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OVERCOMING PROCRASTINATION

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Overcoming Procrastination

Barb	Posted: 26 May 2014 - 12:55 PM
	One of the best resources I have found for discussing the topic of procrastination is the book Solving the Procrastination Puzzle: A Concise Guide to Strategies for Positive Change, Penguin Group, 2013. You can get it from Amazon in text and digital formats. You may also find it at your local library, but you will want to have some way to reproduce and work through the exercises in the book. The quotations in the following paragraphs are from the book. Today's topic: What is procrastination? Key Idea: All procrastination is delay, but not all delay is procrastination. Delay is a part of setting priorities. Emergencies, things that demand our attention now, and other types of delays can make us postpone working on the projects we had planned. These may be unexpected delays. "Procrastination is the voluntary delay of an intended action despite the knowledge that this delay may harm the individual in terms of the task performance or even just how the individual feels about the task or him- or herself." Procrastination is NEEDLESS voluntary delay. We know what we need or plan to do but we find it very difficult to get started. "There is nothing preventing us from acting in a timely manner except our own reluctance to act." Understanding our own personal reasons for reluctance and practicing strategies to overcome that reluctance is key to overcoming procrastination. Exercise for today: List the tasks, projects, and activities in your life where you tend to procrastinate. Next to each write the emotions and thoughts that come to the surface when you begin procrastinating these tasks, projects, and activities. Don't over think it. Just write one word or a few words in response. Look for patterns.

Replies (10)

Trust God and Clean House	Posted: 15 June 2014 - 12:25 AM
	I'm not sure exactly where I heard it but pretty sure it was Joyce Meyers. "Procrastination is suicide on the installment plan" I know for the things I put off, pain. When I deal with things I've put off, joy & amazement that it took so little time, compared to the mental anguish, emotional dreading, body abusing avoidance & spiritual sufferings. I like flyladys technique of Wednesdays to do the thing you've been procrastinating over. That way you only experience a weeks worth of all listed above. Progress not perfection. I keep telling my husband, this is the year. It all changes. The house is getting cleaned out. It is changing. He hugged me & laughed. I said " Don't laugh, join me in my delusion" He laughed again, but this time it was at my joke. I have to keep saying it. After all these years, & other attempts, he fears getting his hopes up. But he sees I'm trying. He sees I'm changing. He's not sure if it'll last if I can do it. He hopes. I know this time is different. I've given it to God (2nd step) He can. Got to stay positive, focused, & believe. I'm looking forward to posting my before & afters. Thank you all for giving me support in knowing, I'm not alone.

Trust God and Clean House	Posted: 15 June 2014 - 12:24 AM
	I'm not sure exactly where I heard it but pretty sure it was Joyce Meyers. "Procrastination is suicide on the installment plan" I know for the things I put off, pain. When I deal with things I've put off, joy & amazement that it took so little time, compared to the mental anguish, emotional dreading, body abusing avoidance & spiritual sufferings. I like flyladys technique of Wednesdays to do the thing you've been procrastinating over. That way you only experience a weeks worth of all listed above. Progress not perfection. I keep telling my husband, this is the year. It all changes. The house is getting cleaned out. It is changing. He hugged me & laughed. I said " Don't laugh, join me in my delusion" He laughed again, but this time it was at my joke. I have to keep saying it. After all these years, & other attempts, he fears getting his hopes up. But he sees I'm trying. He sees I'm changing. He's not sure if it'll last if I can do it. He hopes. I know this time is different. I've given it to God (2nd step) He can. Got to stay positive, focused, & believe. I'm looking forward to posting my before & afters. Thank you all for giving me support in knowing, I'm not alone.

Mar	Posted: 13 June 2014 - 09:31 PM
	Dear Barb, please, keep posting! Thanks 🙂

Mar	Posted: 30 May 2014 - 07:13 PM
	Hi Barb, Thank you! Maybe, fear to find I'm doing well nothing? Right now I'm having a stressful, hard time. Feel so pressed, overwhelmed, sad, tired, without motivation... I know I can do things well... Need to be realistic, not pessimistic! I'd like to be enjoying, but stress and pressure are spoiling this. Also, you reminded me I need to be kind with myself. I always forget it. Really, THANKS for what you said. I promise to search for positive things 🙂 Lots of hugs.

