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.

new here--intro

Hello-- I'm Julia, I'm 23, and have been a chronic procrastinator for as long as I can remember. I finally have decided that I can't keep living like this, and willpower alone has never really worked. In the past, I've struggled with eating disorders (mainly bulimia) and went to OA for that. I also went to Al-Anon for codependency/family issues..

I'm "finishing up" (or more like avoiding finishing) college right now-- All I have left are several basic requirements: math, science, science lab, lit... I am planning on taking CLEP exams to test out of as many of them as I can, but have yet to start preparing for those. This semester I'm just taking a public speaking and formal logic course, and work some nights-- I have fallen horribly behind in the public speaking course, and freeze up whenever I think about what I need to do. Funny-- Right now, the main thing I need to work on is an informative speech on unhealthy procrastination (It was due two weeks ago. I chose the topic.).

I'm sort of aware of the issues behind my procrastination.. fear of success, fear of failure, perfectionism, emotions (like unexpressed anger from the past)..etc. I love the term "addictive escapism"--That definitely applies. And I do think that "unrecognized inner truth" may be a cause-- though for me it would be more like "ignored inner truth."

 

Hi and welcome

You have taken the first step admitting that you are a procrastinator and joining this group. This is a great place to be and it has been very helpful to me.

I agree with e, the chatbox is a great tool to use. It helps to break down projects/assignments into small microsteps and through the use of positive self talk you can talk yourself through it. The results are amazing. Getting a few completed projects/assignments under your belt will help to boost self-esteem and give you some momentum.

Good luck and we are here for you.

hope-faith

welcome

 hi, Julia. Welcome. You sound like you qualify as a procrastinator along with the rest of us chickens. Just like with the other programs, keep coming back. 

One tool that some of us have found to be extremely helpful is to go into the chatbox and talk yourself through the microsteps of what you need to go. 

For instance, if I had to write the procrastination paper, I might go there and say.... kay, find my syllabus or assignment requirements. Then I would do just that and only that. Then I might say ' phew, to myself. Then i might say, okay, go find the notes I stuffed into the brown bag. etc. Strangely enough, it really inspires me to take the next good action. Sometimes you can get lucky and find another person there who you can work alongside of. 

In any case, this is a great place to be, and for me, the source of a lot of other compulisive escapist behaviors. It is good to have you here.

Thank you so much for your

Thank you so much for your responses... Your advice on microsteps is really helpful..

I usually get stuck when I have to make a decision. For example, with the speech, I have to decide how to organize/group my points, and I can't make up my mind... so I make very little progress when I try to work on the piece. I also often have trouble deciding which task to work on first. 

I sometimes think of

I sometimes think of writing as a chain of decisions.

I can't go on to the next step until I;ve made the preceding decision, whether that decision is the order of topics or just which words to use in a sentence. Getting into a decisive mood helps me. But I also tell myself that the computer allows a decision to be provisional. I can always change the word, or even the order of topics LATER.

I can't say for myself how I get a decisive mood, but I know that feeling calm and not tired and confident all help with it. In fact,  I am trying to observe myself to learn how to foster this mood!

Thank you-- You made some

Thank you-- You made some great points--I've fallen back into major avoiding, and need to give the speech tommorow, and am trying to get back on track. I am going to try to do a little bit at a time and maybe use the other parts of this site (daily check-in, etc)

I am SO addicted to escapism that it is actually painful and scary for me to be in the moment.. and the more I escape, the harder it is to get back..It's a nasty cycle

Hi Writergirl, good that

Hi Writergirl, good that you've come back. I can sure identify with what you describe. Hope you'll keep checking in and maybe get absorbed into the process of your work so the associated negative emotions are easier to ignore.
Good luck--you can do it!