Introductions and Procrastination Discussion

After failing to complete my list of tasks the other day, I noticed something that stopped me in my tracks. I began listening to the words coming out of my mouth and I realized for the first time (in a long time) how very negative I am about myself when it comes to failing to follow through.

To many procrastinators, (okay, I guess to all of us), the idea of failing to follow through can be the greatest blow to our self esteem because the idea is, that the big "F" word, (failure) is what we become. It wouldn't be such a big problem if it stopped there, although thinking bad thoughts about ourselves is very bad too; but actually hearing our own mouths tell us what schmucks we are because we didn't get all of our lists done is a sin against our own souls.

I have only recently admitted to myself, that the long chain of broken promises, unfinished projects and disappointments are a direct result of my ongoing love affair with procrastination. Indeed, when the reality of it was made painfully obvious to me, I became physically ill and began shaking and weeping uncontrollably.

You may wonder why I took so long to see what was obvious to others. Procrastination is an addiction that is just as deceptive as the alcoholic. As one who has battled this affliction for 44 years, I can honestly say, as Dr. Samuel Johnson so eloquently stated, "the chains of habit are too weak to be felt, until they are too strong to be broken".

But I am discovering, (as many of you have also discovered), that my daily single acts of "action" are like small strikes of an axe across the base of a mighty Redwood or Oak tree. One strike may mean nothing to this behemoth habit of procrastination, but the daily striking at the roots, even though they seem insignificant, eventually topple the biggest tree. I have begun my own unique approach to swinging my daily axe. I am sure many of you have already discovered what I am about to say, but it is making a big difference in my life already.

The first thing I do of course is to list my priorities, but I do this as Steven Covey would say, according to my "Roles". For instance, as a father, one of my priorities is to speak with all of my grown children at least 5 minutes weekly, since they all live in other states. As a husband, I may want to date my wife weekly. As an employee, I may have a goal of making one additional sales call a day or arriving on time at the office at least twice a week.

We all have different roles in our lives. If you are a woman, you may have the roles of daughter, mother, wife, sister, in addition to the roles you have in the secular world of employee, board member, soccer mom driver, and so on. If you are a man, you have the corollary roles of son, father, husband, brother, employee, deacon, coach, etc. In EACH of these roles, you have the opportunity to take several strikes with your axe daily. My daily priority list or "to do" list looks like this:

ROLES

Son            Call Mom and wish her Happy birthday (84 years!)
Husband:    Meet Mimie at Olive Garden at 6:30 on Tuesday for date.
Brother:      Call and tell Greg I'll be over to help with clearing brush Saturday

I know we're all here because we're having issues with productivity, but some things are working for us.  Post in this thread something that is working in your life, something you are proud of. 

Now don't say nothing's working, because you wouldn't be here if you weren't making an effort to improve!  If you can't think of anything else, pat yourself on the back for being here and reading this post. 

I'll start -

I've learned to get up early, I get up at 5 am most days and I used to be a lazy layabed. 

Its been quite a while (more than 4 months) since I last posted and................ well, I don't really have anything particular to say - I just wanted to speak out to people who understand the sort of things I'm going through. Hi again everybody.

To really briefly summarise what's happened since I first started to recognise my problem - Things were really bad, but then I made great effort to change and became much better - a totally different person i'd say. But then I went back to uni again, and lost the battle under pressure. So here I am now - for the last month, I've felt completely hopeless and I mean completely hopeless. I've lost my appetite (and I'm normally a big eater), stopped sleeping naturally (I've been forcing myself to sleep by staying up through the night into the next afternoon when I crash out) and worst of all I've stopped trying. I've stopped trying.....

Hi,

I procrastinate chronically and generally, in many areas of my life. This has caused me a lot of grief and disappointment, and to those around me. After reading some of the material on the site, the description of procrastination as addictive behavior resonates very much.

This seems like an amazing resource. I'll be doing the bookending, I hope.

kaoba

Major procrastinator, here.   Probably have ADD, but undiagnosed and untreated.

I'm looking to reduce procrastination in a big way.  

Hello to all fellow procrastinators!

Hello all!   :-)

I'm Katherine, and I'm a student at MIT in biology and computer science. I procrastinate terribly--I'm going to be about a month late finishing my senior project, and most of my grad school applications have been getting in on the day before they're due. No matter how much work I have to do, I will put it off until the last second (usually by reading really stupid stuff online). I get really really frustrated with myself but can't seem to stop.

I've been doing this since the beginning of high school...I've gotten by until now because classes come pretty easily to me, but now that I'm doing projects etc. it's just not working for me anymore. Not to mention that my finances are a mess, my fridge is full of moldy sandwiches, etc.

You should all check out Remember the Milk, or RTM. It's basically a fancy to-do list, but with a clean, fast, interface. It'll be clear once you sign up and play around with it, so try it out!

For those of you who use Twitter or Launchy, you can integrate both with RTM.

Today I will end up failing a biology course for the second time and failing a class this year is not anything new to me.::sad:: I'm at the point where I am absolutely tired of unintentionally repeating the same old habits.

Various professors and counselors had advised me to take some time off of college to find my source of real motivation.

But... I don't think motivation is the issue. I think my fear of being overwhelmed is.

As a chronic procrastinator, I have an addiction to coping with stress by browsing the internet and a couple of particular forums. And I direly want to overcome this habit.

Hey all,

My name is Janet and I've been a procrastinator for as long as I can remember.  Take this group for instance.  I've been a member for several weeks now, but I've been putting off posting.  At least I'm in the right place.  I'm looking forward to using the tools here and all of your experiences to make a real difference in my life.  Procrastination affects all the areas of my life and I'm tired of the hurry up and get things done or the guilt because I didn't get something done when I was supposed to.  Thanks for listening.