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.
RitaE
This is an odd time to check in for the day, but I unplug electronically on the weekends for mental health sometimes. To work on my PA recovery this weekend, I kept written lists and plans in my journal. It helped. I was able to do most of my list yesterday and today.
A special treat was the hours of beautifully unproductive time at our son's Father's Day gathering. Sunny breezes, giant bubble-wands, a trampoline, a swimming pool and a 7 year old gap-toothed granddaughter - it just doesn't get any better than that.
I ran out of energy about 9 tonight, when I was supposed to resume a client project that is already on its second extension. I opened it up, looked at it, noticed that I am not comfortable with its layout, thought about some ways to revise it, then started procrastinating - dowloaded my boarding pass for tomorrow, compared costs of airport parking versus 2 round trips for husband to deliver/retrieve me, played with the dog, ate more pie, fnally realized I needed my PA support so checked in here and now have spent substantial time on this site.
So here I am, too sleepy to make much sense. Gotta think about the 24 hours ahead and MITs.
Get a decent night's sleep: 10/11th Step review, writing, journal a plan for tomorrow, wash face, brush teeth, oil skin. Set out clothes to wear tomorrow.
I'm going to move the rest of my MIT-thinks to a new chatbox. Thanks for listening PA-pals.
c ci
i'm experiencing these days that when i dread doing a task, if i simply come here and post "i'm going to do this" then i can. It helps me get over the edge, somehow.
And that's true right now. I'd really rather sit here and read this site. But i'm already caught up, and now i'm starting to read old posts. I know others have posted that here. I want to catch up on posts, but there are none left, so rather than admit that and do something else, i dip into old posts, to fill my void of no new posts. Except it never fills the void, in fact it enlarges it.
cya jo
have a good night!
journey c.o. 9:15
Ah, kids came for dinner and left about 1/2 hour ago. Dinner turned out nicely and the house was reasonably clean. My grandson is growing like a weed. I'm going to have to stop picking him up, he's getting too heavy. It's hard to resist that little curly headed kiddo though. Good night all and here's to a productive and enjoyable week ahead.
Jo
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
Grail 10am CI
Right...
Project sb:
* 1 unit
Project sj:
* 10 short units
* Then, evaluate workload status...
:)
c ci
for 15 min i read about our new interesting, wonderful people who've come to our site, and hey, they sound like they'll fit right in with the rest of us sufferers.
But, i'm inspired by everyone, and feel ready to choose to do my next task which i was feeling resistance for, which is why i came here. pa.org to the rescue again.
cya
re: fresh blood
Yes, we have a lot of active newcomers! Welcome to all of you and keep posting! Glad to see you guys jumping on board and getting started on your recovery.
Jo
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
Journey 10:30
Good grief! I slept until 10:00. I feel great though, so I must have needed the sleep. I'm going to take half an hour to plan my day with a nice cup of coffee and then check back at 11.
Jo
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
Journey 11:30
First item on the agenda: bathe a huge, hairy, itchy dog.
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
journey 12:30 & further updates 2:00 4:30
the giant dog has been bathed . . . now clean up the bathroom, color my hair, and take a bath myself.
Update 2:00 I can see today will be a frequent posting day, so I'll just update this entry. The bathroom is clean, I'm clean, and the grey is covered. The next hour is devoted to laundry.
Update 4:30 a bunch of laundry has been done. the rest can wait. Now, vacuum and put clean sheets on the beds. After that, start the potatoes and dessert for dinner.
Jo
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
Lark at 9:51am, 12:40amMon)
Good morning everyone. Wow, another week already. Last week wasn't exactly fantastic, but I did some important things I'd been putting off for a while. The normal self-employment and home owner stuff just sort of slid through. My attempts at finding/getting competent part-time help aren't working very well, so I should perhaps do some 4th and 5th step work in that area.
