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.

Monday, June 2,08

c ci--2nd

wasted some time this eve, but not too bad.
Watched a little too much tv, but not too bad.
It's a little too late, but i'll deal.
I just want to focus on my last task of the day. And email--but i have to look up a bunch of addrs.
It's 1:30.

[edit 1:43]: there is is again. I have to get up and get a phone number, and it's inordinately hard. i'm just a servant. Let go of that part of my self that resists.

[edit 2:30]: that was hard to stay focused. It's done, but i got distracted a couple of times.
Now to get to bed.

Recycler CI 9:45pm EST

Hi!

Fortunately the air conditioner is now working, after a visit from the repairman. Whew!!! 85 degree condo interior was Not Fun Yesterday. Became somewhat overheated at the gym this morning during my cardio, because I was Already Hot when I got there. However, survived the day, was able to achieve the repair via the service call, so all's well that ends well.

Today: gym, cardio, work, ate healthy lunch, repair, worked ahead on projects so can have this Thurs/Fri off, checked on order that hasn't come in yet, found needed supply + bargains, Support Group, met with Sponsor :)

I'm still "off balance" from the air conditioner breakdown/repair situation, but will try to "re-set" myself for the rest of the week.

Have a great night, everyone! :)

Recycler

Thank you, gals & guys, for being here! :)

kromer 8:55 CI

Productive day today...got a big experiment done in lab, had  a meeting with my supervisor , and he was very happy with my progress, did biology tutoring (so I'll be able to buy groceries this week ;) ), took a walk, had a reasonably healthy dinner.

I really want to get work/house/church/club stuff to a reasonable stopping point before my vacation next week, so I'd like to get some more stuff done tonight.

The big frog I need to swallow is sorting papers from the semester. I've been putting it off for a week, partly because I don't much like organizing and partly because I have two temporary roommates and I feel bad messing up the room. Even though it will take a little longer, I'm going to move my papers/file boxes down to the common area and sort there...that way I don't have to feel bad, and I can work late at night/early tomorrow morning, when I tend to be most productive.

I also need to take care of financial stuff...I tend to work and then procrastinate on turning in forms/timecards. What a strange thing to procrastinate on! I'm going to  email PF about payment for the summer, fill in timecards for end of semester, email about HKN receipts, and email CY.

Finally, I'd like to make my preliminary to-do list for tomorrow (I've got lots of little tasks to get done, so I think it's take until tomorrow to remember them all), and take notes from today's meeting with PF.

First step: bring papers and file boxes to common area. Check back when that's done.

kromer 9:40 CI

Carried stuff downstairs, also started laundry and sent email about house jobs (two important tasks I'd forgotten to put on my list).

As a reward, I'm going to go get a soda. Then I'm going to spend 30 focused minutes working on my pile of papers, then check back here.

 

kromer 11 CI

OK, some procrastination, but I did about 50 minutes of focused work on my pile:

What I did:
*First pass through the whole thing
*Sort papers from PK's lab, 3 classes, non-academic; make *small* pile of things that need action
*Throw out a whole bunch of stuff!

Things I'll do tomorrow:
*Deal with things that require action
*Sort paper's from PF's lab
*Sort papers from lab semesters classes (I just have a binderful of these...but seriously, why are they still kicking around my pile???)
*Bring PK papers to lab
*Stick some files back in my rrom

Things I still need to deal with tonight:
*Enormous biochem pile of doom!

OK, I'll go put my laundry in the dryer, then deal with financial stuff listed in earlier checkin, then deal with  EBPoD, then check back

kromer 11:55 CI

OK, done! (Except that the timecard system was down...)

Now I'm going to spend 10 min taking notes from today's meeting with PF, then spend 15 minutes coming up with a to-do list for tomorrow, then fold my laundry, shower, and go to bed.  

c ci

ineffective morning. much procrastination.
Then i "virtually posted" in my mind and got going. Felt like it does when i actually check in here.
I got productive and did MIT at work.
Now i have to go decide my others, altho i dont have much time left in the day until regular eve family responsibilities and my meeting tonight.

way to go clem!

Great way to get started!

(I sometimes do that to...I write out a post to you guys when I can't get online. Feels silly, but if it works for me...)

 

tx kr

the encouragement really helps! And way to go your own self!

Kpoet CI 9:45 am PDT

Okay, I'm overdue on an assignment myself. Didn't even realize it was due until the professor emailed the class mentioning the assignment penalty for lateness starts today! Still this isn't motivating me at all.

