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.
saved by the battery
My Mac is sleeping now - battery is drained. I'm supposed to leave it this way for 5 hours (thank goodness) so I have to do something else now.
Go get to work--you've still got time!
You HAVE had a rough day--one long time-binge, eh? It's so hard to let go of things that are fascinating, especially when it seems so useful and other things seem so...well, often useless. Or hopeless. But hurrah to you for breaking away (even if it was by default--after all, you're the one who put the thing to sleep now), and cheers to you as you go tackle whatever else must be done today. I'm a fine one to talk, of course--I simply haven't set any goals for the last few days except getting through the scheduled, structured things. I'm hard at work ignoring other things--like the growing pile of mail on my table (easily three laundry baskets full, but, wait--the laundry baskets are on the floor, already full of mail!). Also the aquarium needs cleaning, the plants need repotting, books need culling, I probably have 9 loads of laundry I could do (not counting what anyone else has personally) and no towels to replace the little one I'm on right now. Not to mention all the stuff piled in closets and on shelves. blocking and obscuring all the other stuff that's behind it....I have made a decision to rent the storage unit. I need to go over there and fill out the contract. I commit to doing that tomorrow morning! That's my first availablel free time while they are open. I'll just go do it. Up at 6:30, walk, shower, dress, eat--and to the storage unit as soon as they open. Also, can you believe it, I have yet to return the power of attorney to the CPA--but at least I have already taken care of the voluntary withholding! Pro, let's kick butt--starting with our own!
thanks, slider!!
Today's been very difficult, and there's been no one online all day! It's so nice to get a message from you.
I did finally get dressed, washed the dishes, made my bed, and I'm about to go to an AA meeting. I got nothing done today, though (except learning to use the Mac).
Arguably I shouldn't have bought the thing in the first place. I don't really need it. I say I need it to check Web sites I develop, but that's not really why I bought it. I bought it just because I wanted it, and it's not like I'm rolling in dough. I have no idea what I'm going to use it for. At least I got it for cheap.
Getting on track
Hi pro - not sure if you're still up or not...
Before you go to bed tonight, why don't you make some rules with yourself about tomorrow? Ie, no turning on the Mac until at least your morning routine is done?
Put a sticky note on your Mac that says "remember how bad you felt yesterday afternoon for time-bingeing! Do some stuff first!". And make a plan to block away certain hours in the day just for Mac so you can have some pleasure without guilt. And use a timer to stick to the schedule.
Try to remember how much better you'll feel tomorrow :)
okay, I'll do that. thanks.
I'm going to put a sticky note on it right now. I can't do this for a second day, and I'm liable to. When I first got my Pocket PC, I did nothing but play with it for about a month. I'm not exaggerating.
Toys..
We love our toys!!! :D You're not alone there!
That's me
with books.
of all days for no one else to be here...
...today was a bad one! I really needed someone to give me a kick in the butt so I'd get off the Mac and start my day. I just couldn't seem to do it for myself.
What a wuss I am - I'm blaming all of you for my wasting the day!
I'm draining the battery on the Mac now to calibrate it. It's supposed to stay in the drained state for 5 hours, so soon the Mac will be off limits to me, thank goodness.
I have been looking for people like you..
The book-ending seems like a good idea - I am hopefully coming out of a down cycle. Do you think that the thrill of recovery is the payoff for letting things pile up? I need to start ski-diving or some other obviously risky behavior. No need to dangle my job over the fire!
Well, when I get it all together, I hope that I am nice to all of the little people that I am going to show up. I'm pretty sure that I have been holding myself back, not working up to my potential, just so I don't make others look bad. Ha! If only I had that much thought process! People give me way too much credit if they think I behave like this on purpose!
To do so that I can tell you that I did it:
Submit the forms that were requested in July.
(They apparently really did not need them until today by noon, PST, to be exact. Why do they want things so soon? They must not have enough to do if they can plan that far in advance! If you really are my kind of people, you will recognize the sarcasm of my ponderings ;);-)
Thrill of Recovery
I'm sure this is part of it Treesa. All this hype affects our body chemistry. Like you say, there must be better ways to get our highs!
I go through cycles too. I've been addressing procrastination quite rigorously since January (as much as someone who procrastinates can be rigorous), and I've found that my cycles are changing - the procrastination bits are getting shorter, and the anticrastination bits are getting longer. Still cycling, though. I'm not sure whether it's realistic to expect the procrastination to stop altogether though - I think it's probably a normal part of human behaviour, but most people who aren't ~chronic~ procrastinators don't let it be the end of the world for them (and possibly don't do it on such a grand scale).
I did my task with minutes to spare!
Thank you for your support..more later
Hi Treesa!
Good job!! :)
(I closed your italics tag for you. It was making the rest of the messages italics.)
help! I've been captured!
Oh good grief. I wish someone were here to give me a kick in the butt. I have to let go of the MacBook and get some work done. I knew this would happen if I got a Mac.
Mac Magnet
That's exactly what you bought the Mac for! You got it when you were trying to face up to writing to those two clients who weren't happy about how long you were taking. It was your escape from the pressure.
Here's the kick in the butt in case you need it again soon:
Mac stuff
I've connected to my Windows network from the Mac, accessed the hard disks of my two PCs (notebook and tablet - yes, I have three computers now), configured the Mac to use my network printer, and copied over some pictures and videos from the PC. I also added a widget to the dashboard, configured iTunes to play Air America... Let's see, what else... I'm tempted to move some of my other PC stuff over, but I must resist!!!!
Shower. I must take a shower.
Motivation: If I take a shower, I can go out and get something to eat!
lost the day
It's 3:10pm, and I still haven't gotten any farther in my "morning routine" than eating breakfast. :(
I've learned a lot about the Mac, though. The biggest difficulty is knowing all those secret key combinations.
I'd really better get dressed now. I haven't even checked email today.
Macintosh Magnet
I can't seem to tear myself away from this MacBook. I'm reading an online book on how to use OS X and trying things as I read them.
pro's CI - 8:45am
pro's CI - 8:25am
I've been playing with my new Mac for the last hour (since I got up). Bad. I must do my morning routine and get to work.
pro's CI - 7:30am
I'm vertical. :)