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.
Daily Dare
For a while now, I've been toying with ideas about how to make a habit of doing things that are not routine and that I'm afraid of (and thus, gradually increasing my "comfort zone" and decreasing my tendency to be afraid of non-routine tasks).
What I've come up with is to start a kind of game in this thread (and I hope I don't violate any PA rules or step on anyone's toes with this – please tell me if I do!):
The Daily Dare
- Every day, someone can post a dare in this thread.
- It's up to the individual readers to accept it or not.
- Whoever accepts it and succeeds can tell it to the world here. (Of course, you don’t have to, and you can also post any other form of comments, and no one will check if you really did it, etc. etc….)
About the dare:
It can be anything, there shouldn’t be too many rules about it. After all, a dare should be something you are unprepared for. Of course, things related to common procrastination issues come to mind and are most welcome – like “Spend an hour on your tax return!” or “Throw away three things that are not part of your everyday garbage!” or “Go jogging for at least a quarter of an hour!” or “Clear half of your desk!” or the like. But it can also be a common dare, like singing a song in a public place. Or a combination of both if you can think of any. If it turns out to be something really dangerous, rude, stupid, or illegal, it’s up to the readers to recognize that and just not do it.
About posting a dare:
Anyone can post dares. The first suggestion for the day counts. If you are really unhappy with the suggestion and think there should be an alternative, post a second dare. (Or a third.)
If nobody posts a dare, well, then there isn’t one for the day.
If that happens all the time, the thread will automatically go to sleep.
If, on the other hand, it turns out there is a huuuuuge interest in this and one thread gets too small for all the daily dares and “mission accomplished”-comments and discussions and whatnot, changes about what goes where can be made in the future. This is the trial phase.
Dares don't necessarily have to be posted on the day they are for. Especially if they can only be done in the morning (e.g. "I dare you to get up 1h earlier than normally!"), or if they need preparations, or are something lasting longer than 1 day (e.g. "I bet you can't do X every day for the next 3 days!"), it makes sense to post them on the day before, or even earlier. Of course, that lessens the element of surprise - of being unprepared for the task. So just use your own judgement - as always!
I don’t know if anyone other than me will be interested in this, or if any of this even makes sense. I’ll just try it now. Have fun!
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Sunday 17 Dare
This is great, riddled! I have an interview coming up; I have clothes for it; but have I tried them on to make sure they work? No. Also, I got new shoes, which are wonderful--but I don't usually wear "lady" shoes, so I haven't gotten used to them. I will try on my outfit this afternoon!
Dare for Thursday 14th February
Something a bit valentine-y, since it has to do with loved ones, friends, relatives, ...:
Focus on the present!
I.e.:
... and here's where I got the idea for the dare:
http://horacek.com.au/prints/cartoon-screenprints/woman-with-a-present/
Present dare
Hoorah for horacek
thanks for the dare Riddled. It has nudged me back to my intentions.
Just been setting up files, generally and also sorting out cards (i have masses and have to sort through every time i want a suitable one). - so I have also made files for individual friends and family and have been slipping in appropriate cards and notes about presents and things I want to say. And it does sometimes work!
Finally tackled this dare
Got presents for a friend's beloved doggie in advance of a visit this coming weekend. Thanks for the dare. Otherwise I would have waited until the last moment and not gotten such fun items.
spent some time but didn't get very far...
I had an idea, did some research and, after a lot of searching and almost but not quite finding the exact thing I'm looking for, realized it won't work.
At least that's some sort of progress! Found a possible alternative though. Will try to organize that present another day.
very inspiring
Riddle, just a quick note to let you know that I find what your doing here to be truly compelling; am going to try to do the same same in my own life -- take small risks to get out the comfort zone and assess what material things i do and do not need, so i can declutter my life.
Thanks.
Hamlet
Thanks to all who joined in!
Hamlet, thanks for the flowers! But the thread would have died long ago without all the others posting and accomplishing dares. So I pass your compliment along to Piqued (who really posted and accomplished a lot of dares, keeping the game going), katia11, fudo_shin, dotnow, and jay, who all dared to post dares, and to all those who did some of them. You're all great!
Hamlet, good luck with the decluttering! (I guess I should wish the same to myself - I know I need it.)
Yes thanks Riddled and everyone
Thanks to everyone who posts dares and does them too. I've not done any yet but several are very compelling and lovely little quick things to do. Little accomplishments mean a lot to us so this is a great thread. Thanks for keeping it up.
