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.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Lark at 6:40pm

I haven't Checked In for a couple of days. Things have been really whacked around here. One large project for work has to be done for Tuesday, and so much has been coming up to interrupt the flow. I have no control over people, places, or things. Seems my intentions have been duds. I could use some positive thoughts anyone. Till later...

Ag starting a new 24 hours at 3:30 pm

Startup was so elusive today that I had to post it as a check-in to slog through it...but it worked. Now I am ready to start by posting actual, Step-11-inspired to-do's today:

  • Recovery reading
  • Online miscellany:
    • sewing classes
    • sewing machine repair places
    • SSD dir dep changes
    • list dining room for sale
    • check bcc fall stats sched
  • Clean J’s bathroom
  • Microburst 3 minutes each:
    • Medicare info
    • Debit receipts
  • Reward myself!
    • Steve Pavlina podcast
    • Read something brainless and fun

Also I committed to posting possible weekend plans (contingent on us feeling well enough): Worship at new favorite place; brunch with friends - Shop: groceries, dishes, flatware - Join kids in whatever they’re doing Monday.

Journey 3 pm

I have not been extremely productive so far today, I keep being drawn back to the computer like it was a giant magnet. 

I've done a little bit of housecleaning and laundry, planned the menus for this week and made my grocery list.  I'm headed for the grocery store now . ..

Oh, and I also talked to my mother and my daughter-in-law on the phone.  I don't like talking on the phone so I felt good about having those social convos this morning. 

I'll post when I get back from the store, because that's always a bad time for me.  I'm tired when I get home from fighting my way through the store and then I have all that stuff to put away . . . not fun.   Hmmm . . .let's do a 180 here . . . I really DO enjoy going to the grocery store, and if I had all the time and money in the world it would be fun.  I also like organizing things, which is what putting away the groceries really is.  Hey, this is gonna be fun!  Here I go!

Jo

If you can’t ride two horses at once, you shouldn’t be in the circus.”  - Jimmy Maxton, Independent Labour MP for Glasgow Bridgeton

Agnus checking in 1pm, 3:30

G'day everyone!  J and I are officially sick with summer colds so we are promising ourselves a take-it-easy weekend. This, of course, is totally tempting my Inner Procrasinator to have a field day. I am resisting this by checking in anyway, even without a to-do-du-jour list.

I did make certain promises to my sponsor this morning that I need to keep, and I do not want to be kicking myself Tuesday morning that I "wasted" a 3-day weekend. So I commit to these next MITs:

  • DONE -Talk to J about family goals for this weekend.
  • DONE - [ADDED] - check online sources for wx, tgif
  • DONE - Plan, write and send the email I promised sponsor.
  • DONE - Do my 11th Step reading/writing/quiet time.
  • DONE (posted separately) - Check back in here with some weekend plans, however imperfect or incomplete they may be, just because it's how to recover...

kromer 10:30 CI

A bit late to lab, but I'm hear now and have settled in/checked email.

I'm going to work until 12:50, then go have lunch with a friend.

First step is planning: I will make a semester-long plan for finishing my paper, and then a *realistic* plan for this week. Then I'll check back with 3 MITs for the day and a plan of attach for the morning. All of this planning should take me 30-60 min. 

kromer 11:35 CI

OK, planning took a little longer than expected (I started panicking about everything I had to do and took a little while to calm down. I'm not sure the plan for this week is entirely realistic, but I did pare it down a bit.)

My 3 MITs are:
*Learn about expts. lab has been doing with HMEC cell line
*Re-run failed WM jobs
*Finish basic WM doc

I choose to knock off one of my MITs immediately, re-starting failed jobs. Then, since I'm kind of stressed out, I'll try and get a few easy, non-MIT tasks out of the way: email about Harambee, email about mtg time/key, spend 30 min researching classes. This should take me up to 12:50. 

Update 12:10--after a bit of goofing off, I restarted first batch of failed jobs and will keep an eye on them. Now I'm going to email about mtg time/key and about Harambee. 

Update 12:30--sent these 2 emails. I'm going to restart a few more failed jobs, then find and print genetics+biochem syllabi, probability syllabus+course evaluation.
Update 12:50--done, leaving for lunch 

kromer 2:50 CI

Lunch was a lot of fun--got to catch up with a friend I haven't seen in a while.

Now I'm committing to working in lab until 6:00. Then I'll head home (and perhaps work some more in the evening, depending on what I get done and how much energy I have).

I'm going to work on my MITs. A couple of the failed WM jobs have bugs, so I'm going to figure those out and then start them re-running; that will finish 1 of my MITs. Then I'm going to do another MIT: look at CH's wiki for info on cell line, then email her to find out exactly what experiments the lab has been doing. Both these tasks should be finished by 5; I'll update frequently and check in again when both are done. 

kromer 7:25 CI

OK, haven't had the most productive afternoon... (got distracted by a bunch of phone calls and dinner...I think I need to discipline myself to turn off the phone when I'm working, or at least screen calls somewhat.)

I figured out the bugs in most of the WM jobs, but one of them is still stubborn...I'm re-running it with some debugging output. That should finish in a few hours, and then I can go back and track down what's going on. I emailed CH and found some papers on her wiki. I read one paper completely; the second I've gone through but still need to look up a few thing; the third is a technical mass spectrometry paper, so I'm going to put it off until later this week when I have a few hours to devote to it. 

