'm going to start making slides to help organizemy thoughts
scarlett CI 3:30 pm EDT
Okay, I've gotten off track today, time to reset. Ha - I started to post this at 3 pm and then slacked for 1/2 hr. Okay, NOW. No, NOW. I mean it. Really. Trust me. Now.
Focus: Count plans (check list, elec, folders)
Next CI: 4:00 pm
If I do 20 min solid work, I get a 5 min internet break.
Ta da:
GS & B out
GS & B in
Make vet appt
To do:
Count plans *MIT*
GS & B & ST c/d *MIT*
10 min tasks:
Call SG re: fork
Look up invoice *MIT*
Look up carpet info
Talk to O's re: shrink wrap
Coaching form
Check BT responses
Put eq up tasks on to do list
Sched mtg w/ MH
10 min break:
Type and post choreo
G doc for house
Pay MC bill - w/f acct validation
Become aware of resistance, and let go.
check in (try)
-- write em to jm.
-- write em to sg.
-- work on help for ep app.
Note: I have only posted one or two check in's before, with moderate effects. I like the concept, but I have some difficulty following how it is supposed to work. I assume you post a message later in the day noting what you have accomplished? Any additional feedback would be appreciated, I have read the "How and why" etc. Also, the board appears to be in linear form -- do you just add any follow up post to the end? Thanks for your help, D.
Hello Drun
I'm also new to the check-in/check-out (CI/CO) procedure, but from what I gather you the idea is to post tasks you want to complete for the day, and go back and update your progress on these tasks. It's like a check list of your day, which by sharing it on a public board makes you hopefully more accountable for getting things done, and not letting it slide.
I think everyone has their own method or style of writing the check-in. You can either reply to your original message, by clicking the reply below that message, or you can directly go into the original check-in and edit it with your updated progress.
The board does not seem to have a linear flow based upon earliest post at the top and latest post at the bottom. If you look at the times of each post they often don't follow each other in a linear fashion. This is because people go back and edit their own post thereby updating the time stamp. I try not to think too much about the structure... although it was and still is confusing at trying to follow the flow, and read new messages.
kp
welcome drun5
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
hi drun
welcome! I hope you find recovery from procrastination here.
That's how it works. Some people post in the morning then in the eve. Some post every hour. Depends on what you need for your recovery. Sometimes i go to the "chatbox" and post every few minutes, if i need that kind of attn--some days i do. Yesterday i posted every 10-20 min because that's what i needed to keep on track.
We also use this to not time-binge. If you're doing a task, and you say you'll do it for a hour, we believe that if we stop after 1 hour, and take a break / do something else, it teaches us that not all tasks are huge monolithic entities.
When you first post for the day, you can click on "Add new comment" on the thread starter (as you did). then when you check back, you can either click 'edit' or 'reply' for your post. Both work.
Once agail welcome to the club :)
e's second attempt at checking in
I am not quite sure what I am doing, but my posts are not posting. Perhaps it is a sign that I should not spend so much time posting? In any case, today:
a good day.
productive.
got things done without a lot of fuss, but a bit more fuss than yesterday.
Happily, the son cooking dinner thing is working: he either cooks or we dont' eat, so he can't slide by under the radar. Since I am cleaning up, I can clean up to my standards, not hound him and his brother until they come into the neighborhood of what I can tolerate. (I hate crumbs.)
The laundry is going smoothly, I have a grocery list in hand and am about to head out the door to get those things.
I still have things to work on that I don't want to do and am procrastinating on (practicum, anyone?) but I am moving along on some things I tend to get caught up on (paying bills).
So, for right now, that is it. More later.
kp CI
MIT: Complete the paper *Update: Done the paper.
MIT2: Start 2nd paper, get outline complete
kp CO
Didn't even start MIT2. Will try for tomorrow.
Rexroth 16.04
Good afternoon everyone,
Computer has been difficult today.
Done:
out for appointment with psychologist - which went well and if I can believe reality I will not be seeing him much longer.
home and rested - I am very tired and mostly it is processing stuff.