One day I will post a response to a dare (and perhaps even post a dare myself)
Solidarity to you all.
Gift that keeps on giving
I've repeated riddle's "do nothing unnecessary for 30 minutes" dare several times now. It is an excellent challenge: doable and beneficial every single time.
Thanks to all who've posted dares, posted responses to dares, and posted responses to responses to dares!
PS There are days that I cannot face posting a daily check-in, which used to be the reason I logged on to PA each day. Now I log on for the daily dare, which invariably puts me in a better frame of mind. Good job, riddled!!
Dare for Wednesday, Feb 13th
Is there something in your environment that is staring you in the face all the time and you are like "I should probably clean/fix/organize etc that" but you always say "eh it's not really a priority right now, I gotta do X"? Today is the day to do it!
I did. For like the past 6. . .9? months or so, the fan above my bed had all sorts of dust on it and it is white so you can see it. I kept saying I'd do it but I did not. Finally this morning I just did it It took like 5-10 minutes (so if the task is something that requires a trip to the hardware store, it probably isn't for this dare. I don't want it to take away from your priority activities).
Now when I look up it looks much nicer!
Two minutes at most
Threw all of the recyclables (cups, cans, etc.) that were cluttering up my desk at work into a bag to take home. Will endeavor to put said recyclables from said bag into recycling bin rather than take them into the house to linger for days or months.
Good dare! My desk is less messy, which is having a calming effect on me.
The Thing from the Cellar
... had been standing around in my room for several months. I'd used it once, then couldn't be bothered anymore. (It's some ventilator-plus-air-humidifier/cleaner gadget, actually quite good, but I don't spend much time at home atm, plus don't have time to refill/empty/clean its water container, plus need more free space.) So back to the cellar it went, after wiping off the dust and packing it in a plastic bag. Also stored away two other things which had accumulated in the same corner.
Dare for Tuesday 12th February
If part of your computer files or your email account is a mess, spend 10 min getting things in order, deleting old files/mails, or similar.
(Does anyone else regularly create a mess by just storing files on their own computer in what seemed a reasonably organized way at the time, or is it just me?)
Deleted a LOT of emails
Thanks for suggesting this - only trouble is once I got going it was hard to stop! I even deleted quite a lot of old newsletter type ones that I hadn't ever opened or read (lesson here - there is too much coming in for me to read it all > > I always feel behind with these).
did it, too
Reorganized/deleted/updated all kinds of files on my computer, and I wish it would only have taken 10 minutes...
Organized Favorites tab in IE
It's just you, riddled...
Added some organization to my Favorites tab in Internet Explorer, which contains oodles of websites that seemed important to save over the past five years. Ended up spending 20 minutes on the task instead of 10, but did manage to delete several website URLS that I don't need to have easy access to.
Daily Dare, Saturday, 2/9/13
Be it big or small, take a step outside your comfort zone.
Refrain from checking personal email until I leave work today
I'm feeling fairly anxious about an email I sent this morning, which has led to me checking for a reply repeatedly throughout the day. Once a reply comes, I will probably feel significantly less anxious. Checking for the email reply lowers my anxiety for a couple seconds; however, each time I check for a reply and nothing is there, it seems to get harder to resist checking yet again a minute or so later.
So, I've decided to accept this feeling of anxiety rather than keep checking email compulsively. This is a small, but worthwhile, step outside of my comfort zone. (I guess the comfort zone would be staring at personal email all day while pressing F5 every second or so. That doesn't seem very comforting from the outside looking in.)
I will refrain from checking personal email until 10 PM Central. That puts me outside the CZ for almost 7 hours. This is doable. I'll report back.
Thanks again, riddled, for starting the Daily Dare thread!
Success
Resisted checking personal email until the appointed hour (10 PM), despite consistent pestering from various rogue parts of my brain. Email response still hasn't arrived. Bleah. But despite the bleah, I am pleased to have resisted.
Don't know...
Hmm, somehow I feel out of my depth with almost everything I have to do at the moment anyway... so I guess I just go on doing it...
I have one idea about a big thing I could do that's definitely out of my comfort zone, but I can't afford that at the moment because of the consequences if it should go wrong. The best I could do now is to decide to do it (or rather, try to do it) during March. I know that sounds rather vague - quite some time in the future, no specific date, and I won't write today what it is - but committing to do this in March is already bad enough for me, so I do this today. I'll post again when I did it (or tried and produced a horrible mess). Meanwhile, I'll continue with all those current tasks which are not really in my comfort zone anyway.
