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.

October 27, 2010 Wednesday

Step 1:

 

The central task of Step 1 is to recognize that our lives are beyond
our control, and we cannot continue our superhuman efforts at patching
up the many mistakes we make. We recognize that it is time to move from
a crisis mode to a prevention mode.


Here are some familiar patterns:

  • Alcoholics or drug abusers find that no one will believe their promises anymore.
  • Overeaters recognize that all diets have ultimately failed and that they are now facing life-threatening illness.
  • Co-dependents find they are too ill or exhausted to go on
    doing everyone's work and that others have become more and more
    resistant to the co-dependent's efforts to control them.
  • Workaholics find deadlines passing by unmet, forget to write down appointments, or fall ill with no "contingency plan".
  • ACOAs become so overwhelmed by their standards and commitments that they cannot get out of bed to act on anything.

From: http://www.12step.org/the-12-steps/step-1.html

 

Today

findingaway

Today I have been late all along, but still plan to do some productive work.

I have already done some domestic tasks.

Paid work: I was trying to tie myself to completing a set number of sections on my reports, but now think it's better to just know that I spent time well, rather than maybe feel bad that I didn't finish the list. - done

Other than that, my only other work task is to ring N again (still scary, left message yesterday). It's because I made a big mistake and I need to admit it and get some advice. Also embarrassed that this project still isn't finished. In reality, this is not only because of my procrastination. It has been a huge project with little support (and sometimes criticism) from others. Need to remember that my self-worth doesn't depend on this, or on any response from him.  - Left message again

Household chores seem to be coming relatively easily so I won't list them.- done

Meditation group 5 pm - done

Exercises - not yet

Piano - not yet

It's 11 am Thursday here now.

Thank you all for the site; it is making a big difference for me.

Check in 7.45 pm.

Plan to do piano at 8.30 pm, exercises 9.30 pm, bed 10.30 pm.

tracy-la on weds

Good day all,

My daily minimum:

1. check in - show-up - Done

2. Gratitudes - done / Affirmation - Done

3. In-box / Timesheet - Done

4.  Goal for billing day yesterday - Met 6.20 YEAH!

Goal for admin tasks - goal 3 hours. done 1 hour. Yeah!

Goals for today.  

5. Exercise - planned for afternoon. 

6. Plan to plan - done 

Reading:

Step Eleven.  Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God/HP/Universe as we understood Him/Her/It, praying only of knowledge of His/Her/It's will for us and the power to carry that out.

 "Praying only of knowledge of His/Her/It's will for us and the power to carry that out" means that we ask on a daily basis to be shown the plan for that day. We also ask our Source for the power we need to carry that through. We will get a yes to both requests.

We do not ask other people   to show their will for us. We ask God/HP/Universe. Then we trust that we'll be empowered to carry God/HP/Universe's will through.

God/HP/Universe never, never asks us to do anything that He/She/It would not equip us to do. Never asks us to do anything we can't do. if we are to do it, we will be empowered. That's the easy part of this program. We never have to do more than we can, or anything we can't. If we want to worry and fuss we can, but we don't need to. That is our choice.

This step will carry us through. When I don't know what to do next, God/HP/Universe does. Working this step, one day at a time, will take us to places we never could have traveled on our own. Simple acts, done daily in accordance to God's will for us, lead to a Grand Plan for our life.

 Today I will focus on asking Universe/HP/God to show me what he/she/it wants me to do. I will ask Universe/HP/God for the power to do that; then I will go ahead and get the job done. Universe/HP/God, help me let go of my fears about living lief one day at a time. Help me trust that when life is lived simply and in trust, a beautiful mosaic called "my life" will be woven. I am being divinely led, guided, and cared for.  

Have a great day everyone and thanks for being here.

kromer 3:45 CI

Had jury duty this morning/early afternoon. Didn't get put on a jury, which is a bit of a relief (I was close to being put on a 3-week trial, very glad that didn't happen :) )

I got some good reading done during jury duty, so that's good...but otherwise I haven't done any work yet today.

I have a meeting in a few minutes that I'm not really prepped for (I'm hoping the other meeting participants will be able to carry me through this one, then I can carry the weight at the next mtg)

Then I need to:
*Deal w/ email (started, will finish soon)
*Check on expts
*Laundry
*Prep for tutoring (working on this now)
*Make miniparish calls and email pastor
*Look at splice forms in my data
*Start charting out RA project

*Coverslip slides

OK, off to mtg now. 

