Post-thesis 2013 Achievement and Self-Development Log
This new thread is to keep tab of what I want to achieve
during the rest of 2013. Since I have handed in my thesis, I have noticed a
tendency to slip into my old habits and not build upon and strengthen what I
have learnt.
What I am looking for is not just to finish specific
projects, but change how I approach all projects. What I see is a fundamental
change in how I approach my life and no less. I have all these dreams which have
been at the back of the mind, and I know if I do not make these fundamental
changes, the rest of my life will take the route of my research process. I want
my life to be a peaceful process, not the unnecessary stress and anxiety which
comes with procrastination.
In this thread, I will log every work day and keep tabs of
my projects. I am also reading Getting Things Done by David Allen, so I will be
trying to use those principles in making sure I stay on top of things. In the
last one month, I have already let things slide a fair bit and I need to pull
it back now. I have three major projects to deal with and other secondary
ones. I will keep a log like I did
during the last few months of my PhD, and also keep tab of what strategies work
for me and how I continue to learn to deal with resistance.
The rest of 2013 2014 starts now. I am back!
P.S. This is the old thread where I tracked my thesis progress from desperation to completion: http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/4283
P.P.S This is my introduction to this forum "Pulling myself back from the brink". I hit rock bottom before I had claw myself up slowly. http://procrastinators-anonymous.org/node/4281
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Update August 4 and @findingaway
I am done with my intensive teaching and marking. Now I have more time to focus on all the bits which will help me get better with my writing and achievements that can help my career.
@Findingaway Not sure if you can see this, but if so, I hope you have been going alright. I haven't been on the chatbox at all for the past month because I was pretty much teaching everyday till evening. Do you still use the chatbox duriing the Australian working hours? If so, please come on and we can work together (whilst the rest of the board is asleep sadly).
@thesis and @Unstuck-ing
Thanks for posting this for me thesis, even though I didn't see it! but another time I might have.
Unstuck-ing, hope you don't mind me mentioning you, I know you are in our time zone too and sometimes I have seen you in chat. Just to extend a welcome for the Australian afternoon in chatbox, which can be a bit quiet!
Update
So I have been doing well. I am teaching 4 days a week for the next 3 weeks, so it's pretty intense. Only last wednesday I slipped a little when I had some extra time on my hands.
Update
I have been doing well recently although there is anxiety which I am still trying to overcome. But procrastination is a lot better. I enjoy working in the chatbox when there are people around.
Weekends I tend to put off things (which I somehow think I must do during the weekend because of limited time). That makes me a bit stressed. However, it's probbaly just a sign that I should really take the weekend off and just return to things on Monday. So Sunday was crap, although Monday morning has been really good.
Here is a quote which I need to remember as much as possible when faced with procrastionation:
It makes no sense to leave the Dark Woods in favor of the Dark
Playground—they’re both dark. They both suck to be in, but the big difference
is the Dark Woods leads to happiness and the Dark Playground leads only to more
misery.
http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html
@ thesis
Thanks for the info. it really made sense of my journey.
Before I became a problem procrastinator, I always completed things "before they were due". Even now, if I do something before the due date, I do not have a problem or much anxiety. In fact I schedule bill paying 1 day before due date because I dread feeling the anxiety and sick feeling of paying them on due date, or after because I forgot, got busy, etc..
So why don't I do that? well there are lots of reasons (excuses, bad habits, etc. )PA(ers) and hp really help bring in some sanity to this hinderance of having some peace in my life.
@vic
Hi Vic, glad it helped you! Hope you are well. Sorry for the very delayed response!
@thesis re: e-book vision
Re: your goal to write an e-book on procrastination:
Very inspiring to read this goal!
@movingalong
Thank you! :)
Writing an e-book on procrastination
I have decided to write an e-book on procrastination. I intend to complete it by the end of the year. It is going to be one of my pet projects that I will work on, apart from setting up a blog. I will start work on the ebook from August onward in my spare time.
It won't be a gound-breaking new theory about procrastination. But as a person who is intently familiar with the mind of the procrastinator and what it takes to overcome it, I will put down the techniques and strategies which work, straddling both a mindfulness based addiction recovery approach and more contemporary NLP and goal-oriented approach.
I intend it to be a goto anti-procrastination bible for young procrastinators who do not know where to begin. I am very certain I can finsh it by December 31, 2014.
26=27 May
26 Monday - 7 pomodoros
27 May - 3 pomodoros Boohoo. I forgive myself and will move on and start afresh tomorrow.
@ thesis
Well done thesis! great work!xo
-
woops double post!