Exactly
Sounds like you get the spirit of the dare exactly, both with respect to the daily little things and bigger steps. I'll try to remember to quiz you about whether or not you took the step you've committed to in March.
I did two things outside my comfort zone before I thought to post the dare, so I don't really feel like those "count." I'm still pondering what to do for the dare...
Dare for Wednesday, 2/6/2013
Indulge in some aromatherapy.
In my book, any aroma you find pleasing "counts." Here are some examples of various types of aromas:
-- Mint (herb, tea, toothpaste, etc.)
-- Smoke (candle, match you've just blown out, etc.)
-- Citrus (peel, juice, fruit, etc.)
-- Blends (shampoo, lotion, deoderant, etc.)
-- Pets (dog, cat, ferret, etc.)
Sniff once and savor. Surround yourself with the aroma. Or pick some other option that works for you.
kaffir lime
Crushed a leaf from our small potted tree. Mmmm!! Only took 2 minutes!
Also smelt the lemon verbena which is still flowering near the veranda.
A bit late, as it is Friday now!
did it: fresh air in late winter
I took a short bicycle trip in a (more or less) green area today and enjoyed the smell of wet earth and grass and trees. Also found some early spring flowers (some rumpled daisies, some snowdrops - no winter aconites, and the crocusses are still closed). Even picked up four bits of shredded plastic garbage lying next to the flowers, put them in my bicycle basket and in the garbage bin at home. (Hardly more than a symbolic act, considering how much of the stuff is lying around, but still... If I ever find the time again to go for walks regularly, I'll take a bag and gloves with me.)
Mugwort
I just lit a mugwort smudge stick and then let the smoke from it swirl up and away in the room where I'm working. Lovely aroma!
In case you're wondering, no, my possession of a smudge stick is not an indication that I'm a witch nor that I'm trying to facilitate astral travel. Apparently other folks have some pretty interesting uses for this particular herb...
Dare for Monday, 2/4/13
Tax season approacheth. Do one concrete thing today that will make life easier for yourself when you finally decide to deal with your taxes.
Also did the tax dare
A day late, but not necessarily a dollar short...
I've always filed via 1040 EZ. This year I'm moving to the big, scary 1040, which means itemizing. So today I did a little bit of research regarding the rules for itemizing medical expenses (what counts, what doesn't, etc.). I think I've successfully figured out what 7.5% of my AGI is, but I'm not positive that I'm using the right numbers. REGARDLESS, I've made a start. Hooray!!
did the tax dare
Installed tax software & did some online research about my tax situation.
Thank you for posting the dare, Piqued! I'd planned on posting a similar one soon but had procrastinated it...
It needed someone else to post it to get me started on taxes.
Dare for Friday 1st Feb
This is a fun & simple psychological one - but since no one posted another one yet, here it is:
Think of a difficult task you are planning to do today. Imagine everyone would readily agree that what you're trying to do is a heroic deed. Try to imagine an action movie with yourself as the hero/heroine battling valiantly against the insurmountable odds of - say - a kitchen full of dirty dishes, or correctly filling that income tax return form. Of course, in the end, after a hard battle and many adventures, you will succeed. Try to imagine the film vividly (complete with aliens, spies, dragons, kung fu masters, romantic subplot, fights, races, cowboys, whatever...), and keep the feeling.
(If you come up with a really good scenario, maybe someone will buy the movie rights?
)
Mission Impossible (repeating the dare for 2/1/13)
...Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to sit at your desk and give the appearance of working steadily. The quality of your work doesn't matter nor does the quantity. Other agents in the building are trying to dig an escape tunnel. We need you to serve as a realistic decoy while this is happening. The more time our captors spend reading and analyzing the material you are writing, the less time they will spend flipping through the other camera locations. The team hopes to have the escape tunnel cleared in six hours...
Agent Piqued, we need your help to pull off this escape. Can you do it? The team is counting on you!
Cue Mission Impossible TV show theme music in 3, 2, 1...
... did they escape?
Must be a horrible place you work at!
You have allies! I'll try to help digging from the outside!
Helping Piqued escape
I will help, Riddled. I have my teaspoon.
