I have hit a point in my journey were I am starting to see old enemies reaper. The one I am most frustrated with today is procrastination. This is not the type of procrastination that I used to suffer from where I would put off doing things until they no longer needed to be done.
Instead this is the flavor of procrastination that says you can wait a little longer, that does not have to be now there is still time. There are differences between these types of procrastination. The first was an avoidance mechanism I created to keep me out of stressful situations. This new flavor is a degradation of my time management skills and more of a stress bringer then a stress avoider. So the question comes how to deal with procrastination type 2?
First I need to understand what drives my to put thing off in this fashion. It is simply this: the worry that if I don't do the fun thing I want to do now I will not get to. It is similar to my relationship with chocolate, if I have a little bit in the house I will not eat it very quickly, but if I know I am restricted from having chocolate I will get myself a bag of it and eat it all right then. The same is true if I feel I won't get to do what I want I will binge on it when I can even if it means waiting until the last minute to do the things that have a deadline.
The second step in dealing with this type of procrastination is to set a schedule. This has got to be part of it; returning to organizing my day in to times to study and times to play, times to cook and times to be at school. I have talked about decluttering and the downside to clutter in the past as it applies to both physical and mental space but I need to take the same attitude towards temporal clutter. The seconds, the moments and the jiffies must be grouped together like with like, my day divided in to cubby holes of purpose. In doing this it is also important to make the time to play.
This way when I am sitting in front of the TV watching a show or playing a video game I can be in that moment rather than thinking about the reading I need to do. When I am writing a paper for school or researching my nest speech my mind can be on that rather than getting in time for a video game.
How do you deal with type 2 procrastination in your life. Do you find that the root causes are different then type 1 procrastination?
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4 comments:
I found you through Uplift Antidote and I really like your blog and what you have to say. I am now following you.
Aine
http://theevolvingspirit.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping buy and thanks for fallowing.
I think I may have Type 3!!! :)
You are so right about the enjoyment factor. You can avoid and avoid but all the 'fun' things you are doing become less so, because they are laid over with guilt and shame. I love the app use your hand writing, which allows me to make simple nested lists. It's more flexible and easier to take with me each day than paper but not cumbersome like many to do list apps. I get more satisfaction from crossing something off than putting a little check by it, also. My daily list has the categories: exercise, spirit, chores, life, work, school, and chillax. Before I bed I make my list for tomorrow. This helps me rehearse what I want to achieve and be intentional. As I go through my day I usually can get done what I intend to get done, and my stress is greatly reduced =)
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