Can someone just tell me their life is in danger if I don't get this thing done? Help me out here. I'm only kidding sort off. I really need a kick in the butt this morning. :-( 

 

kpoet, per your request, "my life will be in danger ...

... if you don't get going on your assignment." ;-)

Seriously, I just saw your message, and I hope you have managed to start moving. Moving does relieve the anxiety. I am having a hard time, but am talking myself through the thing using the chatbox. It seems to help.

Best of luck,

-k

Kpoet CI 12:10pm PDT

Thanks Kaoba for your reply! I wasn't sure it was possible, but as soon as I saw your post I immediately jumped to action. It's strange but all of a sudden my mental barrier was shattered in an instant, and I felt urgency and from there my first thoughts were to pick up the textbook, open up my Word document, and begin typing. My mind which all morning was radiating out in many different directions suddenly narrowed into an extremely sharp focus. I was able to throw out all the unneccessary thoughts, and concentrate on what needed to be done all the while thinking K is in danger if I don't get this thing done! :-) Call it tricking the mind or whatever, it seemed to have worked. I got almost one third of the way through the assignment in the last hour and I think I will finish by this afternoon! Will check back in later. :D

Kpoet CO 5pm PDT

Okay so I'm finally finished the assignment and sent it out. Cool I'm feeling a bit exhausted, but relieved to get it over and done. I think I did a good job on it considering that I had several weeks to do the assignment and crammed that all into 5 hours of work. Overall my mark will take a bit of a hit with the late 10% penalty, but I am confident I did a reasonably good job on it so I should end up with a decent grade. Anyways, a lesson learnt.. I hope.

Like most procrastinators, we have the ability to do things, but only if we actually start doing it! Thanks K for giving me the proverbial kick in the rear I needed this morning. Now I can at least relax the rest of the evening.

 

 

 

Congrats!

kpoet, fantastic news. Way to go!

kpoet victory!!

great job, kpoet! Way to batten down the hatches and get it done. I'm happy for you!

great kp

that's great to hear kpoet. Glad you found recovery today!

kpoet did the assignment. . .

. . . and saved kaoba's life, too!  Whew! Wink

Falcon

fantastic!

Great to hear of your progress!

e in the late afternoon

kay, it has been a very productive day, but definately transitional. We are going to have to  move within a month so I am in purge and pack mode. This insomnia thing is a bit of a pain in the butt: I am off the rest of the day. Considering the fairly few hours of sleep that I got I have done well:

met with L, called I, waiting for her to reschedule, paid the phone bill, sorted the board games, part way through some holiday stuff.

must: do LOTS, but that is okay. First... to call home. 

I noticed my demand resistance raising its head today when my husband was telling me some things we had to do. I was able to tell him to not push so hard because I did better without it, and he really was not pushing hard, just using language like the verbs "have to" and "ought to" and the evil "should". When someone tells me to get some piece of paperwork I feel like I have been caught with my pants down! 

Journey 11:30 & updates 12:30 1:25 1:50 3:45

 I had planned on taking care of some Toastmaster's business this morning, but my coworker wanted to work on another project, which was ok since that was one of my MITs for the day anyway.  Now Toastmaster's business, then one of those financial phone calls, but it's not a bad one, so it'll be ok.  Not good exactly either, neutral I guess lol.

So, now I'm finishing up the Toastmaster's stuff.  I'm skipping the meeting at noon today as I want to get this financial stuff taken care of.   Check back at 1:00, by then i should be done with club business, my personal finance thing, and lunch break.  

UPDATE 12:30  Well, my brilliant coworker came in to help me with the data load problem from last week.  She's annoyed with me :)  but I'm totally ok with it because I know that I really worked hard on it and did my best.  She's not really annoyed with me so much as annoyed with the situation that caused her batch job to break anyway.  This was also an MIT for today, so still not off track.  NOW I'm making the phone call . . . then lunch break. Back at 1330ish.

UPDATE 1:25  The phone call was rather fruitless, but I did end up with a phone number of someone who might actually be able to help.  I'll make that phone call tomorrow.  Now to Calorie King . . .I've been rather lax in counting calories this past week, time to get that back under control.  

UPDATE 1:50 was I really on Calorie King that long?  Guess I was, since I read the forums.  First goof-off of the day lol!  Now, back to the data load problem.  oops, I have a 3:00 meeting I need to prepare for.  Better do that first.  Back around 4.  This day is just flying by!?  Maybe I should have tried this working hard stuff before.  It really makes the work day go by faster lol. 