Todo:
continue taking it easy
clean up in kitchen and sort stuff
write up cash book from yesterday
write journal
Regards Rexroth
good morning, jo
i didnt want to reply to your msg so that you could keep editing "thruout the day" :)
editing throughout the day lol
I never know which is better, doing a whole bunch of posts or just editing the one. This is something I could obsess about and get nothing else done all day lol!
Jo
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
obsess...
yep, i could obsess about it too. I'm being good. I dont think i've found the optimal method, so i just pick one and do it. It's uncomfortable, but healthy, right?
re: obsess
Yes, absolutely! All that format-fiddling stuff is procrastination for me. If I can spend all my time in administrative activities, I don't have to face the scary task of actually producing real work that will be judged by other people.
Jo
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
Journey 8:32 and updates throughout the day . . .
Good morning! After a pleasant day off yesterday, I'm back at work. I have some email and voice mail to catch up on, then set my MITs for the day. back later.
Journey
Update 10:25 I have a new project and I'm attending the kickoff meeting in 5 minutes. I was supposed to meet friends for lunch but I just cancelled, as I would probably be late. I've read AND processed my email. My personal email inbox is getting closer to empty too, although not completely. I busted the new pile I was creating at home, although I still have the pile aka folder here at the office. My MITs are set for the day, although they may get reset for me in this next meeting lol.
Update noon: I'm eating lunch, didn't make the lunch with friends. Although I heard that most people cancelled so I think the lunch will be postponed anyway. the meeting was fairly stressful, it will be a difficult project that we don't necessarily have the expertise to do, but we've been tasked with it anyway. (ha ha I see that my corporate-speak has leached over into my posting - I'll be saying "value-added" before you know it). I'm going to take a 20 minute break or so and then see if my colleague is ready to work on IP addresses. This task has been languishing for over a week and I want to get it finished.
Update 6 pm: had a meeting with the boss, my monthly review, for which I couldn't find the paperwork I needed. Turns out he was supposed to send it to me, and his hard drive crashed so he lost it. But it doesn't matter, because we have a whole new format for this year, so all I have to do is send him an update on my goals for the year and he will take it from there. He had my goals written down on a piece of paper so it's all good.
spent the rest of the afternoon working on these ip addresses that still aren't working and we don't know why. So although we did not solve the problem, I did stay "on task" all afternoon.
Going home now, the only thing on my agenda for the evening is dishes. dd is cooking.
Have a great evening everyone!
Jo
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
c ci 8:10...9:50
getting an earlier start w/ my checking-in today. First MIT: quiet time. Check back in 10 min.
[edit 8:30]: got a bit distracted. back to it.
[edit 8:40]: part 1 done. Now pray. Wow that causes stress. Not the praying, specifically, but the yielding control of what i do next to "what i've scheduled." Nay, "what's right." I'm a big believer in surrender to a higher power, but the preservation of the self is a huge pull. I often find it very difficult to let go. But i think i can do it. Check in in 15 min.
[edit 9:10]: prayer/meditation done. I got distracted 3 times, and had to reset myself, but in the end i felt surrender and one with god.
Now to my first MIT.
[edit 9:35]: 1st MIT phone call done. Now 2nd.
[edit 9:50]: 2nd MIT phone call done. Now 3rd.
[edit 9:55]: 3rd MIT phone call done. Each one was easier than the last. But now i feel empty. I believe that i'm feeling the emptying of self. I can't be sure about that, but it's my working assumption.
Now last MIT phone call.
[edit 11:25]: ok that last one i probably spent too much time on. 1h30m. that's too much. It was fun, but i have work to do. On to work MIT 1.
[edit 2:30pm]: 3hrs have gone by. Completed MIT 1 but before that some other related issues came up. It wasn't the most efficient--i could have put off some of it, but it was pretty good. I'll take ie. Now home MIT 1.
[edit 4:15pm]: that took 1:45. I had planned on 1, but a neighbor needed help. Back to work MIT 1.