Rexroth Check In

Hi I arrived back this morning

Done:
Prayer and reflection
Unpack
Sort out craft stuff from trip
Put on two loads of washing
Sort out medicines
Tried to get into hotmail and I can't so can't access my emails
Emailed two friends from other email account and Skyped brother
Posted on various boards to say I'm back
Tried to sleep and did for a short while

Todo:
Try brother again
Phone friend who left five messages thinking I was intending to come home a month ago
Early night I have not slept much for two nights and sooner or later I need to

Regards Rexroth

(Rex)

Welcome baxk!!

katia11 back 10/27

I have some things I've been putting off because they are painful. I need to do some of them today. I'd like to explain what is wrong if its okay to share something personal. Maybe not today but sometime.

Things to do today
Shower
Write Check
Mail Envelope
Read Ch. 10 Sect 9
Reading Quiz
Activity
Possibly begin PS #26
Finish Audiobook-2 ch left
Voicemail for X
Call Y
Vitamins/Iron
RunDishwasher
Put Dishes Away

Sammy CI :: 10/27/10

Hello everyone,

Weather here is awful today... good day to stay inside and get lots of work done! Here I go!

 First, thanking God for this sweet little break from classes today, and asking for help staying on task and motivated.

To do:

Laundry

Put together next semester's class schedule 

Advisor Meeting (2pm) 

Lunch w/ K.

Groceries? 

Work on drawings....

- Still life #1

- Still life #2 

- Self Portrait

- Master Portrait 

- Reflections

- Landscape

 In bed by midnight... maybe before.

 

Sammy ci :: Hard day :-/

Today was rough. Had an advisor meeting... First time I have met with this advisor. He was rude, unprofessional, and condescending. He basically told me I'm going to fail college because I chose to do 2 years at a tech college before I transferred to where I am now. He belittled me and discredited my education without knowing me, or my work. I was accepted into the program just like every other kid who went to a state school right off the bat.... Please treat me like a teachable student....not a disease. It was rough. I left that office feeling depressed, inadequate, and unwelcome.

Spent a lot of today trying to recover from that. Thankfully, I have a wonderful mother who is always just a phone call away to tell me everything is going to be alright. Thanking God for that today.

Today has been emotional, and has left me feeling drained.... Going to bed early, with hopes of getting up at 6am to work on the drawings I didn't get to today. Also, hopefully meeting with someone to discuss my advisor meeting, and hopefully get switched to a new advisor....

Tomorrow can only get better, right? Goodnight, everyone... Sleep well.

Vic 10-27

Show up (done) Ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity (guess that is where I am at) need to start a bigger gratitude list., dishonest or self-seeking motives. (ps worked already after phone call)Marie, thank you so much for the starter, I so needed to read it and I love the website. And yes, I am powerless over PA stuff, but my "self sufficiency" in my head rips me apart with constant negative chatter. It was the same in my other programs, my sponsor said I have a "stepping stone" recovery style, and depending where I am at, it either seems like a truth or it seems like an excuse.  Today it seems like an excuse. A friend of mine, (not in program) landed a dream job and it was so incredible how it happened, it was really HP. I supported her all the way and am truly happy for her. She is not a 12 step person, maybe some coda, but she is not in the rooms. So that is why I feel my step 1 now feels like an excuse and all of the above captioned patterns have hit me like a tsunami. My only hope is step 2. I went on the site:Step 2 is a step of hope, faith and realization. It is a big step towards God. In spite of all of the failures in my own life - all of the broken promises, hard feelings, disappointments, failures, destructive behavior, hatred, anxiety, depression or guilt in my life - there is still hope. There is hope because there is a Power greater than myself. And this Power has the ability to restore my life to a life where there is freedom from the insanity of addictive behaviors. I begin to realize that such a Power exists and this Power is able to set me on the road to recovery and freedom.
- From 12Step.org

Thanks for being here, so nice to know I am not alone, and with PA friends.

BC 10/27

Thanks for the thread Marie!

Work 8AM-5PM: 

-Find CMO/TD EIEC 

-Find EIEC requirements [DONE]

-Run SD MC and save results of CPV [DONE]

-Run SD MC and save results of PD [DONE]

-Update der 

After Work 5PM-Sleep: 

-Pay cc bills AE500/500PV

-Get financial plan for rest of month in order

-Go for a run

-Read business 101 thread

-Sell computer case and cd d

-Calculate carryover and plan vacation days

-Review Comcast bill 

-Send S couch pics

-Sell b gps

-Talk to R about Jb biz

-Ask B to do dishes

-Sweep floor

-Text ppl about FF 

Good morning, everyone! I

Good morning, everyone! I hope you all have a great, productive day.

