**me**
Here it is December and I'm so far behind on my bookkeeping for the business. There is a drawer full of papers that need filed before I can start. Today is a snow day so I should get started on it.....we'll see.
**me**
Here it is December and I'm so far behind on my bookkeeping for the business. There is a drawer full of papers that need filed before I can start. Today is a snow day so I should get started on it.....we'll see.
Float On: My "Happy Place" is on my little kayak in the coves of Table Rock Lake.
Well it helps ALOT that I purposely have very few things that I actually need to do. Makes getting things done fast much much easier :-)!Originally Posted by catherine
One thing I personally have found in procrastinators is that they seem to have a huge amount of projects that they work on - often all at the same time and many of them, from my point of view, seemingly to be both unneccesary and in some ways an excuse to not actually get things done. I see this in my procrastinator sister all the time. She is always adding more stuff to an already over burdened life and seems to use it as an excuse ("just have too much to do, read, write, go thru, etc...") to never work on or finish any one thing. I think this is called something in psychology but can't remember what. Maybe just plain old "avoidance".
Multi-tasking also seems to fall into this - working a little bit on a lot of stuff seems to keep people from actually finishing (or even starting) a task. Also the endless "getting set up" before tackling something. The moving of piles of paper, setting up elaborate work areas, etc... Again, from my perspective it is a way of putting off actually doing a task. My advice to her was just to try to limit her projects and activities down to as few as possible and then work on one at a time until it is finished before moving on to the next thing. Clear off the workspace and keep it that way. Use it for that one project only and don't add it it or move stuff around or re shuffle and start all over again. All these things get in the way of actually completing - or starting - a project.
And probably the biggest thing I see about procrastinators is that they are perfectionists. Everything has to be "just right" or they are unsatisfied. It seems they won't start a project unless conditions are "right" to begin (and of course they never are :-)!) and once hey do begin they seem to spend a large amount of time going over and over the project, making adjustments and changes to get it perfect. Us speedy people generally don't fuss with things much or multi-task or create perfect set ups. We just do something fast and call it "good 'nuf!!" :-)!
Absolutely. I totally agree. DH is like me, and he had a "doer" of an assistant--boy, she was great. He'd tell her to contact sales leads and get appointments. Well, she wasted no time thinking about it, or even checking spelling or accuracy in her emails. DH was aghast because he would have spent a day just getting a sales letter "just right" but Maria just pounded them out, and as a result they were constantly following up on the sales calls Maria got. How many sales calls did DH get with his "perfect" emails? Hmmm...
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
* waving madly * yep, me too!
My name is Lin, and I am a procrastinator. It works for me, waiting till I absolutely HAVE to accomplish something.....to accomplish it.
My pet theory is that there are two kinds of people in this world: those who need/have to stay busy all day every day, and accomplish goals; and those who don't. I am in the latter category.
It also keeps me in the Simple Living category. For me, Simple Living means a little bit of procrastination.....living the life, instead of.....feeling I have go go Go GO all the time.....
ITA with what Spartana said about perfection. I procrastinate badly, too, and when I discover I am doing it, I try asking myself what I'm afraid of, why I'm procrastinating. Usually it is because either a) I'm afraid I will make a mistake, or 2) there's some factor (like a personal relationship conflict) I'm avoiding. Sometimes it's because I'm feeling overwhelmed because due to being a procrastinator, my projects pile up.
So....lots of self-talk, pumping myself up, visioning what it will look/feel like to have the project done...usually helps.
My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already!
Ha Ha - these are my feelings exactly but from the other perspective. I want to get the "chores" out of the way asap so I can then go "live the life" of play, play, play or relax, relax, relax, or do-nothing, do-nothing, do-nothing without that worry and nagging feeling of tasks left undone (oh how I hate that nagging feeling) hanging over my head. Get stuff done, get the monkey off the back, and then breath a sigh of relief at all that freedom and time you have for yourself.
Spartana: These are all of the reasons I procrastinate. I feel like I just went to a psychologist or something. My husband does one task at a time and accomplishes so much more than me. I have a lot of projects going on and lots of ideas and yet, I never finish many projects. Yours and my DH's methods are obviously great. Also, I do watch you efficient people and you just do it. You don't mull it over like us procrastinators. I have been from restaurant to restaurant to work to home trying to find the perfect place/feeling to correct papers and get little done until the last minute and then I bulldoze through and wonder why I didn't do it earlier. MY LESSON: Just do it. Quit fretting. Sit down and get it done, one project at a time. We should have a follow up threat next month! Thanks for the observations. I hope they change me life, even a little. The procrastination causes a lot of stress in so many ways--work, home, finances, friends, etc.
Well I have vast experience because my sister, who I share a house with, is the world' greatest procrastinator "-)! She's also a pack rat so I wonder if the two go hand in hand? I do see all her stalling techniques so am probably more familiar with them then even she is. She is a perfectionist and does a beautiful job on anything she tackles, but getting her to start and be even moderately speedy is impossible. Not too long ago we painted our dining room. We did it in all white - walls, ceiling, trim - so we could do it easily and with minimal hassle with no taping or prep work involved (my suggestion of course :-)!). Yet she only did one corner of the room in the same amount of time it took me to completely paint the rest - including ceilings. And while it was a beautiful corner, it didn't look all that much different from my "slap the paint on" job. But again, I think being a procrastinator has a lot of merits to it so don't see it as always a negative thing. And of course my sister, by procrastinating, got me to do almost all the paint job. Hmmm... me suspects extreme sneakiness rather than procrastination on her part. And I fell for it. DOH!
I haven't read through this thread yet, but I wanted to put this little insight I made about myself recently.....
I figured out I often use procrastination as a tool to help me par things down & make quick decisions.
I will let big project and my 'Big Ideas' linger on & on & on and then at about the 11th hour - it's GO TIME Baby!
I love the rush, I love the excitement, I love the adrenaline of making something happen lickety split.
NOT a good way to live especially when it stresses out those around me -- i.e. packing for family trips last minute, etc.
That is my modus operandi for sure. I've learned to pace myself with report-writing, however, because writing is like farming--you can't just harvest the day after you sow--at least I can't.
But almost everything else is definitely a last minute adrenaline rush, and unfortunately (or fortunately, because otherwise one of us might kill the other), DH is the exact same way, and we've just learned to accept it. We do 80% of our home improvements two days before we have a big party, for instance. We buy 80% of our Christmas presents two days before Christmas. We do 80% of our cleaning 2 hours before our guests arrive.
I guess it's the Procrastinator's version of the Pareto Principle.
"Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
www.silententry.wordpress.com
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