Thursday 16 April

Hiya!  Missed you guys. Been staying at Mom's and basically avoiding work, even though I told the boss I'd be doing some work while I was here....ergh.  J is with me so this is sort-of vacation, sort-of work, sort-of caregiving respite...too many sort-of's. I get demotivated when my objectives are fuzzy. 

Tonight I need to file a weekly AP report Done!  do a final Toolkit review and submit that sucker for printing. Each of these involves sub-steps that include some tedium that I resist, so I will chat through these. Also today is our wedding anniversary so J will not be happy with me pulling an all-nighter, and we have a date to do some tourist stuff in downtown DC tomorrow, so a decent night's rest will help my stamina for that.

Hi Pro Buddies!

I will be away from the computer through next Tuesday, April 21, so I want to do my CI now for today :)

Last night I was supposed to pack for my trip; but I didn't :o

So this morning before work, I threw everything into a couple of bags. (lol). Yeah, that's about the worse packing I have ever done in my life ;) (I don't really want to go on this trip.) I didn't go to the gym.

At work today, I have been pretty much diligent on my project list. I have one hard thing to do (update someone about a couple of projects). One of my coworkers is in the office. I think I will write up the same list & go over with them, to prep for when I can give it to the person that I need to talk with.

While my trip isn't supposed to be a bad one, I'm taking phone numbers from my other 12-step group, just in case! ;)

Some days are better than others!

Have a great weekend, everyone! :)

Recycler

Recycler

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

Ok by checking in, I am starting.............

I was really tired,full day yesterday and not much sleep, so I was slow this morning and unwilling to "start" feeling like "I did enough" yesterday. I was in the "getting willing t be willing" phase. Seems like checking into PA is the next real step of starting.............

I wanted to do a procratination task, but it seems too overwhelming to even think of one right now and the normal everyday living tasks are starting to pile up, so I did my basics, and 2. I want to start on the regular stuff -made a list 3. get my walk in 4. check in again.

 read:

Yesterday was a so-so day.  Not too bad, not great.  I had a bunch of meetings and I didn't really use the time between meetings as well as I could have.  But yesterday is over and today is a new day.   I feel very serious today.  I hope this means I'll have a very productive day!

I have two projects with deliverables due at the end of next week.  I will divide my time between those two projects today.  I also have several meetings again today but I'm going to duck out of one.   Unfortunately the other THREE meetings are not multi-taskers so I need to use my time well between meetings.  

I've had coffee already, been to the gym, and checked on Dad.  Now for todo list.  Should be easy to make a todo list as my priorities are clear.  I'll be in the chatbox in a few.

JO  

There is a proper balance between not asking enough of oneself and asking or expecting too much.  - May Sarton

Good morning all, looking forward to a very productive day. First on the list is to.

1. Check e-mail
2. Update financials
3. Fly
   1. Unload dishwasher
   2. reboot laundry
   3. Swish and Swipe
4. Shower
5. Supper in crock
6. Fold load of clothes
7. Declutterd van a bit
8. Off to moms for lunch --

hope-faith

Yesterday was a very busy day, and by 7 I was exhausted and ready to stop work. That was fine (I spent the time visiting one friend and talking on the phone with another). However, I have a meeting at 10am today, and I still have quite a lot of prep left to do for that. I got up at 6:20 and have done most of my morning stuff, but am having trouble getting to work. So my govud until about 9:30 is to prep for this meeting, then I'll head out.

Then, I have some scheduled things: Mtg 10-11, class 11:00-12:30, lunch mtg 12:30-1:15ish

After that, I don't have anything urgent, but I do have a few things I'd like to get done
*Notes/followup from 10am mtg
*Email DG, PR, TH, clean out 100 emails from inbox
*Pick up package+library book
*Read paper for DG's project, print papers from TJ
*Organize papers
*Print all stats lectures, Review 3 stats lectures
*Grocery shopping+cooking

OK, heading to chatbox now to prep for mtg

As noted in my last Check-In (http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/2054#comment-30040) last night and today became the time to get down to finishing my taxes. I had been working on bits of them but much of the work was not handled until today.

Tax time has become one (sadly, not the only) of my regular last-minute deadlines. I do use e-filing now for what I can (even that was done late this evening) but some of my tax forms have to be mailed the old-fashioned way and it's become an annual ritual. I've become sufficiently used to it that I've streamlined the process slightly, prepping my Certified mailing at home and knowing where to park to avoid the big line of cars with other last-minute filers.

Tax time has also taken on new significance for me because it was a last minute mailing 3 years ago that made me realize I had a problem. The next day I found Procrastinatorsanonymous.org online and wrote my first post about that experience:
http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/8#comment-219

I did little more to follow through for some time after that, and almost forgot about this site. But as the problems from my procrastination have grown I've started returning to it and taking a closer look at other resources, particularly in the last few months.

If this year's tax time is a test of what I've learned I don't think I get a very good grade. I still had to go to the Post Office late on the last day and ended up getting my postmark quite late. I finished my mailing and walked away at 11:53 pm. I was better prepared this year, but I still left precious little to recover if anything had gone wrong, so it's still not much progress toward having my schedule under control.

Furthermore, I literally have a new pile of tasks as I look to clean up and file the remnants of my last minute tax preparation.

It's hard to avoid discouragement at times like this. How did I develop this knack for handling deadlines at the very last minute? To borrow a phrase from Charlie Brown, "What a terrible thing to be an expert at."

For better or worse, though, I wasn't totally alone. Once I had my own taxes in the mail I had a chance to look around and take in the line of cars with other last-minute filers. How many of those people have a chronic problem and how many realize it? Or are there really that many who just had bad luck this year and usually don't run so late?

I have to focus on my situation though. That means getting some rest for a new day, figuratively and literally:
- At work, confronting the oft-delayed Most Important Tasks (MITs)
- At home, doing likewise... starting with the tax cleanup
  (I couldn't guess how many times I've added to my disorganization by not following through with post-project cleanup and filing!)

I'll get the game plan for tomorrow worked out after some rest. But I've clearly have much to ponder and more importantly to do something about if I am to get past a life of last-minute deadlines.

-=-=-=-=-=
"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."
Benjamin Franklin