Barb	Posted: 30 May 2014 - 05:58 PM
	Hi Mar, One line in your comments caught my attention: "Evaluating what I did during the day --> Have to think about what I'm doing wrong and change it, which requires effort." One year I taught a very difficult class of mostly boys with behavior problems. I found it helpful to take time at the end of each day to write a page in a journal called: "What's working/What's not working." I needed to evaluate and make changes in what I was doing to try to manage the class. But if I only focused on the negative, I would have driven myself crazy. Focusing on the positive first: the things you are mastering and things that are going well and don't seem as difficult anymore will give you the confidence you need to face the things that are still hard. Sometimes you are doing the right thing, but it just takes longer to see the results. Remember to be as kind to your self as you would be to your dearest friend. I hope you are enjoying this time in your life. You are on the road to new beginnings and that is pretty exciting.

Mar	Posted: 30 May 2014 - 02:13 PM
	Oops! In the second item in the list it was FEELING, not felling, sorry!

Mar	Posted: 30 May 2014 - 02:09 PM
	Sorry for my most recent post in this thread,I was not feeling well... My list of things I delay: * Reading school books --> Fear of not understanding * Working on my thesis --> Anxiety, felling of "it's difficult, I can't with that" * Decluttering --> "I have no time", it's cumbersome, I will get my hands dirty, what will I do with what I find? * Washing dishes --> Wet hands * Revisiting my mom and aunt's things to make decisions about --> Awaken painful feelings * Cooking --> Dirty dishes (but it's strange, usually I like cooking) * Evaluating what I did during the day --> Have to think about what I'm doing wrong and change it, which requires effort * Going out and facing life --> Fear!!! Barb, thanks for sharing your learning with us 🙂

Barb	Posted: 29 May 2014 - 07:32 AM
	Here is my own short list: scooping the cat box-->I hate the smell. This is yucky. financial paperwork-->I don't know what I'm doing. I'm going to make errors. decluttering--> I'm going to find things that remind me of things I have neglected to take care of. My to do list gets longer and longer. If you have not already done so, check into Tim Pychyl's book Solving the Procrastination Puzzle or his podcasts and blogs at www.procrastination.ca (the ca means it is a Canadian website) I discovered that I was going to be forever stuck in the middle of Buried in Treasures exercises until I got a handle on conquering procrastination. The best way for me to solidify the principles and habits of overcoming procrastination is for me to share what I am learning with others. Today's thought from chapter 2. Everyone procrastinates. But for some of us, it is more problematic than it is for others. "Procrastination is a problem with not getting on with life itself. When we procrastinate on our goals, we are our own worst enemy. These are our goals, our tasks, and we are needlessly putting them off. . .Happiness is found in the pursuit of our goals. We are engaged in the pursuit of what we think is meaningful in our lives. . . When we procrastinate on our goals, we are basically putting off our lives. . .The most finite, limited resource in our lives is time. We only have a finite amount of time to live. Why waste it running away from tasks that we want or need to do? To author our own lives, we have to be an active agent in our lives, not a passive participant making excuses for what we are not doing. When we learn to stop needless, voluntary delay in our lives, we live more fully."

Mar	Posted: 29 May 2014 - 01:10 AM
	Hi Barb and Diane, "Procrastination is the voluntary delay of an intended action despite the knowledge that this delay may harm the individual in terms of the task performance or even just how the individual feels about the task or him- or herself." Why do we do that? Why do we harm ourselves? Is it a form of self-sabotage? Why can't we only stop it? :'-( Oh! And right now I find myself avoiding to think on things where I tend to procrastinate, this is the last straw! ¬¬

diane	Posted: 26 May 2014 - 01:12 PM
	Thanks Barb for info and helpful exercise My Procrastination Feeling shower cold dishes wet hands paperwork fear decision making fear and anxiety

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