21-22 May
21 May - 7 pomodoros
22 May - 9 pomodoros
.
whoops another duplicate post
thesis ...
(oops duplicate post)
..
re: Questions to self to beat procrastionation
Thesis,
Thank you for sharing your "Questions to self to beat procrastionation".
They are very helpful!
@movingalong
You are welcome! Glad it's helpful!
Questions to self to beat procrastionation
I will come back to this list periodically to update:
1. What sort of person do I want to be? How will that person in me deal with this?
2. What am I feeling right now? Where in my body am I feeling it? Can I be courageous enough, to stay with the feeling with compassion, instead of run from it by engrossing myself in meaningless stategies that offer no solution.
3. What I resist, persist. Is this statement true? If so, what will you do now?
4. What will this cost me if I continue to indulge in procrastionation? How will this behaviour affect me emotionally, financially, health-wise, relationshipwise? Where will I be in 10 years as opposed to where I could be? Do I want to head down that path?
5. When I procrastinate, I continue to feel terrible. When I actually do work, I feel calm and accomplished and happy. What do you choose? Feel happy or feel terrible?
6. Think of the face of your little one; how can you bring youself to deny him a wonderful future, because you were too weak to overcome this one lousy habit? What sort of things will he wear, what sort of school will he go to, what sort of friends will he have, what sort of holiday will he never get to go to, because you spent your time reading news or blogs or watching videos in an impossible effort to run away and feel better?
7. How will this behaviour affect my relationship with my spouse? How much less time will I have to spend with my family? How much stress will I carry into those relationships? Do you really want that? Will it one day lead to a dead end, where I find myself alone and miserable because I could not make a simple effort each day, right now?
8. How will this affect my spiritual life and connection to Life? If I am caught up fighting and avoiding and stressing, what sort of spiritual connection will I have?
9-11 (To write - questions about the pleasures of overcoming procrastination).
19-20 May
6 pomodoros and a lot of unnecessary struggle with avoidance, juxtaposed with craving. It seems they go hand in hand.
The below is a personal reminder about how things work for me:
21:00:21 ‹thesis› i did 25mts and yes, i do feel a lot better
13-14 May
13 May - 7 pomodoros (1 class)
14 May - 7 pomodoros.
Fair bit of running away, but doing the incantation that I said below is helping me somewhat I think. I will do the incantation daily for a month and see how it helps.
12 May
10 pomodoros.
Incantations and Courage
I am doing much better today compared to the weekend. I have devised two simple incantations/affirmatoins for myself which is to help me cut through the difficult emotions which can hold me back at times.
When I get worried , I get stronger
When I am unsure, I get more determined.
I think while being mindful of difficult emotions and staying with it is reallly useful, I really believe that we can add to the courage and confidence to be mindful by using our body and mind in powerful ways through affirmations. Pema Chodron the Buddhist teacher talks about developing the courage to stay (instead of fleeing difficult emotions). Staying is important, however developing the courage and confidence to stay comes first.
Updated Incantations
When I get worried , I get stronger!
When I am unsure, I get more determined!
When I am uncomfortable, I get more determiend!
Need to yell this out at the top of your lungs and clench your fists and do some chest thumping while doing it...everyday. The idea is that you imprint it deep within the subconscious with your emotion and intensity, that the next time you face those emotions/situations, you immediately feel the positive qualities of being stronger or more determined that you had associated with the negative situation.
@ thesis
Beautiful affirmations to stay grounded-well done ansd thank you for sharing. Have great week ahead. love Jallaxo
@Jalla
You are welcome and I hope you are having an excellent day! May you be full of love and kindness and may you be equally loved... Hugs.
@ thesis
Wow thats lovely - thank you thesis. Have a great dayxo
5-6 April
6 pomodoros on each day.
30 April
180mts = 7.2 pomodoros
This morning stress got to me and I ran away for a bit. Need courage to deal with uncomfortable feelings and sensations in body-mind that precedes and accompanies procrastionation.
@thesis
re: learning to have a functional day whilst experiencing the discomfort -- congrats on the focus on that
@movingalong
Thanks for your encouragement!
29 April
265 mts = 10.6 pomodoros.