To do:
(X)morning things
(X)spiritual time
(X)call client about finished project
(X)decide whether I want to paint my kitchen white
(X)use timer to put things away for half an hour
(50%)finish cleaning kitchen table
work on hour on work project A
(X)put paint stripper on metal thing
(X)get work project B ready for tomorrow
(50%)spend half an hour on project C
(X)check in later today
Falcon CI Sunday
Hi all,
Happy Father's Day!
To do today:
I'm going to eat breakfast first, then see if I have time to walk to the store before class. If not, I can start on dusting or clean the bathroom.
Falcon
Recycler CI 5:30am EST
Hi Pro Buddies!
Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's on the board!
Today: clean lower level, prepare gym bags for this week, bike ride, shower, start 1 load of laundry, fix shrimp salad. Decide which activities for mid-morning before meeting a friend for a movie.
Continuing project: further narrow down paint color for new room at August condo.
Have a great day, everyone! :)
Recycler
Thank you, gals & guys, for being here! :)
Recycler CI 4:05pm EST
Hi!
I'm going to do a quick check-in for a minute, and then take a break.
I'm back in from the movie and want to nap or rest a bit, before starting something else.
Today: straightened lower level, prepared gym bags, bike ride, sponge bath, coffee shop, narrowed down paint selections, hardware store, continued paint selections. Movie with friend. Tried to find new store, but didn't succeed. Got needed products at other store.
Next: rest to re-group my resources.
Later, goal: will cook Shrimp, then fix recipe. I hope to do one more check-in before bed. Talk to you later! :)
Recycler
Thank you, gals & guys, for being here! :)
Recycler CI 6:45pm EST
Hi!
Checking in one more time.
I did nap, which was good, because evidently I had tuckered myself out lol.
I have now cooked the shrimp. It will go in another recipe later tonight, so I need to review that recipe.
Next: Call my Dad for Father's Day. He was here yesterday, so we had Father's Day then; but I always call on Sunday night anyway, so I will talk to him again to wish him a Happy Father's Day :)
After that: fix recipe for refrigerated salad, then read recovery literature and get ready for bed. I haven't decided if I need to check in one more time before bed. Talk to you later! :)
Recycler
Thank you, gals & guys, for being here! :)
Recycler CI 8:13pm EST
Hi!
Decided to not make shrimp recipe tonight, but put aside ingredients so I will be ready on Tuesday.
Had a good talk with Dad on the phone. Now ready to e-mail a friend, read the recovery literature and go to bed.
Have a great night! :)
Recycler
Thank you, gals & guys, for being here! :)
Hi Recycler and all pro
Hi Recycler and all pro buddies,
I hope you achieve what you set out to do.
Here's my list
Hmm. Let's see what I can do. It's depressing how little time I can spend with my children. They spend all sunday in their rooms on their computers. Heavy dose of guilt on top of under achievement on thesis.
TPB
Hi Teefee61
Hi Teefee61,
Congrats on sorting out your priorities today and coming up with a plan! I know that, for me at least, sometimes just focusing on the important stuff and figuring out how to use my time can be the hardest part of the job!
It also seems to me that I'm more productive when I start off with a plan. Even if things come up and I have to switch gears (as they say, "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy") I still do better because I have my priorities and committments in mind. I hope that will be the case for you, too.
Oh -- and I like the way you broke your thesis work into small slices, and incorporated time for your family and yourself, as well. Best of luck with it!
Falcon
No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy
> "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy"
I LOVE that. That's really helpful to me for when i get off track / behind. which is almost every day.
This quote somehow frees me to adjust mid-course without feeling like a failure for not sticking to my schedule.
Tx falc
re: battle plans
I love that quote! I've never heard that before, but it's so, so true. I get thrown off when I have to deviate from my plan, but it always seems to happen. I'm going to be saying that to myself often!
Jo
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
re: re: battle plans
Course I had to google this. The quote is from Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. There's a bunch of info on Wikipedia about his military career, but I really loved this description of him.