H
Fantasia with shovels, a Sphinx, and golden lassoes
Surrounded and overwhelmed by work tasks that haven’t been completed, our heroine takes off her glasses, twirls around, and transforms into Wonder Woman. Oh, but what’s this? The work tasks have turned into hundreds of shovels that are maniacally digging themselves into deeper and deeper holes. From a distance, they resemble the animated mops from Fantasia, working industriously. And yet there’s no benevolent Mickey Mouse figure orchestrating their movements. They’ve taken on a life of their own. WW notices the nearby volcano and realizes the danger: The shovels must be stopped before they get too close to the river of magma that travels through a hidden chamber on its way to Release Volcano! She springs into action, using her golden lasso to becalm a nearby shovel. One down, scores more to go. As WW removes her lasso from the shovel, it starts digging again. Not good. Slipping the lasso back onto the shovel, she hears a low rumbling sound. Is Release Volcano about to erupt? As the sound gets louder and louder, our heroine realizes that she is hearing the purr of an enormous cat. The Sphinx!! And what’s that with it? A huge cat toy made of millions of golden lassoes… The mighty stone cat offers to pose a series of questions, promising to reward each correct answer with a golden lasso. When questioned regarding the penalty for answering a question incorrectly, the Sphinx hisses vociferously. Realizing that getting an answer wrong was frightening but not actually dangerous, Wonder Woman accepts the cat’s Q&A challenge. Fearlessly throwing out possible answers to the first question, WW survives several robust hissy fits and earns herself a golden lasso. Multitasking with ease, she alternates between lassoing shovels, answering more questions, and bracing for the inevitable hissing. As the sun slowly sets, WW lassoes the last of the wriggling shovels. A palpable silence spreads over the land as the Sphinx curls up for a nap. The magma crisis has been averted, but the lassoed shovels are glittering ominously under the moonless, starless night. There are holes to fill and vexing shovels to contend with, but not tonight. Transforming back into a mere mortal woman, our heroine ponders the tasks ahead as she leaves work for the day.
My psychedelic action story was also an allegory.
Surrounded and overwhelmed by work tasks that haven’t been completed, our heroine takes off her glasses, twirls around, and transforms into Wonder Woman. Oh, but what’s this?
<These are the work tasks that are stored in the tool our group is using.>
The work tasks have turned into hundreds of shovels that are maniacally digging themselves into deeper and deeper holes.
<I feel I'm falling into an ever-deepening hole as I get more and more behind in each two-week sprint (all work is being done in two-week chunks).>
From a distance, they resemble the animated mops from Fantasia, working industriously. And yet there’s no benevolent Mickey Mouse figure orchestrating their movements. They’ve taken on a life of their own.
<I feel out of control.>
WW notices the nearby volcano and realizes the danger: The shovels must be stopped before they get too close to the river of magma that travels through a hidden chamber on its way to Release Volcano!
<"Release" is a play on "software release," which is when our software is shipped to actual users.>
She springs into action, using her golden lasso to becalm a nearby shovel. One down, scores more to go.
<Recognition that tasks must be handled one at a time. Also recognition that it almost feels like magic to me when I can accept that the work I've done is "good enough for now.">
As WW removes her lasso from the shovel, it starts digging again. Not good.
<Recognition that without deliberate effort on my part, things that look like they might be almost "finished" regularly transform into "not good enough to count as finished" in the blink of an eye.>
Slipping the lasso back onto the shovel, she hears a low rumbling sound. Is Release Volcano about to erupt? As the sound gets louder and louder, our heroine realizes that she is hearing the purr of an enormous cat. The Sphinx!! And what’s that with it? A huge cat toy made of millions of golden lassoes…
<The cat toy is a dramatic device enabling WW to get more golden lassoes.>
The mighty stone cat offers to pose a series of questions, promising to reward each correct answer with a golden lasso.
<Each work task requires answering the question "What all needs to be tested about this?">
When questioned regarding the penalty for answering a question incorrectly, the Sphinx hisses vociferously. Realizing that getting an answer wrong was frightening but not actually dangerous, Wonder Woman accepts the cat’s Q&A challenge.
<Recognition that the test planning does not have to be perfect.>
Fearlessly throwing out possible answers to the first question, WW survives several robust hissy fits and earns herself a golden lasso. Multitasking with ease, she alternates between lassoing shovels, answering more questions, and bracing for the inevitable hissing.
<Recognizing that I need to be able to process one work task after another without getting trapped by obsessive thoughts about any specific task and without becoming so afraid of my work that I simply run away.>
As the sun slowly sets, WW lassoes the last of the wriggling shovels.
<Reference to being at work past sunset last night. I did handle some of the tasks, but certainly nowhere near all of them.>
A palpable silence spreads over the land as the Sphinx curls up for a nap. The magma crisis has been averted, but the lassoed shovels are glittering ominously under the moonless, starless night. There are holes to fill and vexing shovels to contend with, but not tonight. Transforming back into a mere mortal woman, our heroine ponders the tasks ahead as she leaves work for the day.
