for a long time. no, really.
anyone found a way to cut back on this stupid behavior? I say this as someone who JUST did some stuff that could have and should have been done DAYS ago. it would have made the last few days much easier and it only took about 30 minutes.
I hate it that I put off doing things that* I actually want to get done*. anyone have a good strategy? tell me now, don’t put it off!
I always had felt that procrastination had contributed to my first divorce. After my divorce I was bent on changing that aspect of my personality. I started using lists and haven’t looked back. I look at my list each day and estimate the time and importance of each asignment and go from there. The most important thing is being committed to simply act and do. My biggest struggle is getting things out in the mail when packaging is involved. I started using mailbox services even though I know it is just laziness on my part. Now I am known as someone who gets things done, it does feel good!
Some days I have to promise myself a “reward” to do something I’ve been putting off. That can be a chocolate bar, more time on the Dope later, getting cuddly with Madame Pepperwinkle, staying up later than usual to read more, etc. It doesn’t always work for me, and YMMV.
I can see where it could get out of hand and actually lead to divorce: it’s so dysfunctional.
I have tried lists..I have also tried the reward thing, to various results.
the commitment thing I try & when I don’t live up to promises I made to myself I feel very bad. I believe this is the key to the whole thing, I need to be able to trust myself and so far I don’t.
I want to feel like you do!
If you ever figure it out, I’d love to hear about it.
I pretty much always come home to a sink full of dishes the my GF used either before I got home or the night before, and literally the second I finish washing them, she’ll walk in and go, “I was just about to do that!” Rather than wipe off a plate or rinse out a cup, she’ll dump the “used” one in the sink and get a clean one.
Now, in my younger days I would procrastinate on stuff I didn’t want to do, like school assignments, so I do “get it,” however what I don’t understand is the procrastination of things that are easy.
When you toss that plate in the sink and walk away without so much as just pouring some water on it, you’re trading 10 seconds of minimal effort for 30 minutes of work scrubbing dishes sometime in the future. What’s wrong with right now? I’ve tried explaining this to my GF hundreds of times, I still can’t get through to her. I’m not asking her to write a 20 page term paper, I just want her to reuse that goddamn fork! I don’t even need her to wash her dishes, I just want her to pour some water into them so the shit doesn’t dry onto it while it sits in the sink all goddamn day, and somehow even that is too much effort.
Lists and schedules.
I know I get my hair cut the first Saturday of the month. Before I put this into MS Outlook as a reminder I would often go so long between haircuts that people would comment.
I have reminders to pay bills, buy birthday presents, lots of stuff really. I know as long as I do the tasks I’m reminded of as soon as I’m reminded I’ll stay on track and out of trouble (mostly).
Here’s a big vote for lists. I cured my procrastination habit by writing lists, and crossing things off constantly. No chore is too little, and the big ones I break down into little bits.
As for the reward idea, my reward is the crossing off of things on my list. And if my current list has 19 of 20 things crossed off, I can take a long hard look at that last one and see if it’s needs further definition before moving it to the top of my new list.
I find when I don’t have a list, I watch alot of useless crap on TV or surf the internet mindlessly. Usually while drinking. Making, and crossing off, the list keeps my brain in a nice “man, I am getting shit DONE today” state.
If you’re able to measure your procrastination in days, you’re in good shape. Really disordered people (like me) put things off for months, even years. No good reason to put it off; I just don’t get around to doing it, forget about it, choose to do something else.
The one thing I have found that works for me when I absolutely have to get something done in a timely fashion is this: I put up a white board on the bedroom wall right where I’ll see it when I first get out of bed and write a small selection of tasks on it at night before I go to bed, usually just one or two items. (Waking up to a long list of stuff just makes me feel overwhelmed.) Seeing it there immediately upon arising somehow makes it easier for me to head for those particular objectives from the very start. It’s almost like it keeps me from putting something else (video games, TV shows, my new book) ahead of them because I see those items first.
Things hung on walls gradually become invisible. It’s a proven fact. If it doesn’t have a motion sensor and some mechanism such that it lunges at you when triggered, it’s useless.
Not all procrastinators are lazy people even though procrastination is a sign of laziness. A procrastinator simply has never experienced the chemical rewards our body gives us when we do things in a timely manner. Do things before they are pressing or staring you in the face and the reward is intensified. Start off small, keep your computer desk organized at all times.
Clean your dishes after each meal, either clean or get your car cleaned every week. Do a walk through before you leave each day, lights off, nothing just laying around etc. It takes a bit of discipline at first but once the good chemicals start to kick in it gets easier and you can go on to slightly bigger things.
I have found that what I do in the morning sets the tone for the day. If I start first thing in the a.m. with some task, be it ever so small, I’m more likely to go on to another task, and another, etc.
I’m also big on lists. At work, I keep a list which I email to myself. I add, subtract, update throughout the day, and send it to myself before I leave. In the morning, I open and read that email first.
Lately, I also number the list items in order of importance. Without numbering, I will putz around with the easy items until I don’t have time to start on the big bad ones.
Also, if I have been putting off, say, making a phone call and then I actually do it, a lot of times I find that the thing that created so much anxiety only takes like ten minutes to solve. Then I do this: :smack:
I am not a procrastinator so my advice might not suit but I have a decision tree.
Will this take longer than writing it down to do later? No. Just do it.
Yes. Write it down to do later.
The key is that you have to do everything on the list before you can do anything fun.
Huh. I still look at it every morning, and it’s been in the same spot for 3 years. I know because I’ve been planning on moving it.
I wasn’t sure that would make sense. The fact that it didn’t is good sign. 
Cut back on procrastination? Sounds like more work than it’s worth.