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.
Introducing Myself
I stumbled on this site while googling for some sort of solution for my extremely screwed up life – through my googling I stumbled on PRO’s quote “The jokes about procrastination infuriate me. This is not a funny problem - not if you are suffering from true, chronic procrastination.” I thought for a second that I might have written that when commenting on a blog somewhere – so I followed the link and it led me to this site, which I quickly tried to register for and found out I was already registered – one year and 39 weeks ago!!This time around I see the posts on procrastination linked to addictive behavior. PRO's description that "People procrastinate as a way to not be present in their lives" describes me exactly. Basically EVERY aspect of my life is screwed up and I’m constantly obsessing over when will I get to start my life. But I can’t start it because of all the things I need to do, that I can’t seem to make myself do. I know lots of techniques and I make some great plans but nothing ever sticks. I need to deal with my psychological problem, which is why I’m here. So, maybe this12 steps for procrastinators might work? How do I start??
- Login to post comments
(tw)
Welcome, keeo coming back.
Hi TW!
Welcome back to PA. I found my way back to PA after 5 months or so. Welcome back again.
Welcome theworst!
Great to have you back on the site. There are lots of tools and tips here and support from people who really understand.
For me, using the check-in regularly has made a big difference. The chat box has helped me a lot too.
You have started your recovery by joining and posting!
Welcome theworst! :)
You are in the right place, definitely among your own here!
There are many roads to recovering from compulsive procrastination.For me, a few things have been key:
1) Keep coming back
2) Do tasks DIFFERENTLY, like, bookend with people, or use the chat box while doing tasks, or break tasks up into small chunks - ANYTHING different can work (otherwise, I'll just - predictably - end up with the same results)
3) Be truthful (as in, if I make progress but then slide back, don't pretend. Be honest about it)
4) Connect with others and (for me) a higher power
The tools I use most frequently are:
Procrastination, for me, is all about fear and the various avoidant activities I do to NOT feel that fear.
Someone (a facilitator in a workshop I was in) said that the way to deal with fear was to have someone WITH you, who totally loves and won't judge you, WHILE you're feeling the fear. (That inspired the quote for my sign-off, below! :) )
This has become sort of my mantra as I continue to work in PA--DON'T do it alone. Just DON'T. Because (for me) alone does NOT work. It never did, and I'm almost 40. So, stop expecting doing the same thing will produce different results already! (To get a sense of the kind of community support I use, see this previous post of mine: http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/3235#comment-44532 ).
Anyway...perhaps this is too long-winded! Lol.
But - long share short ;) - you ARE in the right place. And there ARE people here who've gained recovery from this destructive compulsion. And we welcome you. :)
Keep coming back!
Yours in fellowship -MC
"[People] need to be connected to each other. Courage comes out of relationship; it doesn’t come out of willpower." Peter Block, author of Servant Leadership: Choosing Service Over Self-Interest.
Where can I find the 70 questions?
Hi MC!
Where can I find these 70 questions on procrastination?
"the tool of writing (I am currently writing the answers to a series of
70 questions about my procrastination, known as the HOW questions, and
then my buddy and I take turns sharing our writing with one another M-F
in the morning)"