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.
procrastinating bedtime :(
also bookmarking pa.org time. 1:23am :(
well, that was quick. 1:25. 2 min.
Welcome to all the new people (that is, if you wind up navigating back to this thread which will undoubtedly be "yesterday" or older when you return).
5 min to see if there is anything i HAVE to do before tomorrow... 1:26am.
ok 5 min done. Nothing, really. got ready for bed. I will curb my craving for "something more" by curling up in bed with a Good Book (i'm really interested in Ga 4 right now for some reason).
G'night all. Thanks for being with me in spirit. I hope you're all asleep (adjusted for your personal timezone :)
Whiteduck - Deadline free!!! (Until the next deadline).
Today I made a big, hairy project deadline by the skin of my teeth, and it feels wonderful to have it off of my mind.
I've been dreading it for weeks, and when I finally sat down and did it today it turned out to be stupidly easy. I realized that I could've knocked it out a long time ago, with better results. (And much less anxiety!)
But now at least I can concentrate on all the lesser projects underfoot, and maybe I've learned enough to avoid deadline anxiety with some of them.
My new mantra is DOITNOW DOITNOW DOITNOW
I hope you all have a wonderful and productive week. Don't forget to love yourself.
Gratz Whiteduck!
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams
Recycler CI 6pm on way to support group
Hi!
I am safely back home from traveling. (hugs Pro Buddies!)
I have agoraphobia, but will travel anyway ;)
Even though the travel back home today has temporarily negated the wonderful benefits of the national Exercise Conference I was just at, ---- during the next days/weeks/months, I will try to get back into the spirit of my relaxation conference and once again participate in the wonderful practices of relaxation and peacefulness that I have been learning.
I hope everyone has been doing well :)
Today: In an unfamiliar location, carefully follow Mapquest directions which totally don't work, during morning rush hour traffic :o
Next: go to support group, tell them all about it, and hopefully meet with sponsor afterward.
Have a great night, everyone! :)
Recycler
Thank you, gals & guys, for being here! :)
kromer 1:20 CI
OK, did these tasks.
I've been meaning to take some time to work out my grad school plans (who would be good to work with, how to get better as a researcher over the next year), and have been putting it off for months. So I've chosen to take some time (about an hour) to do that today. Specifically, I will:
*Print Hamming's lectures on research (Done)
*Email to bail out of HKN responsibilities (Done)
*get nature subscription (Looked into how to do this and it's easy and affordable, but realize I should wait until after I move into my new apt.)
*spend 30 min researching/thinking about who I want to do research rotations with
*look up toastmasters time/location (Done)
*spend 20 min researching leadership/prof. development opportunities at my univ. (Done)
Frequent updates, back when all these tasks are done.
Update 2:50--I've been making good progress, and spent some good time thinking about grad school/prof. development plans. But now I think this has turned into procrastination, and I still haven't spent the 30 min on who I want to rotate with. So I'm going to commit to starting that now, and stopping after 30 min no matter how much or how little I've gotten done done. I'm going to spend 20 min reading/brainstorming about what's important to me in choosing an advisor, then 10 min going over my notes from last semster on who I want to work with. Then I'll check back with a plan for the rest of the afternoon.
kromer 3:30 CI
OK, spent 30 min researching/brainstorming, made good progress, now I'm moving on.
Next tasks are:
*Spend 30 min (STRICT TIME LIMIT) preparing for Harambee--getting a list of stores and brainstorming questions/reasons for why they chose their products.
*Go to ATM+pick up printout
*Compile motif scan results and start interactome building
*Make a step-by-step plan for how to set parameters (to be implemented this evening after Harambee)
*Leave for Harambee strictly before 5 (so I can walk there and get in a little exercise).
I'll update frequently and work in the chatbox
kromer 11:50 CI
Still having a bit of a rough day.
I kept myself to 15 extra min of websurfing this morning. printed and posted jobs sheet, tidied room, made cards for tonight's Harambee, walked to campus, went over my lease with someone in the off campus housing office, emailed SS and JB about the lease, and had lunch. But now I've been web surfing for another 45 min--I need to get to lab! I'm going to walk upstairs to lab now, check on motif scanning, make a plan for what I want to accomplish this week, and email my supervisor about meeting later this week. I'll work in the chatbox to help keep myself focused, and I'll check in again when these 3 tasks are done.