- hair cut
- get accident report from police

- apply to two jobs
- send invoice to friend
- write letter to editor at Daily News
- pick dates for taiko residency at FSSA
- start to work out PD for Flushing Town Hall

Smokin' Al

The Scribbler's Wednesday CI

I'm struggling the last few days. I got behind on some stuff and have felt pressured to include more
tasks than I can realistically accomplish in the day's schedule. That, I find, is demotivating and makes things worse. Today I want to very carefully pick the items that are most important and urgent, and include only those on the schedule of tasks. Perhaps I can get back to checking off all or nearly all the items today. That is energizing and leads to further improvement, it seems. 
Prep
  • get up at 6
  • make bed
  • exercise
  • coffee, paper
  • healthy breakfast
  • checkins


Morning

  • Update Quicken
  • Clean off desk
  • Add to music db
  • Finish outlook11 draft
  • Send outlook11 factchecking
  • Call 2 re: steal /

Afternoon

  • Lunch w/C
  • Help E move TV
  • Send refi check
  • Reply to Planet Profit
  • File social
  • File 2 CIO
  • File 1 BN

Evening

  • Healthy dinner
  • File 2 CIO
  • Bike ride (even a short one)
  • Watch World Series (maybe just the last few innings)
  • Work on song rewrites
  • Matt tk by re: guitar
  • Read, relax
  • Bed by 10:30

My Day Today

I want to thank my Higher Power for this program, this website, the telephone and online meetings, and my life.

Things I will do today

1. Post and send oout Al-Anon literature for today

2. Prayer and meditation morning and evening

3. Take shower

4. Get dressed

5. Go to the library to print out material

6. Go to the state place to get my material

7. Eat brunch

8. Eat dinner

9. Go to work at 5:30 p.m.

7. Write my paper

8. Go to my PA Check-in's

9. Make bed

10. Wash dishes

11. Went to the 11 a.m. telephone PA meeting

Thanks for letting me share

journey 10 am

Happy Wednesday!  Working from home today.  I will have to be extra diligent today because I really don't feel like doing any work lol.   All my work projects seem boring or frustrating and I would really like to go back to bed and/or sit on the porch and read a book all day.   I've been getting plenty of sleep and I feel just fine so time to suck it up and get to work. 

I've been to the gym and attended a 9 am conference call, then had some breakfast.  Now I'm going to make my todo list for the day.  I'd really like to find time to change the sheets and color my hair today and if I want to do that I need to work pretty hard, so best get started. 

Later gators!

Jo

'You become what you think about most of the time.' - Brian Tracy

Ruth - Step 1 (10-27-10)

Hmm, I came to work well-stocked today (breakfast and lunch, but also popcorn, crackers, candy, & a big roll).  My reasoning is, I'm gonna spend money on junk at work anyway, might as well bring it from home.  This is one of my avoidance mechanisms for "stuffing" my feelings about scary tasks.  It is not a healthy tool (emotionally and physically).

Will I not indulge?  Doughtful. (sp?)  Writing this post has reduced my anxiety, but then I haven't started on my work for the day yet.  Just thinking about that makes me anxious again.  God help me!  (Yep, ate the roll and candy bar.  Did some work too, but...)

This is one more thing I am powerless over.  But as I've learned in a different 12 step group, the progression to recovery is Awareness, Acceptance, Action.  I must first become aware of my problems, which for me includes understanding the dynamics and consequences as fully as I can.  Then I must accept that it is what it is, that I cannot change this with just my own force of will.  Then I will be ready to take Action, moving to step 2.

 Of course some things are within my power to change.  That's where I need the wisdom to know the difference: what can I change by myself, and what am I truly powerless over?  If repeated efforts fail and my life remains unmanageable, that's a pretty good clue.

Crazybug CI

Frittered away yesterday. So frustrating as I hav finally found a joy in living that I've not had before, think I found a direction in life that intrigues me, but yet I take no action...I don't have the energy today to try to noodle out why or indulge in self pity or self flagellation.

Feeling physically ill today and mentally very cloudy.  This means that I need to pay special attention to making a list of small doable tasks. Must just do my best to take things in small chunks today and focus on one goal at a time.

First goal set:

Edit and post notes from Mondays meeting.

This should take me about 1 hour and I will work in 15 minute sessions.  Will post back in an hour.

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

P.M. update: completely and utterly melted down this afternoon and evening. I was mean to my family to myself and am now hiding locked in my room. I feel so hopeless about ever improving...I will pray tonight that I can find the strength in the morning. I  think that just going to bed will be the best for me right now.

  wake

 

wake up--->7h00

dress

coffee

Serenity prayer

plan day

barn chores: feeding and watering

checkin--->8h00 (8h28)

change clothes

breakfast

bring car to garage

Luath housetraining

barn chores: cleaning stalls

checkin---> 12h00 (12h08)

snack

make butter

clean floor

declutter challenge: desk

technical bulletin: 2 hours

checkin---16h00 (19h05)

barn chores: chasing Persi for ever...

supper

phone R.McN.

chekin--->20h00 (21h00)

fill worksheet step one

Luath housetraining

Gratitude prayer

bedtime--->21h00

 

Luath housetraining wore me down.

 

 

Carpe Diem