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.

What to do when you get the urge to procrastinate...

I found this here: http://theserooms.blogspot.com/2005/03/what-to-do-when-urge-to-drink-hits.html

It is written in terms of the urge to drink, and getting drunk, but i can easily replace
urge to drink -> urge to procrastinate
coming off a drunk -> the feeling of knowing that i've wasted the last X hours or days.

Someday if i get time, i'll format this better.


This is reported to have been taken from an old AA pamphlet that was scanned and placed on a web page.

15 POINTS FOR AN ALCOHOLIC TO CONSIDER WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THE URGE TO TAKE A DRINK pub by Street Printing Co., Birmingham Ala.

THE UNHAPPIEST PERSON in the world is the chronic Alcoholic who has an insistent yearning to enjoy life as he once knew it, but cannot picture life without alcohol. He has a HEART-BREAKING OBSESSION that by some miracle of control he will be able to do so.

SOBRIETY, THE MAGNICFICENT OBSESSION, is the most important thing in your life without exception. You may believe your job, or your home life, or one of the many other things come first. But consider, if you do not get sober and stay sober, chances are you won't have a job, a family, sanity, or even life. If you are convinced that everything in life depends on your sobriety, you have just so much more chance of getting sober and staying sober. If you put other things first you are only hurting your chances.

(1) Cultivate continued acceptance of the fact that your choice is between unhappy, drunken drinking and doing without just one small drink.

(2) Cultivate enthusiastic gratitude you have had the good fortune of finding out what was wrong with you before it was too late.

(3) Expect as being natural and inevitable, that for a period of time, (and it may be a long one) you will recurringly experience:

(a) The conscious, nagging craving for a drink.

(b) The sudden, all but compelling impulse just to take a drink.

(c) The craving, not for a drink as such, but for the soothing glow and warmth a drink or two once gave you.

(4) Remember that the times when you don't want a drink are the times in which to build up the strength not to take one when you do want it.

(5) Develop and rehearse a daily plan of thinking and acting by which you will live that day without taking a drink, regardless of what may upset you or how hard the old urge for a drink may hit you.

(6) Don't for a split second allow yourself to think: "Isn't it a pity or a mean injustice that I can't take a drink like so-called normal people."

(7) Don't allow yourself to either think or talk about any real or imagined pleasure you once did get from drinking.

(8 ) Don't permit yourself to think a drink or two would make some bad situation better, or at least easier to live with. Substitute the thought: "One drink will make it worse, - one drink will mean a drunk."

(9) Put your situation in perspective. Think, as you see here or there a blind or other sorely handicapped person, how joyful such a person would be if his problem could be solved by just not taking one little drink today. Think gratefully of how lucky you are to have so simple and small a problem.

(10) Cultivate and woo enjoyment of sobriety.

(a) How good it is to be free of shame, mortification and self-condemnation.

(b) How good it is to be free of fear of the consequences of a drunk just ended, or a coming drunk you have never been able to prevent.

(c) How good it is to be free of what people have been thinking and whispering about you, and of their mingled pity and contempt.

(d) How good it is to be free of fear of yourself.

(11) Catalog and re-catalog the positive enjoyments of sobriety, such as:

(a) The simple ability to eat and sleep normally, and wake up glad you are alive, glad you were sober yesterday, and glad you have the privilege of staying sober today.

(b) The ability to face whatever life may dish out, with peace of mind, self-respect and a full possession of all your faculties.

(12) Cultivate a helpful association of ideas:

(a) Associate a drink as being the single cause of all the misery, shame, and mortification you have ever known.

(b) Associate a drink as being the only thing that can destroy your new-found happiness, and take from you your self-respect and peace of mind.

(13) Cultivate gratitude:

(a) Gratitude that so much can be yours for so small a price.

(b) Gratitude that you can trade just one drink for all the happiness sobriety gives you.

(c) Gratitude that A. A. exists, and you have found out about it in time.

(d) Gratitude that you are only a victim of a disease called Alcoholism, that you aren't a degenerate, immoral weakling, or the self-elected victim of a vice or a person of doubtful sanity.

(e) Gratitude that since others have done it, you can in time being bring it to pass that you will not want or miss the drink that you are doing without.

(14) Seek out ways to help other alcoholics, - and remember the first way to help others is to stay sober yourself.

(15) And don't forget that when the heart is heavy and resistance is low and the mind is troubled and confused, there is much comfort in a true and understanding friend standing by. You have that friend in A. A.

Revised for PA

This is great!  I took a first crack at editing it for myself/PA.  Please feel free to edit in whatever way would most help you... Also, I changed the "compare yourself to someone who is blind" thing because the way it was written didn't sit well with me.

