Online Meeting Topics for Weekday and Sunday Meetings

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, October 7-13, 2013[/b]

This week includes the second Sunday of the month, so therefore the "Reading" is the Ten Signs.

THE TEN SIGNS OF COMPULSIVE PROCRASTINATION: ~~~ Compulsive procrastinators may not have all the signs listed here, but if you identify with many of these characteristics, you are probably a compulsive procrastinator. ~~~ 1. Disappointment is a way of life. We constantly disappoint other people and ourselves by not keeping our promises. ~~~

2. We have enormous difficulty getting started on new projects, or transitioning from one project to another. ~~~ 3. We have a very poor sense of time, chronically underestimating or overestimating how long a task will take us to complete. ~~~ 4. We have difficulty organizing projects by breaking them down into steps; we don't know where to start, even when we're willing to start. ~~~

5. We are surrounded by clutter and disorganization in our homes and work spaces. ~~~ 6. We are regularly late for appointments. ~~~ 7. We are acutely aware of what we should be doing, or think we should be doing, and oddly out of touch with what we actually want and need. ~~~

8. We feel uncomfortable saying "no" to requests from others, and instead express our resentment through the passive resistance of procrastination. ~~~ 9. We suffer from Demand Resistance, causing us to do anything and everything except the one thing we most need to do. ~~~ 10. We are short-term thinkers, focusing on short-term pleasure while ignoring long-term well-being.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, October 7-13, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Three:[/b] "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God [i]as we understood God[/i]."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #7: "Avoid Perfectionism:[/b] Procrastinators have a tendency to spend more time on a task than it warrants, so tasks that should be quick to do take an agonizingly long time. Notice this tendency and stop yourself. Some things require completion, not perfection."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #9:[/b] "The backlog of tasks and projects will disappear; and new projects, planned and organized, will become a pleasure to manage and complete."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month:[/b] This week includes the first Sunday of October,which is [b]Month #10. Therefore Tradition #10:[/b] "Procrastinators Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the P.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy."

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, September 23-29, 2013[/b]

This week includes the fifth Sunday of the month. Therefore our "Reading" is the Traditions.

[b]The Twelve TRADITIONS of Procrastinators Anonymous[/b]

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon P.A. unity. ~~~ 2. For our group purpose, there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as may be expressed in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern. ~~~ 3. The only requirement for P.A. membership is a desire to stop procrastinating. ~~~

4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or P.A. as a whole. ~~~ 5. Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the compulsive procrastinator who still suffers. ~~~

6. A P.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the P.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose. ~~~ 7. Every P.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. ~~~

8. Procrastinators Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers. ~~~ 9. P.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve. ~~~ 10. Procrastinators Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the P.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy. ~~~

11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films, television, and internet. ~~~ 12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, September 23-29, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step One:[/b] "We admitted we were powerless over compulsive procrastination, that our lives had become unmanageable."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #5: "Avoid Time Bingeing:[/b] One reason procrastinators dread starting is that once they start they don't let themselves stop. Plan to work on a task for a defined period of time, then set a timer. When the timer goes off, you're done."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #7:[/b] "We will not tire so easily, for we won't be burning up energy foolishly like we did when we procrastinated. Negative emotions will no longer be the fuel that drives or stops our actions. When agitated or in doubt, we will pause and ask our Higher Power for the right thought or action."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Month #9. Tradition #9:[/b] "P.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve."

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, September 9-15, 2013[/b]

This week includes the third Sunday of the month, so therefore the "Reading" is the Ten Tools.

[b]THE TEN TOOLS OF RECOVERY FROM COMPULSIVE PROCRASTINATION:[/b]

[b]1. Break It Down:[/b] Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown.

[b]2. Visualization:[/b] Plan what to do, then imagine yourself doing it. The more specific and vivid your visualization, the better. See yourself doing the task, and doing it well.

