Procrastinators, get your pompoms. Let's cheer each other on and kick the procrastination habit!

[ProcrastinateNoMore]

Inspired by the thread in AIBU... This is a thread where chronic procrastinators can get together to share tips, hold hands and try to break the habit of a lifetime! We all have our reasons for procrastinating (some conscious, some less so) but this thread is our chance to talk to people who understand the stress and help each other make positive changes.

Useful links from the original thread (thanks to all who shared):

This is the best description of procrastination I've read, written by a chronic procrastinator. This is his attempt to suggest strategies.

This is an excellent website from Carleton University in Canada - the page from the Procrastination Research Group. There is a blog with the key posts - useful for understanding and tackling procrastination. The work on goal focus is quite practical.

This post from BBC suggests apps you may find useful.

It might be useful to say hello and identify the key areas we procrastinate in below. Also think about small steps we can take to change that.

Good luck fellow monkey-minders!

'Overwhelmed' available here - there is an audiobook as well! Sometimes I lie on the sofa and listen to audiobooks or podcasts easing my way into the day - feels mich better than aimless web surfing. I often also listen to books when I'm organizing or decluttering.

Ok what I think are my fatal errors. being at home.
At work or out of the house I am organised and motivated. But the second I walk through the door, all motivation leaves me, things I may have been planning to do once home disappear and once remembered then feel overwhelming.
One thing I know and should do is put the radio on as I can happily be busy with that on. The things I shouldn't do but always seem to do is put the telly on I don't even watch it! Then I sit and mumsnet or worse look for bargains on ebay which I never find, but cannot put the phone down because that bargain might just be on the next page.

What I am going to do is try and take paper work out with me. Then sit in a café to get it done, personal or sensitive phone calls I could do in the car.

When I do get home make a bee line for the radio. For some reason I find the noise from the radio is too intrusive to allow me to be on the Internet. But I cannot sit and do nothing so automatically start cleaning, tidying hoovering washing etc.

If I could do that then I once done, I could enjoy guilt free time on mumsnet /ebay.

I think I might try and put a rota together for eachday working around the different commitments and job depending on the day. Do you think I should schedule a day of nothing? Or would that set me back in to the old habit?

aka all your ideas sound great! Thinking through your daily and weekly patterns really helps!

I schedule commitment free days every now and then, spent last Thursday out of town relaxing with DH and it really seems to have helped as I got quite a few difficult pending things done after it. Try it! Guilt-free play time really helps me. And cafes are great for getting things done.

Idle web browsing is so easy and addictive and a huge time sink - I always have a post-lunch dip when my focus is gone (in fact, I often schedule 2pm telecons to make use of this time) and there is alaso a dead time for me between 5pm and 8pm when it's too easy to get sucked in. That's why I try to keep my devices on the hall table away from my work area and living room and bedroom. I also sometimes disable Safari - or ask my DH to childproof my devices for me

Right - have been browsing idly for 1.5 hours now Back to work Sending everyone focus and energy!

I often find going to a library helps me focus more, less distractions. Trying to get paperwork or writing at home can be hard. I often feel aimless at home so being somewhere quiet where others are always working is motivating for me. I really need structure too or external pressure, left to my own devices I can do nothing for hours!

Libraries are great Lotta!

A really good day today. Two hours idaydreaming / lizard brain mode over lunch but was able to refocus and finish a task I've been putting off for a month. I need more days like this!

I did it!!!!!!!!!
Spent lunchtime waiting in the queue to get tax sorted!
I still have 3 items to sort out and can say that I am up to date with all my bills, letters and fines
All thanks to this thread!

Anti well done you!! Feels great to get stuff done doesn't it?

Ok so today I did something else I've been putting off. I'm a smoker but trying to cut down by vaping. My e cig has been dying lately so been smoking more fags as a result. Today I went to e cig shop and bought myself a lovely shiny new e cig which I have now charged up and am using while watching TV on my sofa tonight!

Aunti yaay well done

The first good day in a long time for me, felt awful waking up this morning and really didn't want to face the day, but stayed out the house and kept busy. Each thing I did I felt better. Got home after lunch and talked through our crap financial situation with dh . Some unscheduled whopping big vets bills, some other surprise big expensives, have wiped out everything and then dh car died yesterday. But we drew up a plan and new budget for the month. it felt great seeming to get some control back. then I did house work! I didn't even have to think about it, I just did it and enjoyed it. afterwards I mumsnetted, happy days indeed.

lotta are the ecigs from the e-cig shop much different to the ones you can buy at the garage? I tried them and just seemed to puff constantly all day on it, and left my mouth quite dry,

They are in a different league! Cost about £30 and you can get lots of different 'juices ' you can put in them. My favourite one is vanilla. They're nothing like the cheap ones that look like cigarettes and they last for ages. The vaping thread is v good for ideas on ones to get. And they are much much less harmful than cigarettes.