Falcon CI Monday
Hi everyone!
I just got back from a week away -- business seminar and music retreat. Lots and lots of new concepts, some sightseeing, learning new music, lots of driving. The seminar especially was great but overstimulating -- I feel like my brain is plotzing with new ideas and experiences.
So. . . priority for today is to help the little people in my brain (the ones that do all the filing) process everything so that my mind can be clear for focusing again.
Today:
Nice to be back -- hope everyone is doing well!
Edited to add:
Falcon
Falcon -- not as planned but o.k.
Hi all,
Slight change of plans. . . I dozed most of the afternoon while listening to the thunderstorm outside. My cat's happy to have me home, so she contributed to the peacefulness by having a purrfest.
When the rain stopped I went for a walk & called the cat sitter. In any case, I've done my MIT for the day, which was to decompress and get regrounded, so I'm happy.
Falcon
Falcon CO putting off bedtime
Hi all,
Sometimes when I get home later in the evening (like tonight) I find myself surfing the web till late rather than going to bed. Kind of like I'm trying to wind down but getting hooked instead.
I seem to be doing that tonight, even though I'm actually sleepy despite snoozing a lot this afternoon, so I'm checking in here to state my intention to. . .
Starting with getting off the computer in 3. . . 2. . . 1. . .
(g'night!)
Falcon
good work falc
same problem here tonight. Did it work for you? I think it is about to for me...
Have to wash clothes and
Have to wash clothes and put t hings on ebay to sell, including take pics of items.
"The wind is mightiest when it whirls"
it's best to put your username in the subject
Hi soberchristy!
Glad you're here and checking in, just have a small suggestion--put your username in the subject of your check-ins (eg "soberchristy checkin--need to wash clothes"), so it's easier for the rest of us to keep track of who's checking in.
Journey 10 am
Good morning, and welcome to a new week! Let's make it a productive and enjoyable one.
I'm getting a slow start this morning, not feeling so hot. I'm hoping this is due to overeating last night - we had steaks on the grill and I made homemade yeast rolls that were just heavenly. I don't normally eat huge chunks of beef and piles of butter-soaked bread, so I'm hoping my malaise will pass as I recover from that indiscretion!
I made it to the gym this morning, and I have set my MITs and completed MIT#1, which was to follow up with a coworker on a shared task. Now, coffee break. Large quantities of caffeine will surely cheer me up this morning.
Jo
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams
Journey 1:00 pm
Had a lunch meeting so I'm taking a 20-30 minute break, then check back.
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams
GS--9 AM
( A couple of oddities here... I'm listed twice in the 'Who's online' Box. Also, my check in at 8:21 AM is in the Recent Comments box but seems to have gotten lost in the move of Christy's check in...)
OK, I whittled that outlook to do list down to 10 items. Far more doable. Most of what I've spent the last 30 minutes doing is responding to emails, however, and those mainly in exchange w/ Mrs. GS around planning upcoming weeks and other practical matters.
My timer has just gone off. I'm going to set it for another 30 minutes and focus ONLY on reviewing the article I sent Friday afternoon to see if I want to make any changes, and THEN to see what additional calls I want to make regarding it for updates/fact checking.
GS 9:39 AM
OK, this is very typical for me.
I set out as promised above to look at the Friday article and edit. Then I received an email from Mrs. GS about various things and I turned my attention to the topics of the email. Finally at 9:21 I returned to the task of editing the Friday article.
Then I got a note from a client for whom I'm doing some writing coaching this afternoon. One effect of that: He sent me a bunch of written items from his team. (I'd really wanted that stuff 2 weeks ago, and in fact have been asking him about it. So this one's not my fault. But in order to really offer value I should set aside more time this morning for reviewing that material. Wasn't what I had planned.) So the attempt to edit my Friday article hasn't been very successful. And when my timer did go off I ignored it for 8 minutes or so.
Reset the timer for 10. Focusing ONLY on the article. Closing outook so I won't get distracted by email.