[b]3. Ask Yourself Why:[/b] While you are visualizing doing the task, see if you can detect what it is about the task that feels odious to you, what uncomfortable feeling you are avoiding. Knowing what's behind the avoidance can help you get past it - for example, address real problems or ignore irrational fears.

[b]4. Focus on Long-Term Consequences:[/b] Procrastinators have a tendency to focus on short-term pleasure, and shut out awareness of long-term consequences. Remind yourself how panicked and awful you'll feel if the task isn't done, then imagine how good it will feel when the task is finished.

[b]5. Avoid Time Bingeing:[/b] One reason procrastinators dread starting is that once they start they don't let themselves stop. Plan to work on a task for a defined period of time, then set a timer. When the timer goes off, you're done.

[b]6. Use Small Blocks of Time:[/b] Procrastinators often have trouble doing tasks in incremental steps, and wait for big blocks of time that never come. When you have small blocks of time, use them to work on the task at hand.

[b]7. Avoid Perfectionism:[/b] Procrastinators have a tendency to spend more time on a task than it warrants, so tasks that should be quick to do take an agonizingly long time. Notice this tendency and stop yourself. Some things require completion, not perfection.

[b]8. Keep a Time Log:[/b] Increase your awareness of time by logging what you are doing throughout the day. This is a great diagnostic tool for discovering where your time went, and an excellent way to become better at estimating how long tasks take.

[b]9. Develop Routines:[/b] To help structure your day and make a habit of things you always need to do, develop routines for what you do when you wake up, regular tasks of your workday, and what you need to do before going to bed.

[b]Tool #10.[/b] This Recovery Tool is three paragraphs long -- pasting in all of them, as follows:

[b]10. Bookend Tasks and Time:[/b] A bookend is when you check in with someone at the beginning and end of specific tasks. You check in, regardless of how much progress you’ve made. You can briefly say how the process is going for you.

The two check-ins -- before & after the task-work -- support your task -- just as bookends support books. Bookending is a *supportive* tool -- to help eliminate dread. You can bookend sections of a task, or give updates throughout the day.

Ways to bookend: Use the Daily Check-ins Forum on the PA Web site. ~~~ Use the Special Projects and Master Lists Forum on the PA website. ~~~ Check in with others in the PA chatbox. ~~~ Use the PA conference call phoneline and arrange to meet others there at specific times during the day to check in. ~~~ Communicate directly with a PA buddy via telephone, text, or email.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, September 9-15, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Eleven: [/b]"Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, [i]as we understood God[/i], praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #3: "Ask Yourself Why:[/b] While you are visualizing doing the task, see if you can detect what it is about the task that feels odious to you, what uncomfortable feeling you are avoiding. Knowing what's behind the avoidance can help you get past it - for example, address real problems or ignore irrational fears."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #5:[/b] "We will arrive at our appointments on time, prepared and organized. Our lives will be less stressful, clarity will replace confusion, and details will be easy to see."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Month #9. Tradition #9:[/b] "P.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve."

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, August 26th - September 1st, 2013[/b]

This week includes the first Sunday of the month, so therefore the "Reading" is all Twelve of the Steps.

THE TWELVE STEPS OF PROCRASTINATORS ANONYMOUS: ~~~ 1. We admitted we were powerless over compulsive procrastination, that our lives had become unmanageable. ~~~ 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. ~~~ 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God [i]as we understood God[/i]. ~~~

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. ~~~ 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. ~~~ 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. ~~~ 7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings. ~~~ 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. ~~~

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. ~~~ 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. ~~~ 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, [i]as we understood God[/i], praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out. ~~~

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive procrastinators, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, August 26th - September 1st, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Nine: [/b]"Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #1: "Break it Down:[/b] Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #3: [/b]"As we learn to commit each task to our Higher Power for divine ideas and guidance, confidence will replace fear, enthusiasm will replace dread, and self-esteem will replace self-loathing. We will take the next right actions, as they are required, easily and effortlessly."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month:[/b] This week includes the first Sunday of September, which is [b]Month #9. Tradition #9:[/b] "P.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve."

Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, August 12-18, 2013

[b]THE TEN TOOLS OF RECOVERY FROM COMPULSIVE PROCRASTINATION:[/b]

[b]1. Break It Down:[/b] Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown.

[b]2. Visualization:[/b] Plan what to do, then imagine yourself doing it. The more specific and vivid your visualization, the better. See yourself doing the task, and doing it well.

[b]3. Ask Yourself Why:[/b] While you are visualizing doing the task, see if you can detect what it is about the task that feels odious to you, what uncomfortable feeling you are avoiding. Knowing what's behind the avoidance can help you get past it - for example, address real problems or ignore irrational fears.

[b]4. Focus on Long-Term Consequences:[/b] Procrastinators have a tendency to focus on short-term pleasure, and shut out awareness of long-term consequences. Remind yourself how panicked and awful you'll feel if the task isn't done, then imagine how good it will feel when the task is finished.

[b]5. Avoid Time Bingeing:[/b] One reason procrastinators dread starting is that once they start they don't let themselves stop. Plan to work on a task for a defined period of time, then set a timer. When the timer goes off, you're done.

[b]6. Use Small Blocks of Time:[/b] Procrastinators often have trouble doing tasks in incremental steps, and wait for big blocks of time that never come. When you have small blocks of time, use them to work on the task at hand.

[b]7. Avoid Perfectionism:[/b] Procrastinators have a tendency to spend more time on a task than it warrants, so tasks that should be quick to do take an agonizingly long time. Notice this tendency and stop yourself. Some things require completion, not perfection.

[b]8. Keep a Time Log:[/b] Increase your awareness of time by logging what you are doing throughout the day. This is a great diagnostic tool for discovering where your time went, and an excellent way to become better at estimating how long tasks take.

[b]9. Develop Routines:[/b] To help structure your day and make a habit of things you always need to do, develop routines for what you do when you wake up, regular tasks of your workday, and what you need to do before going to bed.

[b]Tool #10.[/b] This Recovery Tool is three paragraphs long -- pasting in all of them, as follows:

[b]10. Bookend Tasks and Time:[/b] A bookend is when you check in with someone at the beginning and end of specific tasks. You check in, regardless of how much progress you’ve made. You can briefly say how the process is going for you.

The two check-ins -- before & after the task-work -- support your task -- just as bookends support books. Bookending is a *supportive* tool -- to help eliminate dread. You can bookend sections of a task, or give updates throughout the day.

Ways to bookend: Use the Daily Check-ins Forum on the PA Web site. ~~~ Use the Special Projects and Master Lists Forum on the PA website. ~~~ Check in with others in the PA chatbox. ~~~ Use the PA conference call phoneline and arrange to meet others there at specific times during the day to check in. ~~~ Communicate directly with a PA buddy via telephone, text, or email.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, August 12-18, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Seven: [/b]"Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #9: "Develop Routines:[/b] To help structure your day and make a habit of things you always need to do, develop routines for what you do when you wake up, regular tasks of your workday, and what you need to do before going to bed."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #1: [/b]"We will release the need for perfectionism, and be willing to begin imperfectly; while trusting that our Higher Power will reveal to us our enormous potential -- thus enabling us to trust that our actions are good enough."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Month #8. Tradition #8:[/b] "Procrastinators Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers."

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, July 29 - August 4, 2013[/b]

THE TWELVE STEPS OF PROCRASTINATORS ANONYMOUS: ~~~ 1. We admitted we were powerless over compulsive procrastination, that our lives had become unmanageable. ~~~ 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. ~~~ 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God [i]as we understood God[/i]. ~~~

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. ~~~ 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. ~~~ 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. ~~~ 7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings. ~~~ 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. ~~~

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. ~~~ 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. ~~~ 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, [i]as we understood God[/i], praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out. ~~~

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive procrastinators, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, July 29 - August 4, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Five: [/b]"Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #7: "Avoid Perfectionism:[/b] Procrastinators have a tendency to spend more time on a task than it warrants, so tasks that should be quick to do take an agonizingly long time. Notice this tendency and stop yourself. Some things require completion, not perfection."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #11: [/b]"Living inside a structured life will no longer frighten or threaten us. Rather, we will Make Friends with Time, Embrace Structure, Enjoy Planning, and Trust our Abilities."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Month #8. Tradition #8:[/b] "Procrastinators Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers."

Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, July 15-21, 2013

[b]THE TEN TOOLS OF RECOVERY FROM COMPULSIVE PROCRASTINATION:[/b]

[b]1. Break It Down:[/b] Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown.

[b]2. Visualization:[/b] Plan what to do, then imagine yourself doing it. The more specific and vivid your visualization, the better. See yourself doing the task, and doing it well.

[b]3. Ask Yourself Why:[/b] While you are visualizing doing the task, see if you can detect what it is about the task that feels odious to you, what uncomfortable feeling you are avoiding. Knowing what's behind the avoidance can help you get past it - for example, address real problems or ignore irrational fears.

[b]4. Focus on Long-Term Consequences:[/b] Procrastinators have a tendency to focus on short-term pleasure, and shut out awareness of long-term consequences. Remind yourself how panicked and awful you'll feel if the task isn't done, then imagine how good it will feel when the task is finished.

[b]5. Avoid Time Bingeing:[/b] One reason procrastinators dread starting is that once they start they don't let themselves stop. Plan to work on a task for a defined period of time, then set a timer. When the timer goes off, you're done.

[b]6. Use Small Blocks of Time:[/b] Procrastinators often have trouble doing tasks in incremental steps, and wait for big blocks of time that never come. When you have small blocks of time, use them to work on the task at hand.

[b]7. Avoid Perfectionism:[/b] Procrastinators have a tendency to spend more time on a task than it warrants, so tasks that should be quick to do take an agonizingly long time. Notice this tendency and stop yourself. Some things require completion, not perfection.

[b]8. Keep a Time Log:[/b] Increase your awareness of time by logging what you are doing throughout the day. This is a great diagnostic tool for discovering where your time went, and an excellent way to become better at estimating how long tasks take.

[b]9. Develop Routines:[/b] To help structure your day and make a habit of things you always need to do, develop routines for what you do when you wake up, regular tasks of your workday, and what you need to do before going to bed.

[b]Tool #10.[/b] This Recovery Tool is three paragraphs long -- pasting in all of them, as follows:

[b]10. Bookend Tasks and Time:[/b] A bookend is when you check in with someone at the beginning and end of specific tasks. You check in, regardless of how much progress you’ve made. You can briefly say how the process is going for you.

The two check-ins -- before & after the task-work -- support your task -- just as bookends support books. Bookending is a *supportive* tool -- to help eliminate dread. You can bookend sections of a task, or give updates throughout the day.

Ways to bookend: Use the Daily Check-ins Forum on the PA Web site. ~~~ Use the Special Projects and Master Lists Forum on the PA website. ~~~ Check in with others in the PA chatbox. ~~~ Use the PA conference call phoneline and arrange to meet others there at specific times during the day to check in. ~~~ Communicate directly with a PA buddy via telephone, text, or email.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, July 15-21, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Three:[/b] "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God [i]as we understood God[/i]"

[b]Our PA Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #5: "Avoid Time Bingeing:[/b] One reason procrastinators dread starting is that once they start they don't let themselves stop. Plan to work on a task for a defined period of time, then set a timer. When the timer goes off, you're done."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #9:[/b] "The backlog of tasks and projects will disappear; and new projects, planned and organized, will become a pleasure to manage and complete."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Month #7. Tradition #7:[/b] "Every P.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, July 1-7, 2013[/b]

THE TWELVE STEPS OF PROCRASTINATORS ANONYMOUS: ~~~ 1. We admitted we were powerless over compulsive procrastination, that our lives had become unmanageable. ~~~ 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. ~~~ 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God [i]as we understood God[/i]. ~~~

