Procrastination

[Colorlove]

Earlier this week I was ready with my book and my packets that I need to review, that is required of my job. Today is the day I finally decided to study 🤦🏻‍♀️

My solution to this was to just bring ONLY the packets and the booklet to study (I usually would bring my journal, and a book I am reading just in case if find a place that looks soothing to do either or. I do this every time I leave my home whether I’m going to the supermarket, hanging out etc) and long walk to a cafe shop. However they are playing music I grew up with. I’m singing along to my childhood favorite songs and starring out the window thinking about those lovely childhood memories 🤦🏻‍♀️ also my phone and social media is distracting me lol the first hour I was here I only got to read one sentence from my booklet. I giggle about this now but when things gets real when school starts I’ll probably be emotional about how long it’s taking me to finish things on time 🤦🏻‍♀️

So far it’s going good because I am listening to electric blues with my earphones on and so far read 3 pages in 2 hours.

How do you guys handle procrastination? What works for you? Let’s be aware of our challenges and work to find ways to help our selves. What is the community aware of so far? How do you handle challenges like this?

I’m aware that when I need to study or get something done I know this is what works for me:

1. long walks

2. 10 minute breaks (no more than that)

3. Yoga/stretches

4. Listening to music that I don’t know and reading in the train helps me concentrate (weird right) 😩😄

5. Cafe-shops (its depends on what music they play 🤦🏻‍♀️)

6. Guidance and support so I won’t get sidetracked

7. 5 Minute mindful breathing

8. The library

9. Being held accountable so I won’t get side tracked and having a group of friends gather together to help each other be accountable in accomplishing weekly goals. (But unfortunately I can’t find people who can and wants to form this kind of group).

[lisariver]

Colorlove wrote: How do you guys handle procrastination? What works for you? Let’s be aware of our challenges and work to find ways to help our selves. What is the community aware of so far? How do you handle challenges like this?

My response: I probably should wait to reply in the morning, that's when my mind is the freshest, but I thought I'd give it a try. I'm still very much in the beginning stage of understanding my challenges, so I really appreciate your efforts pushing toward clarity.

For procrastination, I have lists and notebooks and it also helps a lot to make things visible as a cue. I have a lot of dread around paying bills and often will procrastinate there. