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.

Special Projects and Master Lists

This forum is for checking in on the progress of large, multi-day projects like a thesis or catching up on tax returns. It's also a good place for master to-do lists, gratitute lists, New Year's resolutions, and other non-daily items.

Essay Do It Now

6 November, 2013 - 1:49pm - dotnow

1. Read what I have       1/2 hour
DONE

2.  Decide on additional reading if any  15 minutes
DONE

3.  Collate writing to date   15 minutes

4.  find more books 15 mins
STARTED

5 read them and take notes 2 hours  DONE

6 write it 1 hour

7 edit 2 hours

8. write a note   <15mins 

9 get address  <15 mins

10 stamp it   < 15 mins

11 mail it    < 15 mins

Total 7 hours

work as fast as you can  1-6 222

A new approach for dealing with fears/avoidance: turning them into Questions

27 October, 2013 - 10:52am - RisingUp

Hi, I'm popping in again to share an approach that my Higher Power gave me to deal with my fears once and for all.

FEAR (Face Everything and Recover). For example, my ongoing fears about getting a new job, since my current one is not adequate for my needs.

I'm finally aware that facing everything will actually dispel these fears. But I have to do it in a way that I can handle, breaking it down. 

So, this approach is as follows: 

Rexroth Special Project Writing Travelling Trekking

20 October, 2013 - 4:53am - Rexroth

PLAN FOR NEXT SIX MONTHS NOW UNTIL MIDAPRIL 2014

For the last few weeks I have not been very well with respiratory infections following a cold. I have felt frustrated and have not got on with very much. Also I’ve been worried first about old tax problems and then about buying a flat. Both of these are now handed over and appropriate professionals are dealing with them. By particular dates I shall need to ask them how they are getting on. For the moment I need to forget about them.

It is a Big World. Why not try these things?

2 September, 2013 - 6:11pm - Gwen D

My friend just drove a car around the world. So there's that.

If I live according to my stated philosophy of looking at options and choosing to go toward what I might regret the least, I might take advantage of an opportunity that seems to be before me. I might go toward getting my Masters in Datascience. Hah! 

Help: graduate writing

28 August, 2013 - 8:03pm - slowpoke

Hi guys, I am back b/c I am so desperate! I've not written any new content for a particular paper for several weeks and cannot stand living like this anymore. 

Yet, even when I come to the library and sit down to look at it, even putting my fingers on the keyboard, I can't seem to make enough sense of the words I've written to have it in a proper order on the page.

I know there are those here who have accomplished incredible feats of bravery in facing writing and other tasks - help :( I don't know what else to say!

Conquering Car Maintenance Avoidance: An Ongoing Tale

25 August, 2013 - 12:32pm - RisingUp

Hi PA friends,

I'm starting this thread to journal my experience with severe avoidance/procrastination of maintaining my car. 

This is a problem I've had my entire adult life, and it never goes away, never gets better, only seems to get worse with age (of both me and my car). 

I want to chronicle what I'm going through and why, and if you share the same type of avoidance for something that seems overly scary, feel free to post here too. 

 

The situation: 

Speeding up routine tasks (or preventing them altogehter)

1 August, 2013 - 1:43am - riddled

In this thread, I hope people will share some tips & tricks on how to do routine tasks faster, or find ways to avoid them altogether. Maybe a bit like lifehacker.com, but concentrating on tasks really necessary for survival. No "how to make a nice seasonal window decoration faster" - that's for people who have no other problems. For us procrastinators, that's the sort of thing we should never, ever even think about before, for example, having completed our tax declaration.

Hypatia's 2013 records project

25 July, 2013 - 5:43am - Hypatia

I feel as if I'm back where I was early last year, only this time I don't really have an excuse, and the backlog is worse.  I'm starting having some counselling and at least I'm not as seriously non-functional as I was during my severe depression last summer.

I've got 48 groups of reports to complete (I can't even face counting how many individual ones).  The plan is that I do two groups every time I have an admin half-day, with a target of completion before I go on holiday on 4th September, which is what I've told the boss and my counsellor.

Prometheus's Master List

18 June, 2013 - 10:55pm - Prometheus

Hi everyone,

So let's begin with a statement of purpose.  I, Prometheus, want to devote my life to my values.  I believe there is a correct way to live.  And that it includes, honesty, kindness, friendship, happiness.  And that harm will be left where it has been done.  I do not want to contribute to the pain that is already present in this world, since there is already enough of it.  I have been procrastinating for years.  It does not matter.  Each and everyday will be a struggle.  A struggle to live a life in accordance to the inner voice.

Starting Where I am

12 May, 2013 - 4:03pm - allovertheplace

Cultivating awareness and mindfulness. Working to be mindful of behaviours that embody criticism, frustration, annoyance, perfectionism. Taking care of myself. Accepting what is and where I am. Recognizing difficulty, discomfort, joy, happiness without attaching to them. This may help with the tendency to procrastinate for emotional reasons. Just keep swimming. Just keep starting, wherever I am. 

allovertheplace 

 

 

Transitioning into "summer"

8 May, 2013 - 8:40am - LizzieT

My semester is over.  Yayyy!  No more school work until Fall--some internship activities in August.  Between now and then, I can work on all those things I put off.  But wait!  I don't like doing all the things I put off.  If I liked doing them, I'd have squeezed them in somehow.  Furthermore, last summer, I didn't get them done either.  I suspect that every time I thought about doing stuff, I found something else that I liked better.  Anything else.  Read.  Sit-and-stare.  Pick my nose. Anything!

Post-thesis 2013 Achievement and Self-Development Log

29 April, 2013 - 9:53am - thesis

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.

daily tasks

10 April, 2013 - 8:42am - vic

I am going to keep my "running tab"  here for myself, so as notto lose papers, etc. this way I can revise and remember whatI planned,/did because I do notlike to "hang out" on cb


Demessifying Life, the Universe, and Everything

18 March, 2013 - 4:25am - riddled

... is, of course, something I will never manage. I chose the title because most aspects of my life are such a mess that I don't know which one to pick. Also, I can't just say: "Ok, I'll start with demessifying my flat, and ignore all tax matters until that is done!", or "I won't do any physical exercise until my job training is finished!" - I have to work on most of them simultaneously. I started this thread to help me keep track of the whole process.

I plan to post here mainly when/if:

Innertruth's back taxes

14 March, 2013 - 2:51pm - InnerTruth

I've been in a funk for a while because of financial problems and have become almost immobilized. Started the arduous process of going through my files and bags of paper looking for receipts to do my taxes back to 2008. In the past two days, I've gone through four bags of paper, sorting out old bills.

National Boards (Goal date May 11, 2013)

2 March, 2013 - 1:39pm - hope-faith

Back on the Trail in March -aotp

2 March, 2013 - 11:45am - allovertheplace

Some big things happening in March. 

February seemed like a lot of survival, and a lot of Pinterest. (Stay away if you can!)

So into March, a priority I definitely would like to focus on:

prioritizing.

Still struggling with master thesis and guilt

28 February, 2013 - 2:17am - an4ever

 

feb. 28th, 2013 

LizzieT Spring Semester planning--yikes!

24 February, 2013 - 3:01pm - LizzieT

Week of Feb 24-Mar1

For Ethics class:  Sunday, update log for Friday's class; Monday, write process record. Note Prelim paper is due Mar 15, 2 wks. 

Reading for Ethics, Thurs or Fri before class

For Adolescents Class:  Reading as possible, Sun-Wed.  Thurs, comment on blackboard. Annotated bibliography due on 5 weeks.  Start next week. 

For Trauma class:

Paper Due on Friday 

Already done: A bunch of potential references gathered.

Edge's Life Master Plan

24 February, 2013 - 6:23am - Edge

I'm replacing the old project with a new one. Over the past year I've moved out from my parents' place to try learning how to be a productive, responsible and functioning adult. It has worked to a mild degree, but I've begun to regress once again. If I list everything that needs fixing in my life I'd be overwhelmed, so instead I'm going to be gradually building new habits to replace destructive old ones.

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