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. ~~~ 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. ~~~ 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. ~~~ 7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings. ~~~ 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. ~~~

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. ~~~ 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. ~~~ 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, [i]as we understood God[/i], praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out. ~~~

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive procrastinators, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, July 1-7, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step One:[/b] "We admitted we were powerless over compulsive procrastination, that our lives had become unmanageable."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #3: "Ask Yourself Why:[/b] While you are visualizing doing the task, see if you can detect what it is about the task that feels odious to you, what uncomfortable feeling you are avoiding. Knowing what's behind the avoidance can help you get past it - for example, address real problems or ignore irrational fears."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #7:[/b] "We will not tire so easily, for we won't be burning up energy foolishly like we did when we procrastinated. Negative emotions will no longer be the fuel that drives or stops our actions. When agitated or in doubt, we will pause and ask our Higher Power for the right thought or action."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Month #7. Tradition #7:[/b] "Every P.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, June 17-23, 2013[/b]

[b]The Twelve Promises of Recovery in Procrastinators Anonymous][/b]

1. We will release the need for perfectionism, and be willing to begin imperfectly; while trusting that our Higher Power will reveal to us our enormous potential -- thus enabling us to trust that our actions are good enough.

2. We will find joy and serenity in doing routine tasks, making daily action plans, and completing all tasks; and we will meet deadlines on or before they are due.

3. As we learn to commit each task to our Higher Power for divine ideas and guidance, confidence will replace fear, enthusiasm will replace dread, and self-esteem will replace self-loathing. We will take the next right actions, as they are required, easily and effortlessly.

4. Well-planned and completed actions will be our new way of life. Organizing will become second nature. The desire to daydream, the avoidance of tasks, and the dread of actions will all disappear -- as we find pleasure and spiritual fulfillment in completing the task before us.

5. We will arrive at our appointments on time, prepared and organized. Our lives will be less stressful, clarity will replace confusion, and details will be easy to see.

6. We will enjoy a life of greater prosperity, as opportunities nourished by actions will thrive and grow. Money lost for late fees and penalties is now available to enjoy long-postponed vacations and self-care.

7. We will not tire so easily, for we won't be burning up energy foolishly like we did when we procrastinated. Negative emotions will no longer be the fuel that drives or stops our actions. When agitated or in doubt, we will pause and ask our Higher Power for the right thought or action.

8. As procrastinators we were undisciplined. But now our actions will be planned and efficient, leaving us with time to do more than we had ever imagined.

9. The backlog of tasks and projects will disappear; and new projects, planned and organized, will become a pleasure to manage and complete.

10. We will meet the new day and new responsibilities with a joy, enthusiasm, vigor and excitement we had never thought possible.

11. Living inside a structured life will no longer frighten or threaten us. Rather, we will Make Friends with Time, Embrace Structure, Enjoy Planning, and Trust our Abilities.

12. Each action completed will bring the desire to take another action; each success will bring the desire for more success; until, one day, without realizing it, we will be living the life of our dreams and these promises.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, June 17-23, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Eleven: [/b]"Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, [i]as we understood God[/i], praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #1: "Break It Down:[/b] Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #5: [/b]"We will arrive at our appointments on time, prepared and organized. Our lives will be less stressful, clarity will replace confusion, and details will be easy to see."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Month #6. Tradition #6:[/b] "A P.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the P.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, June 3-9, 2013[/b]

THE TEN SIGNS OF COMPULSIVE PROCRASTINATION: ~~~ Compulsive procrastinators may not have all the signs listed here, but if you identify with many of these characteristics, you are probably a compulsive procrastinator. ~~~ 1. Disappointment is a way of life. We constantly disappoint other people and ourselves by not keeping our promises. ~~~