UPDATE 3:45 meeting over!  15 min break then spend one hour on the data load stuff.  Spend the last 1/2 hour of the day reviewing and updating my "big" todo list (project list if you're a GTD person)

Tonight:  dd is cooking, so I'll do dishes, put a load of clothes into wash, find my 2007 taxes so I can do my financial aid request for fall (which is already 5 weeks late), prep for tomorrow, and GO TO BED EARLY!

Jo

 

"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright

kaoba way behind

I am up since 2am working on something that was due this past Friday. I spent the weekend avoiding working on this, and avoiding looking at my email for fear that someone will be writing about why they haven't received my work.

I am so tired of this project specifically and of procrastination generally, and honestly, nothing seems to work.

I just want to go take a nap, but I do have to finish today. I feel so irresponsible and non-adult, and helpless againt my compulsion to procrastinate.

I hope people are doing better here than I am today.

kaoba

cheer kaoba

keep at it, kaoba.

Personally, i've been doing well in the last 2 months. Better than usual. Better than average.

But today and friday i lost several hours each to non-valuable procrastination. web surfing type stuff. Interesting stuff, if i didnt have other things that were more important to do. But i do have those things, so i had no business doing them.

Anyway, for you and me, it's get back up on the horse and try again.

One phrase i've heard that give me encouragement at times like this is: "it's not how many times you fall off the horse that counts, it's how many times you get back on."

I'm going to get back on right now.

back on the horse

Absolutely, Clement. Getting back on the horse again, and again, and again, and ...

It's great to hear you've been doing well, very encouraging!

fear drives us

In some cases fear of a bad consequence by not taking action will ultimately force us to take action. If this fear overrides our feeling to procrastinate then we end up forcing ourselves to do what we avoid doing.

I hate to think that fear is the motivating influence that makes us do the things we don't do, but I find it is probably the most effective. One only needs to look at deadlines and the rush and panic that procrastinators feel which propels them into action. 

Imagine thinking to yourself that if you don't do this task you are avoiding you are harming one other person out there. You are risking another person's happiness and well being. This person depends on you to get this task done! Don't let this person down!! Okay if you've come to realize that this person is you will it force you to do it? Probably not. But, imagine someone depends on you for this would you do it? Probably so. I think it's a procrastinator's concern for others which might motivate us more than our concern for ourselves.  

Try not to think about guilt. Just think about starting, and visualize yourself doing the activity. That's the challenge at first. Hope you take care of business... I'm counting on you! ;-)

 

 

Re: fear drives us

Hi kpoet,

Good advice, thanks. I know what I need to do, I've been through this so many times, as everyone here, only sometimes I get hit worse with the paralysis than others. In fact, people are indeed counting on me doing my part so that they can do theirs ... I will be focusing on that.

-k

re: helpless againt my compulsion to procrastinate

 Hey, Koaba!  We've all been there.  Do the best you can.  You still need some planned breaks even in a day like this, so give yourself a 10 minute break to do something else every hour or so.  And keep posting until you are done. 

 :*  You can do it!  We're with you. 

Realizing that we're helpless against this addiction is the first step.  Ha ha, that's literally Step 1, isn't it? 

Jo 

"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright

kaoba 12pm

Hi Journey,

Thanks for your note. I'm keeping going, but I'm just exhausted. I'll be done, though, sometime today.

-k

journey sends kaoba a cup of expresso!

"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright

coffee

Hey Journey,

Thanks for the virtual cup of coffee! I'm going to go get a non-virtual one right now.

Thanks for being there!

Journey 9 am


Good Monday morning everyone!  Running a bit late this morning, had trouble getting to sleep last night and trouble getting up this morning.   My sleep schedule always gets off on the weekends because I stay up later and then sleep later.  I realize this is counterproductive but it's hard to change.

Coffee, then MITs and email.  check back right after my 10:30 meeting which should be short. 

Jo 

 

"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright

8:56am for Lark

Hi everyone. Another week. Gee, I wonder where everyone is this morning. So far, I have one project which needs to be done today. Also, alot of tidying and cleaning needs to be done, along with laundry, but not specifically all today. I've discovered that doing something to each of those keeps them from becoming dreaded tasks. See you later.

e's early morning ci

 Woke up at 4am and have been productive for the past 2 hours. So far I have:

taken meds, drank my water, moved through one laundry cycle, started sorting paperwork, washed the sink

Now I am tired and am going back to bed.  When I wake up I am going to start off by renewing some subscriptions.