GS 11 AM
Good conference just now w/ Editor on Friday article [I'll need to come up with a scheme for shorthand referring to dif projects while still preserving anonymity, I guess]. Discussed revisions. set deadline of 11 AM tomorrow. "If it's really by 11," he says. Ouch! But warranted.
But I have just one hour to look over the stuff I'm supposed to be coaching on this afternoon.
I don't have time to procrastinate!
May be my last CI for the day until early tomorrow.
GS-6 PM: An afternoon shot almost to h*ll
OK. The plan was to spend the afternoon at a client's conference for its internal team. My job was to have one on one meetings with team members who wanted coaching on various business writing assignments.
I has asked the client some time ago to provide advance copies of samples from the team members for me to critique. I never heard from him (despite sending 3 emails over a couple of weeks) so this weekend I called the client at home (I know him personally) and asked if he was still planning on my participation. Oh yes, he said, and he had some docs that he would send me. I got them this morning. That was way too late for me to do a meaningful critique but I printed them out thinking I'd go to the session and be available and just wing it.
My principal client contact had not shown up after an hour, and no one was there who had submitted docs for critique. (Today was a registration day for the team's 4-day conference.) However a top assistant to my client contact, with whom I'd dealt before (very successfully) was there, so after a time I approached him. I suggested that it would be more productive all around if I simply went back to my office and reviewed the various docs in hand, then emailed them directly to the team-members submitting them. He agreed, and I left.
Good things that happened after that: I bought school supplies for my younger son. I did a grocery run. I got home about 3:45 or so.
I emailed my contact on the above project and copied the assistant with whom I'd worked out the alternative arrangements.
And then I proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon in one time sink after another: net surfing, free cell, etc. etc.
At some point I thought, "Oh, I should check in at PA."
I didn't do so. Rebellion? Or just avoiding being accountable?
And here it is 6 p.m.
OK. I can rescue this.
New MIT: Look over my unifinished tasks and new tasks and plan tomorrow. Check back in here, then make plans to check in again first thing in the AM to hold myself accountable.
GS-6:30 PM
OK. I reviewed tasks for tomorrow...
And just realized I forgot a whole bunch of stuff that needs to be there!
Back in a few minutes.
OK. That's done. I hadn't put in my calendar or my task list anything about those business documents I'm supposed to be critiquing. That's because I have another project looming that I'd like to finish by the end of this week, although it will probably be by the end of next week if I'm lucky.
I haven't even addressed two other "open loops" projects as GTD would call them. One more task on the list tomorrow: Corrall those two projects.
There. added that to the list.
I now have 21 items on tomorrow's list. Way too many again. But I have set some clear priorities, so I hope the length of the list won't paralyze me.
About 9 of the 21 items all tie to one project, and I've set some time aside to work on that project, so I'm hopeful if I can stay on track that will knock those items off quickly.
I'll be checking in a lot tomorrow. Wish me well!
Wishing GS well
As requested !
Jo
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams
re: GS 9am
Yeah, I noticed your post was missing, I clicked on it and . . . nothing! I've never seen that happen before. Pro will probably fix it :)
The double listing of online folks happens now and then. I've noticed that when I get off and on frequently, that I'll show up twice sometimes. Must be a timing thing.
Jo
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." - Douglas Adams
first check in.....from soberchristy..Monday Aug.11th....
Hey all, well my first check in......so here goes.....
For tomorrow I have therapy at 11:00 and I am really glad, the depression is really getting to me and I am just tired...if you know what I mean. So first go to therapy, second...deal with my mom I will be staying with her without yelling or fighting. I guess mine are more of a mental issue tomorrow..but that counts right???
I will touch base tomorrow or tomorrow night!
Christy
Welcome, Christy!
Hi Christy!
Welcome! :) Keep coming back! :)
Recycler
Thank you, gals & guys, for being here! :)
Christy ...
I created a day starter message, and moved your check-in so it's a comment to the day starter. That's how we organize it. Here are instructions:
http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/1603
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Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried.
kromer 9:15 CI
I'm back from vacation and having a hard time getting started this morning.
I'm going to allow myself 15 more minutes of websurfing, then I'm going to tidy my room, post house jobs sheet and get my butt to lab.