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.
Nonplus' book-ending
Well... have never done this before but here I go.
TOTH Goal: A good solid, non-distracted hour on my paper. GO! :)
BOTH: Well... my eyes are closing and I really need sleep now. But I got 45 pretty solid minutes in with the help of that Virtual Stopwatch that Pro recommended.. I'm going to try this again tommorow.
URL for Virtual Stopwatch:
http://www.springcreeksoftware.com/
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Good Night!
Keep up the bookending! For some of us even getting 45 solid minutes of work is a great start. I think chronic procrastinators tend to be very intelligent. However we get so caught up in details that nearly all work seems like a totally insurmountable hurdle so we never even start on it. People who "get stuff done" just start on it and don't think or even concieve of exactly how much work it will be?
Thanks for the URL for the stopwatch, I'm going to check it out.
Welcome to Bookending!
It's a great tool - I find it particularly useful when I get really stuck (which, since I've made an active decision to do something about my procrastination this year, is happening less and less, I'm pleased to say. There is hope!).
Normy
Hey thanks, both of
Hey thanks, both of you.
BTW, I'm finding the Virtual Stopwatch program really useful. I'm dividing everything I do at the computer into 15 minute Blocks... and then trying to log what I do during each block. Sample entry:
"7. TB: need to form an outline... BB: not bad.. getting there..."
TB is 'top of the block'.. my goals for that block.. :) 'bottom of the block' is how I did.."
It's been working quite well. I've gotten almost three hours in. I did slip up in one notable way today. My block ended.. and I told myself I was going to just "check one thing" one the web. I didn't set the clock again because I told myself I'd be far less than 15 minutes.. I ended up going over an hour. Just goes to show...
Anyway, I'm pleased so far. Thanks for the support.
Not setting the clock
It took me months of 'not setting the clock because I'll only be a minute' to realise that if I didn't I often went over by a long shot! Sometimes, part of me just wants to goof off, which is why I think I didn't set the clock. Now I've got an automatic timer on my PC that pings every 15 mins which works much better for me.
I'm also doing a similar log to you, but with larger blocks of time e.g. I allow 1 hr for doing a job, and check in with myself at the beginning and end - I find writing it down works well for me, so I can review it later and look for helpful and unhelpful patterns.
I can easily drift off for 20 mins doing odds and ends - usually things that ~do~ need doing sometime, but are not the current priority. I realised I actually need to allow time to do those odds and ends (duh!), and I've found they're a good way to avoid time-bingeing. I still get the feeling of progress, and being on task, but it feels like a break from the main task too (if I take a 'proper' break I tend to lose momentum).
Keep us posted on your progressnonplus!
Normy
That automatically pinging
That automatically pinging clock sounds really great. Do you have a link for it maybe - I need something like that!
I'm in the same boat as you. It's too easy to fall back into the "Oh, I don't need to set a timer for this. I'm just going to check it and be back to work. It won't even be thirty seconds." Then I think of something else to check and before I know it, well, you know the story. ;)
The worst part of all is that I'm not even doing anything enjoyable OR productive. I've eliminated most of my outlets for time-wasting though so it's not quite as bad. When I do want to enjoy myself now I actually set time aside for it instead of making it procrastination. I think this helps.
Automatic pinger
I'll try to find the link, Norske. I know flexiblefine uses something similar, posted on the 'what helped you' thread. The one I've got also automatically shuts down the computer at a specified time, so I don't time binge on the computer when I should be getting ready for bed!
Timer's pinged - catch up with you later!
Normy
Here's the link to the Alarm
Here's the automatic pinger link:
www.qytec.com
The program is called 'Alarm Me'. I've got it set on a nice gentle bing-bong every 15 mins, and - the best bit for me - automatic shutdown of the PC 20 mins before bedtime (it takes me 20 mins to finish my Before Bed Routine). It gives me a 30 sec warning then I'm off. I ~could~ switch back on again if I really needed to, but the shutdown is usually enough to break the pattern of time bingeing (whether due to procrastination or hyper-focus).
Normy