28 April - Change in habit plus what works
28 April - 5 x1 hour = 300mins (that is 12 crazy pomodoros).
I am doing well with my new work habit of working longer periods than 25min slots (pomodoros). I work one hour slots now starting yesterday. While the 25min slots were useful at that time (to chunk down large tasks at a time where I was intensely anxious and had little ability to focus more than 25mts or even earlier, even 10mts), the frequent stopping was an impediment now. I didnt realise this until I was reading about the "flow" again recently.
http://www.myrkothum...-into-the-zone/
http://zenhabits.net...s-in-your-work/
Apart from that my morning exercise routine and meditation is going well. I am really appreciating the motivation which comes from stacking mindfulness practice/reading with motivational literature. I think this is the goldilocks zone for me. If I deviate and lose momentum at some point, it would be very useful to remember or be reminded that this is the magic formula that works for me:
-Brush teeth immediately upon waking up
-Run
-Meditate
-Read/listen to motivational literature
-Listen to mindfulness stuff when possible
-Come back to the present when mind runs to worrying/excessive planning/obsessing. Stay in the body with acceptance of mind-body sensations.
-Remember what kind of person I want to be; anticipate negative emotions and deciding early on what I will do about them; remind myself of the pain (past present and future) of negative habits.
@ thesis
Well done Thesis!! That is just fantastic!!(and inspiring!). Keep up the great work!
@jalla
Thanks Jalla! Hope you are well!
well done!
keep up the good work thesis! I finally completed my thesis last year... what a relief! Like you, I've discovered mindfulness practise to be extremely useful... in fact, more than 'useful' it's necessary, in tackling procrastination... hope you're well!
@Lucas
Congratulations Lucas! That's wonderful news about the thesis! Well done....True about the mindfulnes. However, the hard part is remembering to be mindful or having the courage to be mindful when your mind is racing and you are in throes of resistance. I am facing that now as I type this out. I will be courageous and start my work again now.
April
Although I haven't been posting in here, I have been going alright. There are some good days and then some bad. Last week has been good with more impetus due to mindfulness meditation practice.I have been doing well with morning meditation and morning walks/run. I am combining my mindfulness/spiritual reading with some motivational/productivity reading/listening, which is working for me. I am reading Tony Robbins' Awaken the Giant Within and listening to some audio books during my walk.
Today, Jim Rohn whispered in my ear that it is easy to be successful if you follow and continuously practice the fundamentals which make the most difference in your lives. He also said the reason many people are not successful is because it is also easy not to do what it takes.
Thesis Update
Wow I didnt realise I haven't posted in here in so long. I actually have been doing well with some days being a disaster. However, most days I think I have gotten in at least 5 pomodoros of work, some more.
1. Waking up on time (and sleeping on time). This was going well but lately been sleeping past the 11 and so been only waking up at 7am. Will try to make sure I am in bed by 11pm.
2. The main thing I have been working on and having some success this week (after a terribly stressful last week where I put myself under so much pressure and nervous tension), is the decision to incorporate more calmness and stability into my life. I am potentially having a stress-related illness right now and it just doesnt make sense to get anxious/worried about things, which I just need to do calmly.I did the following:
a) I told myself that I am fully committed to working calmly instead of being anxious, for the sake of my health.
b) Everytime I noted my mind running into the future (usually thinking there is not enough time, or how the class is going to be, or how the things will get done etc) or into the past, I made sure I let go of it and came back to the present, with my breathing and the task at hand. Keep repeating. Chanting also helps. The mind is obsessed with the future and the past. But important thing is to stay with what's real.
c) Making sure, I have a proper meditation session every morning.
24 - 25 February
So yesterday and today I woke up at my new wake up time of 6.45am. I am sleepier than normal at around 11am but it's worth getting one or two pomodoros done by time for work,
So 24 February (9 pomo) - I did 3 pomodoros writing and 6 pomodoros preparing for teaching
25 February (9 pomo) - 6 pomodoros preparing for teaching, 2 pomodoros teaching and 1 pomodoro writing
I think I will start preparing my tute work earlier so that there is less anxiety about getting it done on time. I think that will drastically cut down my pre-teaching anxiety and be more settled and can just focus on the delivery in the morning before class.
@ thesis
Well done thesis!Great work!!
24 February - Resetting
I can't remember what happened last Wednesday to Friday. I must have done a little bit of work but I think it was mostly rather dismal. So I'm not going to go there. Wait, I remember, I had a row of meetings on Thursday in different locations which left me with little time to do work. And I had one meeting in the city on Friday again. I need to learn to still get work done around the meetings.
I'm starting afresh. I have deleted all my habits on lift.do and pared it back into a few essentails. Getting to bed by 11pm so that I can stick to my new wake up time at 6.45am.
I am also reducing the number of pomodoros required in a day to 6 for a week, so I can gain the confidence and the excitement of ticking off days in a row.
16-18 February - New wake up time
16 February (Sunday) - No pomodoros
17 February (Monday) - Start fresh, forget past day. 15 pomodoros. I had to work till late at night to put in a job application that I wanted to apply for.
