Have you managed to cure your procrastination?

[Getonnow]

I'm awful. I don't think I used to be, or at least not this bad. I got a decent degree and although it was hard to make myself start sometimes, I did do the work. I've been really successful in my career and I didn't do that by spending days doing very little. When DC were young I was a demon at getting things done in little windows of time.

Now I'm a widow in a senior job with lots of autonomy. Not much pressure on my time either at home or at work and I can spend literally days doing absolutely nothing. I hate it but I don't seem to be able to snap out of it. I never moss a deadline and always perfom under pressure, but unless something desperately needs doing I don't do it.

Apparently this can be a grief reaction, but generally I feel I'm coping pretty well.

I know the obvious answer would be some therapy, but is there anything I can try to help myself? I'm a master at a list or a plan, use producing those as a brilliant way to procrastinate....🤣

I guess ask yourself if you really have to do it and why is it important then focus on the reason. Sometimes we burden ourselves with things that dont even matter. If you like a deadline, set mini deadlines and alarms for the actual deadline and focus on the benefits of working in a less stressful way. Sometimes people leave a project to the last minute because its easier to blame lack of time than doing their best and then finding it wasn't enough. Time management is a skill.

Mel Robinson book 5 second rule helped me but CBT in general would help with this.

Might be worth getting levels checked then? I don't really have any advice in the meantime though. I bought a book about procrastination about 10 years ago and am still procrastinating reading it 😅

You can get apps that block internet or app access on your phone if that's a big problem. Some paid for ones you can't just close them or turn them off if that sounds any help to you?

Ok so I'm getting better.

Routines routines routines. Read Atomic habits.

Other strategies:

Doing the job you're putting off first thing. Then a reward. So for me it could be - clear out fridge, then try on new purchases. For emotionally harder jobs - I will have a massage after I have sorted my dad's probate calls.

I tell you know you will enjoy your rewards much better.

Making a job nicer to do.

So I know have a little desk with fancy stationery, charger etc and I love doing my life admin. My current year tax paperwork is all up to date. It is a miracle.

Do 2 jobs you don't like doing at once: put the bins out while waiting on hold to somewhere. Think of the time you will have to yourself doing what you like instead of it all hanging over you.

Or talk to a friend while doing horrid task

Or admit defeat and:

Get someone to help you
Get someone to do it for you
Pay someone to sort it out.

There's lots left for me to do but I am progressing along in my journey to be a person free of my task demons.

I procrastinate like a champion so I have no advice. It's probably the thing I'm best at unfortunately! Also highly educated, good job, etc. Really worried I will be 'found out' one day but currently my colleagues think I am great at everything. I also have quite a bit of autonomy and lead a team in a project-management type of role. I always get compliments on how organised I am, how well run the project(s) is, that the way I do things is such a good example of x,y,z. I just think, bloody hell, how on earth am I getting away with this! I use various work planning tools and checklists with the team, but I also need a paper list for myself as I've found it's the only thing that even slightly works for me.

Yesterday things were getting to a point where I was getting annoyed with myself procrastinating so much so I wrote out a lovely to-do list for today. It has helped me a bit, but nowhere near enough. If I was a focussed person I could have blasted the whole thing by now, easily. But I've done just under half. I even have 'concentration music' playing on spotify.

I had a task sitting on my to-do list to email a document to someone. Sounds easy. But my brain has just literally blocked it from happening. It got so stupid that I told myself that if stopped looking at MN and emailed the document I could go back to MN afterwards as a treat! So now the document has been emailed, phew!

That's nice.
Are you french?

@CeleryCeller , Eat the Frog: Tackling the most Challenging Task First • Checkify