However you don't get quite the same 'hit' you get from a cigarette as the nicotine is absorbed through the bloodstream so yes, you might find yourself puffing on one more frequently than a cigarette. But they don't contain any of the nasties that actually cause the damage that cigs do. ( there's lots of research that backs this up). Don't want this thread to get into a debate about smoking, there's lots of other threads about this people can read.

Anti and Lotta you are doing so well - sounds great!

Yesterday was good but in procastination danger zone today, woke up too early so feeling slow and tired already and facing a lot of deadlines. Not enough time and energy to do all so feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Hello! You're all doing so well!

Still here by a thread but it has turned into one of those weeks of sickness, tiredness and general crapness. Just done a food shop with sickly DC in tow so that is my halo on straight for the day! Going to clean the kitchen as I have promised we will make buns later (from a kit thank god - add egg, mix, chuck in oven, gorge on cake :o). Also going to make healthy dinner but once DC bedtime arrives I will be crawling into bed with a book!

Hello! You're all doing so well!

Still here by a thread but it has turned into one of those weeks of sickness, tiredness and general crapness. Just done a food shop with sickly DC in tow so that is my halo on straight for the day! Going to clean the kitchen as I have promised we will make buns later (from a kit thank god - add egg, mix, chuck in oven, gorge on cake :o). Also going to make healthy dinner but once DC bedtime arrives I will be crawling into bed with a book!

Hi everyone. Sorry you had a tough week ProcrastinateNoMore.
I am celebrating the slightly pathetic achievement that I have finally managed to send off DD's passport renewal that has been on my to do list for the last month or so. I don't know why it was so difficult, but there you go.
I have been doing ok with other stuff. Feeling a bit overwhelmed with work, but too busy to spend too much time in the dark playground. I have a big deadline in May that needs an awful lot of work, so going to have to defeat this procrastination demon if I'm going to achieve it.

Majestic, when I sorted out my electric toothbrush I noticed me telling myself it was 'pathetic' I'd left it so long and I saw you used the Same word about sorting out the passport. I get the sense that we as procrastinators are exceptionally hard on ourselves ( which I think is part of it) so I think it's important to acknowledge and celebrate our wins and what it took to push through that paralysing mindset that people who don't procrastinate just don't have. So well done us for all our wins both big and small!

Thanks Majestic. I have a few quiet minutes now to enjoy before I conk out so MNing without guilt :)

And well done on the passport application! Wise words from Lotta about the self-criticism - one of the most comforting things about this thread is seeing how many of us give ourselves an incredibly hard time. I say it's comforting because it points towards an underlying thought process and maybe it's one we can all challenge?

At the minute I'm really trying to challenge my 'has to be done properly' mindset - this comes straight from my dad. Basically if I can't clean the kitchen perfectly I will just 'leave it till later' - which never comes. So I'm trying to cultivate the attitude of 'anything is better than nothing so do something'. With that in mind I'm going to go and wash the baking stuff! :o

I know, I know. Self-criticism is a big no no, reinforces a sense of incompetence and fear of failure and keeps procrastination going. It's a tough habit to break though isn't it. it's almost like I feel like I must criticise myself because I deserve it.

I'd really like to recommend this book. It's 'your best year yet' and why it's good is it asks you to look at the last year and look at your wins and your failures and to analyse them both, looking at, the things you did do ( and there's more than you would think), what worked about those and with your failures, what you learnt from those. Very useful indeed especially when you look at what you did achieve and why, as you can then extrapolate that to create successes with things you are currently struggling with. It's a bit hard to explain but when you use it to analyse your own life it's very helpful.

As an example, a few years ago I got made redundant and went travelling around India for 4 months. So, in terms of things I did that worked to achieve this, I..,

Made a decision and committed to it
Did lots of research ( internet, books, talking to people)
Asked for help from others
Had a plan
Got organised ( injections, malaria tablets, visa, organising taxi from Mumbai airport )
Was persistent ( had a back injury 2 weeks before I was due to fly out and had to change my flight)
Had faith
Was brave (remember sitting on my bed with my finger poised to press the button on my laptop to book my flight to Mumbai)

And had a great time!

So what I'm saying is, if you look at successes you have had ( and we've all had them, however big or small, the same elements are going to be there and if you look at the things you didn't achieve, chances are there'll be the mirror image, showing why they didn't happen )

So for me it would be, being indecisive, not asking for help, giving up, assuming I'll fail, believing my own negativity.

Hope those examples help, and it is a really good book!

Sounds interesting Lotta. In case anyone has missed it one of the threads of the day is about being organised, link is here in case it's useful for anyone. Also by browsing through the 'Baking' topic I just discovered that you can make cupcakes in advance and freeze them MN - the font of all wisdom!

it's almost like I feel like I must criticise myself because I deserve it.

Yes this^^ was something I discussed with the counsellor.

To tired to write much tonight, well-done everyone.

Arrh took so long to write so many more posts

at everyone

I started reading that organised thread and 2 things happened, my mind started to shut down and then I just compared myself unfavourably with all these super organised people!