Introductions and Procrastination Discussion

I'm posting this for two reasons:

1) To inspire and motivate those of you who are just beginning to address procrastination (I started seriously in January, and had been working my way up towards it for about a year or two before that);

2) To remind myself of this in case things go all pear-shaped again. I've recognised a pattern of procrastination/anticrastination in me - fortunately the procrastination phases are getting shorter and the anticrastination phases are getting longer. So if Future-Norm is reading this - REMEMBER WHAT THIS IS LIKE! You can make it happen again, Norm!

Hi all,

Might I say I love this website! I feel at home :)

My procrastination has plagued me all my life. Here's the punch at the end of a long story. I am a PROFESSIONAL ORGANISER! :jawdrop: Yes! So we are human after all...!

My procrastination manifests itself in an inability to complete things. I am okay starting things (and often do with gusto!). I am not a fan of the ADD tag, but I will say that I present with all the symptoms of adult ADD. I won't label myself that because I don't beleive in it as a disorder (no offense to those who do, it's just a belief of mine, I could be wrong!) just as a personality type.

Does anyone want to contribute to a list of SOLUTIONS that have worked for you to not procrastinate on schoolwork?

I don't mean the sort where you suddenly catch yourself and realise you've been at it again. I mean do you sometimes think "I don't know if this is procrastination or if there's another reason why this thing isn't done yet?"

A couple of things recently have brought this up for me, and it was my accounts and tax that sparked it off today. I'm very close to finishing my accounts and tax form for the last financial year (to April 2006).

I'm not quite sure if I've been genuinely too busy to finish them off and submit them - I have certainly been 'busy', but I don't know if I've genuinely been 'too busy'. Or is that just an excuse and I'm doing my usual trick of stopping at 98% of the job done?

Pro - how come my smileys aren't graphics?

What caught my attention about this site was the fresh-to-me idea of procrastination as another manifestation of an 'addictive personality'. I'd previously never categorized myself in this vein and it initially shocked me, but upon deeper reflection and considering my other behaviours I realized this may be a truthful correlation.
So now what? I think of myself as an addictive personality, wondering what other behaviours I'm prone to. Then what? Am I really going to find myself in a twelve step program? The stereotypes and cliches running through my head are overwhelming and really are hard to get over, but I must. Is anyone else at this point? Is a procrastinator going to fit in at an AA meeting or other addictive personality group meeting? Now, I guess I'm wondering, in my own independent way, if other procrastinators are or have done some soul searching/twelve-stepping on their own, and what their experience has been. How did you not just put off such a difficult task? What else can this site offer in terms of solutions and insights from others with the same problem- resolved or not? Thanks in advance for the responses.

I'm new here and so thankful for the site. I need help - procr is taking away my life. I'm a student - for years and years. Any students want to book end? Where should I start?

HI MosheFH
I just now checked the chat box and you had checked out just as I checked in!
Oh well. I looked at the chat logs and it does not appear that many people use it but it would have been fun.\
Welcome to the board.

I'm wondering if this is even vaguely familiar to anyone else. I've been to psychiatrists and they just say "That's interesting, never heard that one before." And then have no clue.

Essentially I can do almost anything OTHER THAN what I need to do. Even when the tasks are things that I really enjoy and would get a lot of reward for doing it, I'll find something, anything else, to occupy my time. It's gone on since childhood and of late gotten much worse. I present well at work and speak well. No one has noticed that I've done almost no productive work in a VERY long time. I can quickly get together some material and appear knowledgeable for a meeting, am very intelligent, and look successful.

I've been a procrastinator all my life. I do know why I do it (mostly perfectionism and not having a scheduled time that I have to work), but it's not helping much. I'm good about the little things, it's the big ones that I keep putting off.

I have 3 big projects this weekend: grade papers, huge, incredibly important work project, and clean. I thought I'd try spending a 1/2 hour on each, then take a break for the 4th half hour. But the problem came when I realized that if I did this, I would *only* get 2 hours of work done on the project if I followed the schedule for 8 hours. If I just worked on the project, I could put in a whole 8 hours.