15 POINTS FOR A PROCRASTINATOR TO CONSIDER WHEN CONFRONTED WITH THE URGE TO PROCRASTINATE.

THE UNHAPPIEST PERSON in the world is the chronic procrastinator who has an insistent yearning to enjoy life as he once knew it, but cannot picture life without his patterns of avoidance. He has a HEART-BREAKING OBSESSION that by some miracle of control he will be able to enjoy life once again without breaking these patterns.

OVERCOMING THE URGE TO ESCAPE TASKS, THE MAGNICFICENT OBSESSION, is the most important thing in your life without exception. You may believe your job, or your home life, or one of the many other things come first. But consider, if you do not stop compulsive avoidance and stay committed to disciplined completion of tasks, chances are you won't have a job, a family, sanity, or even life. If you are convinced that everything in life depends on stopping compulsive avoidance, you have just so much more chance of breaking free and staying free from procrastination. If you put other things first you are only hurting your chances.

(1) Cultivate continued acceptance of the fact that your choice is between a life filled with unhappy, compulsive avoidance and lost opportunities, and simply saying NO to that one small distracting, avoidant activity.

(2) Cultivate enthusiastic gratitude you have had the good fortune of finding out what was wrong with you before it was too late.

(3) Expect as being natural and inevitable, that for a period of time, (and it may be a long one) you will recurringly experience:
(a) The conscious, nagging craving to escape certain tasks.
(b) The sudden, all but compelling impulse just to do something OTHER than what you know you need to be doing.
(c) The craving, not for procrastination as such, but for the excitement/drama/challenge/etc. that procrastination gave you.

(4) Remember that the times when you don't want to procrastinate are the times in which to build up the strength not to procrastinate when you do want to.

(5) Develop and rehearse a daily plan of thinking and acting by which you will live that day without procrastinating, regardless of what may upset you or how hard the old urge to escape may hit you.

(6) Don't for a split second allow yourself to think: "Isn't it a pity or a mean injustice that I can't take a little break/do something else/finish this tomorrow like so-called normal people."

(7) Don't allow yourself to either think or talk about any real or imagined pleasure you once did get from procrastinating.

(8 ) Don't permit yourself to think that doing one of your procrastinating activities would make some bad situation better, or at least easier to live with. Substitute the thought: "One minute putting this off will make it worse, - one minute will mean a procrastinating loser."

(9) Put your situation in perspective. Think, as you hear about someone facing great challenges in their life (loss of a loved one, serious illness, etc.), how joyful that person would be if those challenges could be eliminated by just following through on a few difficult/boring/unpleasant tasks.  Think gratefully of how lucky you are to have so simple and small a problem.

(10) Cultivate and woo enjoyment of being in control of your life.
(a) How good it is to be free of shame, mortification and self-condemnation.
(b) How good it is to be free of fear of the consequences of a procrastination binge, or the fear of a coming urge to procrastinate that you have never been able to prevent.
(c) How good it is to be free of what people have been thinking and whispering about you, and of their mingled pity, contempt, frustration toward you.
(d) How good it is to be free of fear/hatred/contempt for yourself.

(11) Catalog and re-catalog the positive enjoyments of disciplined completion of tasks, such as:
(a) The simple ability to eat and sleep normally, and wake up glad you are alive, glad you did what you needed to do yesterday, and glad you have the privilege of staying on top of things today.
(b) The ability to face whatever life may dish out, with peace of mind, self-respect and confidence that you can deal with it without the need to escape.

(12) Cultivate a helpful association of ideas:
(a) Associate postponing something that you know you need to do now as being the single cause of all the misery, shame, and mortification you have ever known.
(b) Associate postponing something that you know you need to do now as being the only thing that can destroy your new-found happiness, and take from you your self-respect and peace of mind.

(13) Cultivate gratitude:
(a) Gratitude that so much can be yours for so small a price.
(b) Gratitude that you can trade just a few minutes of escapist activity for all the happiness that being on top of your responsibilities gives you.
(c) Gratitude that P. A. exists, and you have found out about it in time.
(d) Gratitude that you are only a victim of a disease called chronic procrastination, that you aren't a degenerate, immoral weakling, or the self-elected victim of a vice or a person of doubtful sanity.
(e) Gratitude that since others have done it, you can in time being bring it to pass that you will not have the urge to escape and postpone necessary tasks.

(14) Seek out ways to help other procrastinators, - and remember the first way to help others is to stay on top of your own life.

(15) And don't forget that when the heart is heavy and resistance is low and the mind is troubled and confused, there is much comfort in a true and understanding friend standing by. You have that friend in P. A.

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Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. 

~William James

A wonderful gift

Thank you for taking the time to recast this. I pasted it into a daily file I use for readings and office management, then printed it out and put it in a sheet protector for ready reference and review.

Now to make use of it...

 

~~

Want what you have. Be who you are. Do what you can. ~Forrest Church

The Hero's Code:

Show Up. Pay Attention. Speak the Truth. Let Go of the Outcome.

Thank you Clement!

This was really helpful concrete advice!