Moltke had a tall spare figure,- and in his latter years his tanned features had received a set expression which was at once hard and grand. He was habitually taciturn and reserved, though a most accomplished linguist, so that it was said of him that he was silent in seven languages. This brought him the famous nickname "der große Schweiger" (the great silent man). The stern school of his early life had given him a rare self-control, so that no indiscreet or unkind expression is known to have ever fallen from him. Long before his name was on the lips of the public he was known in the army and in the staff as the man of gold, the ideal character whom every one admired and who had no enemies.
OK, now I'm getting back to work!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmuth_von_Moltke_the_Elder
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
Battle casualty
My husband just read one of my thesis chapters, and his conclusion? OK, but BORING. He seemed to think all the references and elements were tedious and perhaps confusing (by the way, he's an MD and used to reading scientific articles).
He doesn't understand my lack of time, doesn't know about my procrastination, and my deep deep fear of failure.
I feel like crawling into a hole and dying. This is the reason I procrastinate. A battle casualty? Is there life after this sort of death?
TPB
life after death
he he i happen to believe in life after death.
But for me Failure has always seemed like death and that has always been a big part of the problem. And that death had always been intolerable to me, and since it also appeared unavoidable, i was, suck, you might say. It's a very dark, unhappy place to be. I know many of you have been there.
Of course now i'm in recovery. And so now i have come to believe in a higher power greater than myself who has my best interest at heart. So if i were to die, either physically, or in my own mind due to my failure due to my procrastination, i believe that my soul remains and is in the hands of god. And so, really, i've lost nothing that matters. That's so encouraging to me it takes my focus off my problems and that frees me to just try to get back on schedule again. The simple way, without all my normal baggage. And then i'm working with this knowledge that getting behind schedule is a small thing, and HP is taking care of everything that matters.
And then that feeling fades, and i start to get all wrapped up in my tasks again and my dread and demand resistance and start fearing failure again and then...
...and then i'm not sure what's the rest of the story. I am not sure there is a 'rest of the story'. It appears to me that this is it, and it's my daily work to enter this cycle and pull myself out. Sometimes many times a day.
re: battle casualty!
You can revise and make it more interesting when you're done, just tell him it's a rough draft. Maybe you need someone else to be your mentor rather than dh, sounds like he's a pretty tough audience lol!
Jo
"The sooner you get behind, the longer you have to catch up." - Steven Wright
not dead after all, just a little battle graze
Thanks! I've read that lit reviews are often a bit boring.
I'll take your advice and review anything later when my supervisors suggest. Now I must keep going.
Despite that, I've had a good day's work and done everything I planned to do and more.
TPB
Teefee61 victory
Hi Teefee61,
You worked on your thesis today! And made progress! That's a victory! Hope you're patting yourself on the back!
Falcon
Hi everyone
Thanks for the encouragement, Falcon, and good luck with your plans everyone.
This is a quick update. Usually at this time on a sunday, having done my household tasks, I sit down with a sigh to work on my thesis, and end up doing anything but (if I have no marking to do, or tests to write or accounts to sort out, I'll play sudoku or freecell until it's too late to do anything else, totally sabotaging my intentions)
BUT so far, so good. I've not only achieved everything I set out to do, but I'm ahead of myself. Plans work
Now, back I go to work.
Good luck and catch you later!
TPB
Weekly 12-Step Meeting in Chatbox today
Meeting is held:
Exact time/Timezone details here:
http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/1398
This is a 12-Step meeting.
NOTE:
NOTE: The chatbox was upgraded in April 2008. It no longer keeps a log of what was said. Whatever personal thoughts you say there, will not be readable after the meeting. If there is any chat scroll remaining on the screen, we usally type in one-word lines of chat until any remaining personal words from the meeting have scrolled out of view. The only thing left visible would be generic things like the closing statement, or a list of the P.A. Tools, or the Serenity Prayer. There is no permanent record of private thoughts.
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I don't want to create a feeling of "obligation". Many of us suffer from issues with "Demand Resistance", and obligation would just make things worse.
Also, I wanted to make it clear that we don't take attendance.
Each person should come or not come according to their own inner guidance -- i.e. the Higher Power of their understanding.
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