The inveterate procrastinator
Climbing out of the pit
I've been thinking a lot about my procrastination recently. Truth be told, it’s always on my mind because it frustrates me so damn much.
And it’s really sunk its teeth in this time. I feel like I'm stuck in a rut, or maybe it's more like a wallow, a hole, or even a pit. I know I have the tools to climb out of it, but every time I get near the top, it feels like a rung of the ladder snaps and I fall back down again.
What I'm fighting is the desperate urge to finish everything relating to my day job and all the house chores before I can focus on the things that give me space to breath and I find joy in. Hobbies like the kitchen garden, creating a permaculture, designing the house, darning my socks, learning to play my tongue drum, writing and getting my book ideas out of my head.
I keep putting these personal projects off until I've completed my paid work, as though I need to earn the fun stuff. But then I find myself procrastinating, leaving it all to the last minute with no time for the ‘good stuff’. This then raises the question…did I earn the right for joy when I’m so totally useless at getting what needs to be done, actually done?
Sometimes I feel like I’m reaching the top of the pit, yet at other times it feels I can barely make it off the damn ground.
SIGH.
Are you an inveterate procrastinator like me? How do you manage to set aside time to do the fun stuff?
And if you’re a completer-finisher, please tell me …
how.do.you.do.it?
Ta, Han 🌱
First of all, i think you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. I think sometimes i list 100 things i must do today, right now, this week, both work and personal, and then i get so overwhelmed i am lucky if i complete 2. So. I try follow a top 3 essential things for today, and a bigger top 3 for the week say. This mindset comes from the 'Full Focus' teachings of Michael Hyatt and co. But i try follow such. What are your 3 most important things this week? And yes out of 100 how can 3 help? But identifying just the top 3 or even any 3 at one stage, helps lift the move from procrastinating. And what small 3 things can you do today to get those for the week done? I work as an accountant 8am to 5pm weekdays often with overtime evenings and some weekends, and i find when i turn back to writing down my weekly top 3, and then every day determining what is most important today to fit into the bigger weekly picture, i tend to "get things done'...there is of course annual and quarterly goals but when i am overwhelmed with demands and too much to do, i come back to really short term, weekly and daily short term. And once you have done your daily 3 and really see progress to the weekly 3, you find you procrastinate less. It isn't all easy going but i find the.methodology of writing my daily 3 or weekly 3 in my planner and doing them as urgently as possible takes the edge off the 'overwhelmed procrastinating' and then i get back on track. Maybe this idea can help you ? 💖
This is super interesting. If anything I think I’m the other way round - I procrastinate with work even though it’s really important to me and always find it pretty easy to be tempted away by the ‘fun stuff’. Though I guess this might just be cos I *can*. Since I finished my film and stopped doing any external freelance tv work all my work projects have to be completely self-generated and it can be so exhausting even figuring out what to do next that I leap at the chance go meet a friend for coffee or whatever - as it’s mentally so much more straightforward. Or something! Love that AI procrastination image. I recognise that pit for sure..!