Tag: procrastination

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Procrastination and Preparation

Nothing scares me more than looking into my calendar and seeing nothing concrete.

Nothing concrete gives procrastination an in, and once its in it likes to stay around.

The worst part about my personal procrastination is that I know how it works. I start to fall into a feedback loop, a cycle that involves Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, and Yahoo News.  Once I get through the entire loop, enough time has passed for each source to load up with information.

I’ve stuck to that loop for hours, and at the end, I look around and notice I got nothing accomplished. It’s procrastination hell, and I hate it.

Procrastination is a tough nut to crack.

I’ve recognized fear as one of the components that keep my procrastination going. This month, I’ve also recognized how preparation, or lack thereof, contributes.

When I don’t prepare, I lose the accountability. There is something about putting a date or appointment in my calendar that starts me down the road of getting things done.  Adding a to-do list helps even more. Accountability partners are a reason.

Getting through my procrastination requires some planning and preparation. Until recently, I was unaware of how linked they are.

One thing is clear, making time to scope things out, helps deal with procrastination.

 

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Your Future Self is like Santa Claus

I hate the future guy.

The future me is always doing the right things. He always gets the trash taken out. He always gets to work on time. He always makes the bed in the morning. My future self is always two steps ahead, getting things done without me.

I can never catch up. No one can. Your future self is far too good. He doesn’t falter, he doesn’t fail. Your future self is Santa Claus on steroids, instead of appearing once a year, he appears daily, a sack full of things to make us happy.

My biggest problem with the future self is the same problem I have with Santa Claus. It isn’t what the future self does in the future, it’s what he doesn’t do in the present. He makes a lot of promises for the future that he can’t keep. When the future self is ahead of schedule everything is fine, but once things get present, he is always somewhere else, attempting the next thing. It is nothing but a trap that keeps us where we are. The future self, and its running partner, procrastination, constantly find ways to get into your head.

Look, it always feels good to procrastinate. The future you is always ready to handle it. “You’ll get to it later” is like a panacea for all that ails you. I sit here and type this before a weekend where my future self scheduled to do a lot of things, and once again, I am almost ready to let him handle it.

The only thing that is stopping me is a thought. I think “what has your future self done in the present.” It worked this morning.  I am typing this post now when I generally would be eating takeout (In New York City it’s very easy to order breakfast) kicking my feet up and discussing nothing by text, waiting on the future self to handle it.

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The Siren Song of Procrastination

Procrastination is alluring. Just the idea of procrastination is relaxing. There is nothing more pacifying than setting the task into the future.For me, it is a siren song into tomorrows work, keeping me still while I continue being comfortable. For example,I catch the procrastination bug often while sitting and playing a video game. It gives me the opportunity to tell myself that I will take care of a task later. Later can mean many things, although, whether it means next week, tomorrow, or even after this next auto save isn’t of much consequence. The important part is I do not have to do the task now, and I can relax. It is an easy battle to lose.

What makes that battle with procrastination interesting is that it takes different forms. Usually, it is pure procrastination, when the brain decides there isn’t any tricks to play. It just sinks into the procrastination and you get to go on your merry way. Sometimes, however, the brain can get extra tricky. It can purpose tools meant to help us stay on track, such as to-do lists, to aid in the procrastination. I have had a list of to-do items that have made no movement. It is a way for us to confuse action with progress. Marking something as on the to-do list and moving forward is an easy trap to fall for. I can find myself deep in this sometimes,looking at my  past ‘any.do’ experiment is a testament to that. The app is a graveyard, filled with tasks that could have been.

The biggest issue with procrastination is that it relies on a future self. The future self is the trap. It is a trickster meant to keep us comfortable. Procrastination isn’t a passive feeling, it takes constant awareness. It takes an active mind. There are opportunities to make the most of what we have, but it takes us getting through the comfortable and to deal with the now, instead of tomorrow.

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Keep Reminders Around

Procrastination is funny.

It never seems to be around, until it is.

I woke up this morning, and I have a stack of work in front of me, a morning workout a head of me, and some research I could be doing – but instead I found myself really interested in Facebook and toying with my tablet.

At work I have reminders in front of me to keep me on task – but since I am in pittsburgh for the week – no such luck.

Guess I should write one :-).

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Procrastination Networking

My arm hurts.

Its funny how procrastination can sting you when you feel that wall in front of you.

We all know that wall of self doubt.

I have been doing well with this blog lately. Every day I have been banging out 300 words. Output is increasing – and my mind is growing. I tried to throw litany into this post (I did there) but in context before I realized that maybe I am going too far.

This is a good place to be. I think. But then I still have this feeling of procrastination waiting right behind me.

Everything tells me to stop, but I have to keep going. There is a story to tell, but it isn’t going to go out until I get used to getting out feelings once a day.

I am feeling good about networking this week. My spot last night went very well, and instead of going home, I connected with comics at Caroline’s and at the Comic Strip. I met two comics from DC, and I gave them some spots.

I didn’t do this in exchange for anything more than friendship. I don’t want them to owe me. I just want to build relationships.

That Ari Shaffir Youtube – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k43XcdlO22s is worth looking at if you want to make it in show business – or any business for that matter. I don’t know if he knows it, but his discussion on topics like this sound like the same things I hear in business all the time.

Business is business – networking is a part of it. We build ourselves up. Open yourself up to things. A lot of things in there that make a ton of sense.

I hope I can keep this attitude going. I felt helpful last night, and it felt it reciprocated.

Another 16/8 down BTW. I still hope red bull doesn’t ruin this.
3 joyful things are logged.
8 Seconds of Water
1 Red Bull Before leaving.
1 Blog Post down.

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