2. We have enormous difficulty getting started on new projects, or transitioning from one project to another. ~~~ 3. We have a very poor sense of time, chronically underestimating or overestimating how long a task will take us to complete. ~~~ 4. We have difficulty organizing projects by breaking them down into steps; we don't know where to start, even when we're willing to start. ~~~

5. We are surrounded by clutter and disorganization in our homes and work spaces. ~~~ 6. We are regularly late for appointments. ~~~ 7. We are acutely aware of what we should be doing, or think we should be doing, and oddly out of touch with what we actually want and need. ~~~

8. We feel uncomfortable saying "no" to requests from others, and instead express our resentment through the passive resistance of procrastination. ~~~ 9. We suffer from Demand Resistance, causing us to do anything and everything except the one thing we most need to do. ~~~ 10. We are short-term thinkers, focusing on short-term pleasure while ignoring long-term well-being.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, June 3-9, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Nine:[/b] "Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #9: "Develop Routines:[/b] To help structure your day and make a habit of things you always need to do, develop routines for what you do when you wake up, regular tasks of your workday, and what you need to do before going to bed."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #3:[/b] "As we learn to commit each task to our Higher Power for divine ideas and guidance, confidence will replace fear, enthusiasm will replace dread, and self-esteem will replace self-loathing. We will take the next right actions, as they are required, easily and effortlessly."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Month #6. Tradition #6:[/b] "A P.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the P.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, May 20-26, 2013[/b]

[b]The Twelve Promises of Recovery in Procrastinators Anonymous][/b]

1. We will release the need for perfectionism, and be willing to begin imperfectly; while trusting that our Higher Power will reveal to us our enormous potential -- thus enabling us to trust that our actions are good enough.

2. We will find joy and serenity in doing routine tasks, making daily action plans, and completing all tasks; and we will meet deadlines on or before they are due.

3. As we learn to commit each task to our Higher Power for divine ideas and guidance, confidence will replace fear, enthusiasm will replace dread, and self-esteem will replace self-loathing. We will take the next right actions, as they are required, easily and effortlessly.

4. Well-planned and completed actions will be our new way of life. Organizing will become second nature. The desire to daydream, the avoidance of tasks, and the dread of actions will all disappear -- as we find pleasure and spiritual fulfillment in completing the task before us.

5. We will arrive at our appointments on time, prepared and organized. Our lives will be less stressful, clarity will replace confusion, and details will be easy to see.

6. We will enjoy a life of greater prosperity, as opportunities nourished by actions will thrive and grow. Money lost for late fees and penalties is now available to enjoy long-postponed vacations and self-care.

7. We will not tire so easily, for we won't be burning up energy foolishly like we did when we procrastinated. Negative emotions will no longer be the fuel that drives or stops our actions. When agitated or in doubt, we will pause and ask our Higher Power for the right thought or action.

8. As procrastinators we were undisciplined. But now our actions will be planned and efficient, leaving us with time to do more than we had ever imagined.

9. The backlog of tasks and projects will disappear; and new projects, planned and organized, will become a pleasure to manage and complete.

10. We will meet the new day and new responsibilities with a joy, enthusiasm, vigor and excitement we had never thought possible.

11. Living inside a structured life will no longer frighten or threaten us. Rather, we will Make Friends with Time, Embrace Structure, Enjoy Planning, and Trust our Abilities.

12. Each action completed will bring the desire to take another action; each success will bring the desire for more success; until, one day, without realizing it, we will be living the life of our dreams and these promises.

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, May 20-26, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Seven: [/b]"Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings"

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #7: "Avoid Perfectionism:[/b] Procrastinators have a tendency to spend more time on a task than it warrants, so tasks that should be quick to do take an agonizingly long time. Notice this tendency and stop yourself. Some things require completion, not perfection."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #1: [/b]"We will release the need for perfectionism, and be willing to begin imperfectly; while trusting that our Higher Power will reveal to us our enormous potential -- thus enabling us to trust that our actions are good enough."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Tradition #5: [/b]"Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the compulsive procrastinator who still suffers."

Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, May 6-12, 2013

THE TEN SIGNS OF COMPULSIVE PROCRASTINATION: ~~~ Compulsive procrastinators may not have all the signs listed here, but if you identify with many of these characteristics, you are probably a compulsive procrastinator. ~~~ 1. Disappointment is a way of life. We constantly disappoint other people and ourselves by not keeping our promises. ~~~

2. We have enormous difficulty getting started on new projects, or transitioning from one project to another. ~~~ 3. We have a very poor sense of time, chronically underestimating or overestimating how long a task will take us to complete. ~~~ 4. We have difficulty organizing projects by breaking them down into steps; we don't know where to start, even when we're willing to start. ~~~

5. We are surrounded by clutter and disorganization in our homes and work spaces. ~~~ 6. We are regularly late for appointments. ~~~ 7. We are acutely aware of what we should be doing, or think we should be doing, and oddly out of touch with what we actually want and need. ~~~

8. We feel uncomfortable saying "no" to requests from others, and instead express our resentment through the passive resistance of procrastination. ~~~ 9. We suffer from Demand Resistance, causing us to do anything and everything except the one thing we most need to do. ~~~ 10. We are short-term thinkers, focusing on short-term pleasure while ignoring long-term well-being.

Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, May 6-12, 2013

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Five:[/b] "Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs".

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #5:[/b] "Avoid Time Bingeing: One reason procrastinators dread starting is that once they start they don't let themselves stop. Plan to work on a task for a defined period of time, then set a timer. When the timer goes off, you're done."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #11:[/b]: "Living inside a structured life will no longer frighten or threaten us. Rather, we will Make Friends with Time, Embrace Structure, Enjoy Planning, and Trust our Abilities."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Tradition #5:[/b] "Each group has but one primary purpose - to carry its message to the compulsive procrastinator who still suffers."

[b]Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, April 22-28, 2013[/b]

[b]The Twelve Promises of Recovery in Procrastinators Anonymous][/b]

1. We will release the need for perfectionism, and be willing to begin imperfectly; while trusting that our Higher Power will reveal to us our enormous potential -- thus enabling us to trust that our actions are good enough.

2. We will find joy and serenity in doing routine tasks, making daily action plans, and completing all tasks; and we will meet deadlines on or before they are due.

3. As we learn to commit each task to our Higher Power for divine ideas and guidance, confidence will replace fear, enthusiasm will replace dread, and self-esteem will replace self-loathing. We will take the next right actions, as they are required, easily and effortlessly.

4. Well-planned and completed actions will be our new way of life. Organizing will become second nature. The desire to daydream, the avoidance of tasks, and the dread of actions will all disappear -- as we find pleasure and spiritual fulfillment in completing the task before us.

5. We will arrive at our appointments on time, prepared and organized. Our lives will be less stressful, clarity will replace confusion, and details will be easy to see.

6. We will enjoy a life of greater prosperity, as opportunities nourished by actions will thrive and grow. Money lost for late fees and penalties is now available to enjoy long-postponed vacations and self-care.

7. We will not tire so easily, for we won't be burning up energy foolishly like we did when we procrastinated. Negative emotions will no longer be the fuel that drives or stops our actions. When agitated or in doubt, we will pause and ask our Higher Power for the right thought or action.

8. As procrastinators we were undisciplined. But now our actions will be planned and efficient, leaving us with time to do more than we had ever imagined.

9. The backlog of tasks and projects will disappear; and new projects, planned and organized, will become a pleasure to manage and complete.

10. We will meet the new day and new responsibilities with a joy, enthusiasm, vigor and excitement we had never thought possible.

11. Living inside a structured life will no longer frighten or threaten us. Rather, we will Make Friends with Time, Embrace Structure, Enjoy Planning, and Trust our Abilities.

12. Each action completed will bring the desire to take another action; each success will bring the desire for more success; until, one day, without realizing it, we will be living the life of our dreams and these promises. 