Here's my plan for getting stuff done:
*Look up terms from paper
*Pack up and go home
*Finish WM FAQ
That seems managable, and then I'll do more if I have time/energy. 

kromer 10:50 CI

Did the above, and also told SC how to order food for house.

Now I'm quite tired, but I'm staying on the couch so I can't go to bed for a bit. So I'm going to push myself to get a little more done, talking myself through it in the chatbox as necessary. I'm going to finish writing up doc. on basic WM processing flow, then gather info on spring cooking hours and email LC, then take a shower and check back in.   

kromer 11:45

done, going to bed now.

Falcon CI Saturday

Hi everyone,

Lots of stuff to do this weekend, and lots of temptation to think "Oh, I have a whole three-day weekend to get that done. . ."  

MITs today:  lot's o' housecleaning!  Got people coming over tomorrow and Monday, so the place really needs to be back in livable condition.  Also, answer 2 personal ads, email T. and email T2.  And I'd better do some laundry while I'm at it.

I've already put in a load of laundry, done a little cleaning and exercised.  Next up, eat breakfast, then get moving

Happy holiday weekend to those in the States! 

Falcon

Falcon CI -- Whoa!

Whoa!  Just ate breakfast, then meandered away on the internet.

O.k., for this weekend, I'm declaring an internet moratorium.  No surfing!  If I need to go anywhere other than email or this site, I'll write my intention and time on/off in a log so that I stay mindful and on-track.

Now. . . brush my teeth and get cleaning. 

 

Falcon

Falcon CI Sat. afternoon

O.k., I finally got the kitchen/dining room floor vacuumed & mopped.  That always seems to be a bigger production and take more time that it ought to -- maybe that's why I tend to put it off!  Did a little cleaning in the bathroom, washed & hung a load of laundry, sent 2 personal ad emails and drafted message to T1.

Getting together with a friend later this afternoon, and need to go get showered & dressed.

It's reeeeally tempting to web surf for "just a few minutes" but I'm not gonna.  I am going to check the weather site, for afternoon planning, and then log off.

 

Falcon

Journey 9:30

Good morning, and happy Long Weekend to those in the States.  The kids are going to the lake this weekend, so I'm off the hook for cooking company dinner this weekend, too.  I'll miss seeing the grandson (and my son, too of course lol) but it's nice to know I don't have to spend half a day getting ready for company.  

I stayed up late and got up early this morning to work on my blog - I've started a blog about my little business in SL.  I'm thinking about doing a 28-day early riser challenge too and posting my progress on the blog, too.   Second Life blogs are really popular, as are productivity blogs, and I'm hoping that I can make a few dollars from google ads, but mainly I'm just doing it for the learning experience and the fun.  I'm hoping one of my little hobbies will turn into a post-retirement career when I get tired of working for the man every day. 

But, although that was fun and interesting, it's not the Most Important Thing.  Right now, the most important thing is to move away from the computer, and do my day starter.  I'll be back in an hour or so with my MITs in my hot little hand. 

Jo 

 

If you can’t ride two horses at once, you shouldn’t be in the circus.”  - Jimmy Maxton, Independent Labour MP for Glasgow Bridgeton

GeorgeSmiley, 8:13 AM

I almost never check in much on weekends, but today I really need it. I hope there are others who come by here today because of that.

MIT #1: Finish my outline List 4-6 basic outline segments for Project R

GS, 12:13 PM

I've made a start.

I managed to articulate for myself why this project has been so difficult and therefore has thrown me back into my worst procrastination habits. Namely, I've lot a lot of confidence in the idea, which I was once sold on, and I find myself doubting that anyone will find it of any interest.

Along with that was a fundamental indecision on an overall narrative approach. It is a story that could be told either with or without a lot of first-person material, and I could not make up my mind.

Mrs. GS was very helpful. I expressed to her both my lack of confidence that this story will mean anything to anyone. She proffered reasons why it could be of broad interest. Then I talked about the First Person question and she pointed out why use of the First Person would make the story a lot more compelling.

This morning I wrote a number of paragraphs to get at the core of the story from the first person angle.  They seem to be working. I'll be taking some time on other matters and family time today, but I feel like I've finally gotten a small start. Not that it will be easy from here on out, but that is one step.

 Later, all...

congrats on the progress, GS

 

Thank you...

The rest of today was occupied by other matters and tasks. Tomorrow morning before church I need to work on something else, and the afternoon/evening will be taken up with a social engagement.

Monday I will probably take some time early in the day to advance Project R. I also want to spend time with my sons, as it's the last day of summer vacation before school.

I am not sure whether and how much I'll check in here in the next couple of days, but when the regular work schedule starts I for sure will. In the meantime, have a great Labor Day, everyone, and remember who it was that brought you the weekend! :-)

 

GS

Recycler CI 5:50am EST

Hi Pro Buddies & Good Friends! :)

Holiday weekend here in the U.S. I will be in and out this weekend; it might be tomorrow before I check in again. I hope everyone will have a great weekend! :) Talk to you later! :)

Recycler

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