<Recognition that once I've dealt with a basic/initial level of testing for each of these tasks, there is still far, far more work left to do. Also recognition that I need not fight all of my battles at one time, no matter how ominous they appear to be from a distance.>
@Piqued: Good symbols, esp. for something so abstract!
I guessed most of them right! (More or less.) Psychedelic, yes, but great imagery! Glad to hear work was more fun for you this way.
Piqued,
I quite enjoyed all of that.
H
Feeling weird about having posted all of that...
The point is that it's more fun to do my job when I visualize chatting with a Sphinx and lassoing self-animated shovels.
Piqued, your story rocks... own it!
:-D
That was an awesome story. Awesome. I'm inspired to do that tomorrow.
If it helps you get it done in a fun way, then that's all that counts!!!
__________________________
"Do I prefer to grow up and relate to life directly, or do I choose to live and die in fear?"
-- Pema Chodron
Lol
Lol
In a World. . .
where quiz corrections go undone. . .
one woman. . .will find the strength in herself. . .to DO> THEM. ALL.
She is. . .the Corrector.
On one Friday afternoon, her world will be turned upside down as she battles complex numbers and vector calculus.
Coming to a theater near you ;)
Thanks riddled for this dare, totally helped me get these done yesterday by 4pm with a smile. :)
@katia11: Ooooh - wanna see the movie!
The Corrector
... I like that!
Dances with Ring Binders?
"At first there were all those big, heavy document files - many with steel-enforced edges - fluttering around me like in Hitchcock's "The Birds". I thought I was in mortal danger, all the more so because my attempts at lashing out at them and fighting back seemed to have no effect. I thought I had to find their secret weakness, their Achilles' heel. So I tried to learn more about them. And it turned out that they were not evil monsters trying to kill me - not only were they friendly, thoughtful beings, but they had actually come here to help me! Living with them for a long span of time, I learned many of their strange but wise and fascinating ways. I am at peace with them now, I have learned to understand and respect them, and should I ever see other humans - mislead as I was - fighting them, I will do my best to mediate.
No, I haven't fallen in love with and married a ring binder - yet..."
I thought this dare would turn out to be stupid and pointless, but the mind is a strange thing. Somehow it did help. Regarding filing, yesterday was very productive.
riddled,
I am going to look at my ring binders with new respect. I hope I will also learn, like you, to accept them into my life.
H
Dare for Thursday, 1/30/2013
Go to bed (to sleep, perchance to dream) a half hour earlier than normal tonight.
early to bed & early to rise
Did this dare & the dare before. Got up early Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and got to bed early on Wednesday & Thursday. And what's more, on Thursday, I didn't just think "I'm so tired, I'l lie down for ten minutes", then sleep all night with lights & clothes on and without having brushed my teeth, but I did it the regular way. (I let the other way happen to me all too often.)
And Piqued, I do dream more when I go to bed properly and sleep enough! I think that has positive psychological effects, too. (A sort of nightly mental garbage collection...)
fudoshin: daily dare: 1:05pm
I did this last night, without even reading about the dare, because instead of waiting to have a third meal, I did my dental routine early instead of procrastinating. I hope to do this self-care approach again tonight. I don't really have a gauge of what's normal, since I've stayed up until 3am on certain nights, not tha I like that. I am trying to get in the habit of waking up at 7am by going to bed earlier, and by brushing my teeth. I think if I brush and floss, and take a shower, it'll be easier to get to bed earlier.
Dare
I'm reading this post at midnight Thursday, so have probably blown it for tonight. But will do my utmost to do it tomorrow. It means bed by 10.30 yegads - is it cheating if I take my washing up to bed with me?
Lol Mole
No washing up in the bed methinks....
Dare for Wednesday, 01/30/13
Get up half an hour earlier than you'd normally have to. Use the extra time... uh... wisely? (Or something like that.) How does it feel? (If it feels like "Gnnn... oh no... that early? I feel like a zombie... coffee! coffee! What a &$%# idea to do this!", that's ok, too!)
Of course, if you read this too late to do it on Wednesday, you can also do it on one of the following days! But I think I'm posting this still in time for the American PA members.
(I already did this today - that's why I'm up now! But since that's probably cheating - writing the dare when I've already done it - I'll try to do it again tomorrow.)
Yay, my first dare
perish. And if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 - 1894)