[b]Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, April 22-28, 2013[/b]

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step Three:[/b] "Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God [i]as we understood God[/i]."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool#3: "Ask Yourself Why:[/b] While you are visualizing doing the task, see if you can detect what it is about the task that feels odious to you, what uncomfortable feeling you are avoiding. Knowing what's behind the avoidance can help you get past it - for example, address real problems or ignore irrational fears."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #9:[/b] "The backlog of tasks and projects will disappear; and new projects, planned and organized, will become a pleasure to manage and complete."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Tradition #4:[/b] "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or P.A. as a whole."

Reading of the Week for Monday through Sunday, April 8-14, 2013

THE TEN SIGNS OF COMPULSIVE PROCRASTINATION: ~~~ Compulsive procrastinators may not have all the signs listed here, but if you identify with many of these characteristics, you are probably a compulsive procrastinator. ~~~ 1. Disappointment is a way of life. We constantly disappoint other people and ourselves by not keeping our promises. ~~~

2. We have enormous difficulty getting started on new projects, or transitioning from one project to another. ~~~ 3. We have a very poor sense of time, chronically underestimating or overestimating how long a task will take us to complete. ~~~ 4. We have difficulty organizing projects by breaking them down into steps; we don't know where to start, even when we're willing to start. ~~~

5. We are surrounded by clutter and disorganization in our homes and work spaces. ~~~ 6. We are regularly late for appointments. ~~~ 7. We are acutely aware of what we should be doing, or think we should be doing, and oddly out of touch with what we actually want and need. ~~~

8. We feel uncomfortable saying "no" to requests from others, and instead express our resentment through the passive resistance of procrastination. ~~~ 9. We suffer from Demand Resistance, causing us to do anything and everything except the one thing we most need to do. ~~~ 10. We are short-term thinkers, focusing on short-term pleasure while ignoring long-term well-being.

Topics of the Week for Monday through Sunday, April 8-14, 2013 

[b]Our Step of the Week: Step One:[/b] "We admitted we were powerless over compulsive procrastination, that our lives had become unmanageable."

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #1: "Break It Down:[/b] Break down projects into specific action steps; include preparation tasks in the breakdown."

[b]Our PA Promise of the Week: Promise #7:[/b]: "We will not tire so easily, for we won't burn up energy foolishly like we did when we procrastinated. Negative emotions will no longer be the fuel that drives or stops our actions. When agitated or in doubt, we will pause and ask our higher power for the right thought or action."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Tradition #4:[/b] "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or P.A. as a whole."

Correction clarification:

Our Recovery Tool of the Week: (paste in both paragraphs)

[b]Our Recovery Tool of the Week: Tool #10: "Bookend Tasks and Time:[/b] A bookend is when you check in with someone at the beginning and end of specific tasks. You check in regardless of how much progress you’ve made. The two check-ins -- before & after the task-work – support your task the way bookends support books. This helps eliminate dread. You can bookend sections of a task, or give updates throughout the day.

Ways to bookend: Use the Daily Check-ins board on the PA Web site. ~~~ Use the Special Projects and Master Lists Forum on the PA website. ~~~ Check in with others in the PA chatbox. ~~~ Use the PA conference call phoneline and arrange to meet others there at specific times during the day to check in. ~~~ Communicate directly with a PA buddy via telephone, text, or email."

[b]Our Tradition of the Month: Tradition #4:[/b] "Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or P.A. as a whole."

[b]Reading of the week: All Twelve Steps:[/b]

THE TWELVE STEPS OF PROCRASTINATORS ANONYMOUS: ~~~ 1. We admitted we were powerless over compulsive procrastination, that our lives had become unmanageable. ~~~ 2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. ~~~ 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God [i]as we understood God[/i]. ~~~

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. ~~~ 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. ~~~ 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. ~~~ 7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings. ~~~ 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. ~~~

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. ~~~ 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. ~~~ 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, [i]as we understood God[/i], praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out. ~~~

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive procrastinators, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.