Has anyone managed to defeat the Ba$TaRd that is procrastination?

[flashbac]

Sorry for swearing but it really is a B@$t@r#!

Help!

I meant I don’t procrastinate when it comes to snacking. Pretty fast at that.

@RainyAfternoon

Agree withFiep. There was something on the radio about this the other day. Someone has managed to write a whole book based on a 15minute timer theory. Set a timer for 15 mins, do something to start. Then stop at 15min. Have a break doing something else, then do the 15minute thing again, repeat until really in the swing of it. Someone else managed to write a book on a countdown theory. (I’m fascinated on how people get book deals on relatively thin ideas!) Basically, if you are procrastinating you need to countdown from 5 and when you get to 1 you just get up and start. That is less convincing to me!

These are both good ideas. The countdown builds anticipation. 15 minute timer...everyone can do 15 mins.

Lists is my contribution. A lot of people make a ritual out of procrastination.

Hello fellow procrastinators.
This has been a lifelong problem for me. Leaving everything till last minute Incl exam revision, being late constantly, even going to bed.

I did read something while ago that did help but I’ve slipped out of the habit: dont worry about finishing but just keep starting.
I’ve written it clumsily.

I did try this. Just started - even if it was several starts. And it did work.

((Currently sat on the sofa watching neighbours whilst chaos ensues))

Nope! 5 hours I've been just going to hoover in a minute, now I need to go out.

Oh I'm expert at this, always have been. I'm a thrive under pressure type, I know that sounds wanky but unless there's a huge deadline looming above me I don't get anything done. Thankfully I manage to pull it out of the bag and my career revolves around deadlines.

Couldn't ever be late for anything though, I'm fastidiously early.

I am TERRIBLE for this. I have temporal lobe epilepsy and recently discussed it with my epilepsy nurse in the hope she'd tell me it's a symptom and therefore 'not my fault...'

She said loads of adult women (particular those with neurological conditions) have undiagnosed ADD. They're often far less diagnosed than men because they mask better.

Super interesting now I've done some reading about it. I'm not bothered enough to chase a diagnosis but it would explain a lot about my procrastination, racing thoughts and flat out task avoidance.

I'm going to have to come back to you on this.

Me me! Depends on the reason for the procrastination though. For me, anti-anxiety meds have been life changing and now I’m actually doing all the things I wanted to and put off for the whole of my 20s. Much more functional day to day too. Therapy too.

placemarking

Also yeah, my lists were mental (literally). I haven’t written a list for months (other than general admin tasks for one day). I would spend ages making lists and organising them, I found a stash of them the other day and it was so overwhelming reading them back. I always overwhelmed myself into doing nothing, rather than just actually doing SOMEthing. Action and results breeds motivation to keep going!

I love a list and a new notebook as a way of planning myself out of actually doing anything. There is a great TED talk by Tim Urban on this on youtube. I understand the theory I just can’t put it into practise

Procrastination is the bane of my life. I came across this podcast whilst trying to sort myself out about it. It’s by a psychology professor who suffers from procrastination himself and is researching it, why it happens and how to overcome it.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/iprocrastinate-podcast/id129144284

Sometimes there would be months between episodes and he openly admitted he’d been procrastinating on recording them

Following for help and in desperation 😂

Making lists is procrastination too I threw my list making stuff away now I can procrastinate without killing trees

Just try to get 1 thing done each day.

Rather than being overwhelmed with list.

Eat your frog as my DH says!

I changed my priority, instead of doing everything for me now ie nothing ,I do everything for future me....
If I do it now so future me can sit and do sweet fuck all without any guilt.
I fly round with the intent of doing just enough to stop the guilt but generally once I'm going I do it right.
Anyway that's it ,I made future me the priority, she gets to be a lazy bitch and I live to serve her , until I become her and that's great too!

I made lists but I have given them time slots, so I have

9am Sat
Morning phone calls - The bank etc. that you CBA to call in the week.

Sat 9am-11am
To do (projects around the house that involve moving)

Sat 4.30-6.30 (ish, whatever half hour I can grab)
List of things that need doing/researching online, because I am tired at this time. Don't do online stuff in the morning as it is a time pit

Sun 9-10
List for batch cooking

Etc etc. Seems to be working!

Also just starting is often the biggest problem. I try to get a skeleton version of anything that needs to be written down in work done immediately, it doesn't have to be good,. Then you're not starting you're editing which is easier to get your head around.

We'll here I am again, willing myself to get out of bed but on Mumsnet instead!

Also planning...last night I knew I wanted to get certain jobs done so I laid out what I need.

Then 'while I'm up' I'll start the job and do a little bit of another one while I'm passing. It works well if you have a huge list for the day that could otherwise be overwhelming...chip away.

I have unmedicated adhd and its a pita sometimes to get round avoidance.

Focusmate has really helped me for paper/computer based tasks. You can try up to 3 sessions a week free

Forest app is good too.

When and then technique for me plus the timer on Alexa.

don’t plan to do too much

think about what will happen if you never do what you want to do

and then just start

it doesn’t matter if you stop after 10 mins - what’s important is you started and that will spur you on

Following!