Introductions and Procrastination Discussion

I'm whipped. I was dropped from a biology class today for not making up an absence assignment. Thirteen weeks gone up in smoke. I could give you the details but I'd only end up making some excuse for my being withdrawn.
I have been in community college for two years and have just skated along. The procrastination and organization problems are staring me in the face now. I know what I want but sabatoge myself. I can't blame anyone but myself.

Hi, I'm Rita and I have been searching the web since about 10pm (it's now 3 am)looking desperately for answers to what is wrong with me. I've been feeling out of my mind periodically for months, and today was horrible - sunk in depression punctuated by terror, way beyond anxiety, about the work I am NOT getting done when I feel like this...helpless and hopeless. I could not really find a name for what was wrong, just this dread about the fact that I have no concept of time at all and can't get a grip on time, that time is some mysterious powerful enemy I cannot master no matter how smart I am or how hard I try.

I would like to ask any members if they find the computer to be a major distraction for them and a reason for their procrastination. I know that having grown up with computers (my first was a Commodore 64) that I have always almost 'hidden' behind them. I'm going through my 'looking back phase' here but they have always been a reason for me to remain stationary and away from society. I used to game but never really had anybody to play with so i'd zone out and chop heads off until the evening! Since then if I haven't been 'learning' about computers i've been sitting in front of them to 'design' web sites and the like. I do it only because I can and I went to design college so I don't like the thought of my education going to waste (another story!) I don't know if really I should be in employment that involves me communicating with people more. I enjoy talking to people on the phone and tend to be spurred on by the environment I am in.

I've been to Squalor Survivors and Reclaiming Dignity over the last few years because of my hoarding troubles and while I've made considerable progress I seemed to have plateaued. It's been horribly frustrating, but now I think I've finally found the problem. Chronic procrastination. And of course the truth is that I've clearly known that all along.

Does anyone else here have troubles with simply keeping house because of this? And I mean to a pretty dramatic degree?

Hope this is the right forum for introductions..

My name is Ben. I'm a student in Newfoundland, Canada.

I just wanted to say to Pro, first of all, thanks and congratulations for making this site. I've just started looking at it now (got here from a Wikipedia link).

I'd categorize my own procrastination as chronic though maybe not severe. I'm pretty functional, but it always (10+ years) dogs me and cuts into my productivity. I've started to think about it more because I'm leaning towards doing more academic work which involves lots of writing.. which I've always had a really hard time with. Especially because my father was a writer and struggled with procrastination his whole life. Figure I better tackle this now or else...

Hi,
I'm really struggling, and I need help...badly. For the past two years, I have had a tremendous battle with procrastination, especially when it comes to school. I think I've always been a person that puts things off, but it never became as pronounced as it did until these last two years. I was getting straight A's in the "easy" classes, despite my procrastination, because the work load was simply undemanding. So I thought, hey, I must be smart enough to take on more challenging classes, so I did. My course work was full...but I just wasn't doing as well as I had...and I'm not doubting my abilities, because I'm very much able, I just almost always distract myself with something else. I mean, at first, I thought it was just like any other feeling a person gets when he/she just isn't up to doing involved Calculus or Lit papers, but after reading some posts on this site, I recognize everything that I've been doing for the past two years. For instance, when there's a long, involved reasearch paper due, for which I have months to complete, I don't start freaking out until the week before its due, and then don't actually attempt it until two nights, or THE night before. On almost every assignment I have, I tell myself, "I'll do it after this." or "I'll just take a nap, and then finish." When people ask me, "Did you turn in that paper?" I'll lie and say, "It was a close one, but I got it done." When really, I've barely started, and then try to make up reasonable excuses for why its late. "I emailed it to you, why didn't you recieve it? Oh I must have messed up the address...I'll send it again." And then I'll rush home hoping an extra 24 hours will do the trick. Even though I've become more determined to beat this, it always seems to beat me. Its even affect timed tests, where I can't think of a word, or a perfect phrase, and I stop to think, or cross out for at least 1/2 my time, if not more. By the time I'm done, my whole paper is a mess of what looks like censor boxes, and inserts, even though my thoughts are often very complex, and very intelligent. My grades this year are even worse than the previous year, although I try harder. It's really frustrating, and gets me extremely depressed, making me feel like a failure, and that I don't even deserve to be in school. How do I cope with this? And even when I learn to cope, is this condition serious enough that I could explain it to those that will be judging my grades, and hope that they will allow me enough time to get control of this before they decide on my capabilities?

I guess procrastination is similar to addiction in how people justify it, how they can't control it, and how they hide it from others. Personally I've been lying about stuff for years, sometimes making up big stories, so that I don't have to explain why I didn't do something. Lots of the time I lie and say I did something that I didn't do, mainly with on-going long-term projects. I find it much easier than explaining why I didn't do something. I don't know why I didn't do it, I just couldn't. There is no rational explanation to give to co-workers, family, and friends. So I lie.

Hi fellow procrastinators.

I am a chronic procrastinator in many aspects of life. I have recently taken interest in the problem, and started reading some books and articles. I implemented some tips that helped me to an extent; mostly time management stuff.

I find it helpful to break a task to small pieces and schedule my work on each piece by itself. The problem is that although these habits help, I still get into mental blocks from time to time (for example, if I finished the work I planed for the day, and still have time at work, I almost never manage to bring myself to start working on new stuff).

I've been so on time for two appointments recently (no small thanks to this website) that I thought I was in the wrong place!

I had a real panic about the second one, because I'd organised it, and momentarily wondered if I'd got it all wrong, and told people the wrong date/time/place. No, I was just first one there. What a strange feeling. I quite like it - I'm definitely motivated to cultivate this being early/on time thing.

Some friends of mine have procrastination issues too, although none as virulent as mine. But we've been discussing the issues and one of the things that came up is that we aren't late because we don't understand time, exactly. It's more subtle than that. We actually have a very keen sense of time. So much so that we can almost subconsciously whittle down the amount of time we allot for a task so that it comes in under the wire every time. We call this the "Remaining Minutes" factor.

We've noticed that somehow we have a running time clock that reallly understands how many minutes there are to do the job, and how much longer it is likely to take, but we refuse to finish ahead of time, instead, doing anything BUT the task at hand up until the last possible minute before we sense that we won't make it within an acceptable time.