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.

Friday November 25, 2011

HAPPY FRIDAY, EVERYBODY!

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!

Have a great proactive day!

Peace

Smile Laughing Wink Kiss

Rexroth Check In and Out

Another difficult day and I am checking in as I'm committed to though I have nothing to write.

Rexroth

Unexpected bumps

Have encountered some unexpected bumps at work related to my perennial anxiety-related procrastination and slowness-related...well, slowness. Trying to avoid the internet (nearly) altogether at work, since it is my preferred procrastination "tool," but like to check in, so I am making a little exception. If it starts to snowball with more and more exceptions, I will have to go back to complete avoidance while at work.

Goal 1: Spend a 30 minute block of effort on (at least) 10 cases. Have had a hard time focusing since being out sick for 7 days in October. Have just been struggling mentally.

Goal 2: Spend two 30 minute blocks of effort on personal development.

Goal 3: Spend a 30 minute block of effort on administrative paperwork.

Goal 4: Leave by 8 PM.

Back to report.

Journey 10 am ugh

 Ah, Thanksgiving is over!   I called in a 'work from home' day because I'm tired and have an upset stomach from eating too much rich food yesterday.   There will only be 3 people on my team working today anyway, everyone else is taking the day off.    I feel a little guilty for doing it, but not very much lol.

Back with MITs in a few

  • Agenda for Monday's meeting
  • Exercise
  • Review weekend install plans
  • allow an hour or so for trouble calls
  • RH planning
  • scoop cat litter
  • BFL
  • time sheet
  • certification
  • dinner
  • dishes
  • laundry
  • monthly goals review

Jo

 

Be confident.  Stay focused.   One thing at a time.

Falcon post-Thanksgiving CI

Hi amigos,

A few thoughts after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.  I'm feeling very grateful indeed about how my life is right now.  In addition to family and friends I love, I now have a steady sweetheart, and we are gradually becoming more and more part of each others' lives.  She has had some tragic things happen to her and her life has some major challenges, so we are taking it slow, but that is o.k.; it all feels good and meaningful to me.

And. . . I'll be starting a new job in the new year!  Not only will I get out of the job I'm in (morale there is awful) but the new job is one that I'm excited about and that will pay more.  How cool is that?  Laughing

And from a procrastinator's point of view, those two things mean I no longer have to fight the drive to procrasinate on things like perusing online dating sites or appplying to jobs, because those two goals are accomplished!  Dang, I'll have to come up with some new goals to procrastinate on!  Wink

Meanwhile, going from the sublime (gratitude) to the totally mundane (my place is a wreck Surprised)

I cannot stand my kitchen any more!  It looks awful.  So I'm going to give myself 20 minutes to eat some breakfast and brush my teeth, and then do a (10 + 2) x 5 procrastination hack: Sort laundry & get a load in, then do 10 minutes each on the kitchen counters, floor, dishes and island and see what I can get done.

(For those who don't know about (10 + 2) x 5, it's here: http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/11/procrastination-hack-1025 )

Falcon

thanks and Q for Falcon

Thanks for the link for (10+2)x5, Falcon! I had not heard of it, before, or the 43folders site, and am glad to know about them.

One question: do you experience any challenges at keeping your rewards/breaks to 2 minutes? If so, how do you manage that kind of challenge?

I've had significant past trouble with breaks lengthening from minutes into hours and hours...

Thanks again for your thoughts!

wrkinprogrss

10+2 x 5

I've used something similar http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

For me the trick is forcing myself to have the break.   When you know the break is coming it's easier to get back to work.   Once I break the 'rhythm' of work/break, then it all goes to hell pretty fast lol.    But it is very helpful for some kinds of work.  

Jo 

Be confident.  Stay focused.   One thing at a time.

Falcon 1st (10 + 2) x 5

Yay!  I finished my first (10 + 2 ) x 5 hack!  Looking at silly internet sites for my 2-minute breaks -- a good way to channel my net-surfing tendencies into a reward.

Now I'm going to do another one, because my kitchen still looks awful.  But the dishes are in the dishwasher, the stove is clean, I cleaned the coffee maker & the microwave, and the counter looks great!  Of course, the island looks worse because I moved stuff onto it from the counter while cleaning. . .

Back to work!

Falcon

Falcon 2nd (10 + 2) x 5

I finished my second round!  The laundry is hanging to dry, I can actually see the surface of my kitchen island again, and my kitchen, while not spotless yet, sure looks a whole lot better.

I win a cup of tea!  Smile

Next I need to go for a walk, eat some lunch, and go to the store.  Catch you all later.

Falcon

Pyrotecher Start-of-The-Holidays Check-In Fri 25Nov2011


Check-In 2:00am PT

Checking in at end of my (American Thanksgiving Day) Thursday. A day to thinking about what you're grateful for (uaually over a really big dinner. Tradition...) A good exercise for thinking about who/what it is that we care about and motivates us.

Tomorrow is when Christmas prep season gets seriously under way in America. My wife and I decided on a low-key holiday (the economy helped the decision) so no shopping frenzies planned. The big prep challenges, best tackled this weekend:
- Get the (fake) tree and decorations up.
- Start prepping greeting cards.

For me the card routine is a real hurdle and classic "perfectionist" procrastination scenario. I really like corresponding with old friends/family and have a set of 50-100 that I send cards to, when I can find the badly hidden/fragmented list. My wife and I do the "holiday form letter" so I should be able to send just that, but I really want to write something personal on each so that slows me down. So faced with the time it will take to find addresses and personalize the cards, I'm still wringing my hands about it when my wife is done with hers. So my cards are usually late if I send them at all.

The work arounds are obvious: Don't dwell on personalizations. Work with the bits of list as I find them and what cards I can get to as I go. Keep at it a little each day that I can between now and Christmas.

... and if I care about it enough (I tell myself I do), don't let it get derailed by other priorities. Most are bound to still be around the holidays regardless, so make the time for what makes a difference now.

 Good self pep-talk. Will want to check back after the holidays and see if I do any better this year.

Happy Holiday Season to all
Pyro

Innertruth's Friday

Morning - Meet friend for walk and coffee.

- Only things to do in morning - phone calls and e notice

Afternoon - More phone calls

Contact website provider

Write prospecting emails (if time). Otherwise write them on Monday. 

Early evening - Handwashing and rest of laundry

When finished, clean kitchen floor, recycle, tidy desk some more.

Make "to do" list for Saturday. No "work work," all cleaning and tidying!

Hope my sister postpones her stay with me!   

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. Go to the 5:45 a.m. telephone ACA meeting

2. Go to the 7 a.m. telephone DA meeting

3. Go to the 8:30 a.m. telephone CLA meeting

4. Go to the 9:45 a.m. telephone CLA meeting

5. Eat brunch

6. Take shower

7. Get dressed

8. Go to the 12 noon telephone ACA meeting

9. Go to the 1 p.m. telephone CLA meeting

10. Go to work at 3:30 p.m.

11. Eat dinner

12. Go to the 8 p.m. telephone CLA meeting

13. Go to the 8 p.m. online EA meeting

14. Go to the 9 p.m. online EA meeting

15. Go to the 10 p.m. telephone DA meeting

Thanks for letting me share