18 February - 7 pomdoros. Meetings have a way of taking over time. I have to be watchful to make sure I get solid writing time each day.
So overall, since Monday, I have started waking up a bit more earlier. From December 29th onwards I've been waking up at 7.30 or 7.15. This waking up at a particular, precise time each day, alone made a big difference in how I approached my life.
Now I have moved that even earlier to 6.40am, over the past 3 days. It started off inadvertently but it feels really good to wake up and get 2 pomodoros done before I go off to work. It makes me feel like a productive person. I will
try andcontinue with it. Must get to bed earlier.14-15 February
No pomodoros :(
i didn't even do the one pomodoro that i have to do for saturday. I think somehow when I have gone off 'streak', I think there is less push to go for it.
I have to remember to start afresh. Each day, each moment is new.
@Thesis
Hang in there Thesis. So true each day each moment is new- its hard to remember some days though. I find on the hard days I can get paralysed with being super hard with myself and it stops the flow. Sending big hugs. See you in chatbox tomorrowxo
@ Jalla
Thank you for your kind words Jalla :) Hope you are well and doing great.
@ thesis
All ok this end dear thesis. Well done on getting that stress in check - its so important isn't it. Hope all your writing going great . Keep up the GREAT work. xoxo
12-13 February - What to do next time, and @InnerTruth
12 February - No pomodoro all day. I was at work and then I started procrastinating and it went on all day. Things I could have but did not do.
I could have moved away from the computer and meditated.
I could have taken a walk/walked up and down the stairs.
I could have radically moved my body energitically to get out of the mindspace I was in. I could have done some fist pumps or chest thumps which would have changed how I felt.
I could have asked myself empowering questions like - What sort of person do I want to be? What will happen if I decide to face my fears? If I keep striving to make myself a better person, where will that lead to? What will that destiny feel and look like? Do I really think a little bit of discomfort will affect me? I can face discomfort, but I will still be ok. What stories am i telling myself to feel this way? What is asking for attention within me right now? Where are the sensations in the body that I am trying to flee right now? What is true right now, in this very moment?
i could have sat down and observed myself and my thoughts and my feelings without acting out. i could have sat with them, mindfully and with compassion, without pushing them away.
I could have made space for my feelings to be placed in a larger awareness of lovingness and kindness, knowing that what I feel is the story of all creatures on this planet. We are fleeing discomfort and we are sometimes a bit neurotic. I could have smiled and observed myself with compassion.
13 February - 8 pomodoros. Thanks to Innertruth for showing me kindness and love on the forum. Your words lifted me, your kindness made me start and move forward. I was struggling till lunch and depserate and those few words of care really helped me take a few steps more and that carried me forward. So, Thank you! I also walked up and down the stairs instead of sitting on the table which reallyy helped.
In between pomodoros, I did some running on the spot and squats which was really good.
8-11 February
8 February (Sat) - No pomodoro. Was stressing all day about a job application. In the end, I didnt even do that one pomodoro I was supposed to do.
9 February (Sunday) - 2 pomodoros. In the end I did not apply for the job over the weekend when the deadline was. I chose not to.
10 February - 6 pomodoros. Work was sporadic and intermittent. At night I figured it was more important to sleep and be fresh for next day than try to get to 9. I wake up at 7,30everyday since Jan.
11 February - 10 pomodoros by end of the day at 11.30pm. Technically 10 pomodoros could have been finished by 5.30pm. But I had a deadline for a job application and because oif the deadline stress (and some uncertainty about casual teaching opportunity whcih has come up) I kept putting it off. But when I actually started doing it full on, it came easy. In the end I submitted the application before the end of the day, which was when the due date was. Note to self - I must write more about this thing about opprtunity and uncertainty scaring me.
5-7 February
5 - 9 pomodoros
6 - 9 pomodoros
7 Feb (Friday) - 3 pomodoros. Woke up with a stuffed nose and whenever I am not well phsycially, I use that to not do work properly. I hate stuffed noses, especially my own! I could have done more work but i didnt. I have to do work on saturday since i need to put in another job application. I will do 9 pomdoros tomorrow.
4th February
9 pomodoros. I really should get it done earlier in the day, rather than crawling through to the finish line.
I am reading The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness by Pema Chodron. It's about the mindfulness required to learn to stay with uncomfortable sensations. As someone said, procrastination is a mindfuless/mindlessness problem. It revels in the unexamined mind, the more we pay attention to our feelings and sensations that preceed and go on during the act of procrastination, the more we can learn to stay and ride it out.