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.

how do I not procrastinate on using the PA tools for recovery?

The PA tools for recovery sound like great ideas. Break the task down, visualize, ask why you are avoiding the task,etc. But now ... how do I get myself to actually do those things?

 I'm not trying to be difficult, but I guess I need some pointers on what baby steps to take to even start on trying to start ... if that makes sense. Thanks for any help you can give.

Maybe one can get stuck by

Maybe one can get stuck by thinking 'oh no, i'd better not procrastinate' ...maybe  instead plant a thought like " i can do one tiny thing' and then suddenly the doing has begun? which is perhaps another way of saying part of what clement expressed?

Hi Chickadee, yes, I do get

Hi Chickadee, yes, I do get stuck sometimes because I am so focused on the fact that I am procrastinating ! Then I berate myself for doing it ! Then I berate myself for berating myself ! it's really quite ridiculous. I like your idea about planting a new thought. I can even imagine a visual of a tiny seed, just starting to burst open. A good idea, thanks!

motivation to start

yes, this makes perfect sense to me, too. i have asked this question to myself 100s of times.

i think there are two answers, at least for me, the way my life has gone. it all hangs on 1 question: how much motivation do you have?

extremely little: what works for me here is microbursting. The most important thing for me to remember is THERE IS NO LIMIT THE SMALLNESS OF THE TASK. this has helped me so much. to think that just picking up the laptop, sitting down, or standing up, depending on what needs to be done. sometimes just moving one leg off the bed. really, really, tiny steps. but it works for me.

absolutely zero: this is for when i absolutely can not see any light at the end of the tunnel, i see nothing positive nor any reason to do anything, thinking that nothing i do will ever work. When i'm in this place, none of the tools work. I dont even try them. I dont log in and get the support of these terrific and helpful ppl here. the only thing i can see here is the aid has to come from outside. For me, this is god's domain. at these times, there's nothing I can do to help myself, god has to somehow get the ball rolling. other ppl here have friends and family that help them in these times, i've experienced that too. But most often, i'm just wallowing in my pit of despair, and then something happens to me, an idea crosses my mind, i hear something on tv or the radio, or...weird things, out of the blue things, and that gives me a glimmer of hope, an ounce of motivation, and then i can start on the "extremely little" steps above.

hth. it's a difficult thing, indeed.

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the touch of the master's hand: http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/1898#comment-27748

"fall down seven times, get up eight" - japanese proverb

Clement, you have given me

Clement, you have given me great ideas.

1. there is no limit to the smallness of the task. Wow. I had never thought about it like that. (Usually I think, there is no limit to the largeness of the task! Not helpful ! )

2. absolute zero. At absolute zero, there is no molecular motion whatsoever, by definition. I am never really at absolute zero re motivation, even if it feels that way. Which it often does. But the feeling is an illusion. Like on the Truman Show when Truman steps through the painted canvas sky-bubble wall. Thinking about this some more will really help me. Thank you!!!!

Oh, this makes sense!!

Oh, this makes sense!! You've already taken the first step just by being here. :)

I find it helps to say I'll spend just 5 minutes, or 2 or even 1 minute on a step, because I feel I can stand to do it for that long, and then once I've started I often find it's not so bad and spend longer.

Or just ask yourself what the tiniest possible action is that you can take - for instance, if you're going to break a task down into smaller bits, it might be to get a piece of paper or open a Word doc to write the bits down. Or you can start a forum thread to do that right here with company.

thanks Lucky!

I do feel like finally finding people who know what I'm talking about, and with whom I can feel comfortable and unashamed talking about it, is a big help. I guess I am just wanting a silver bullet, or a fairy godmother, or something easy!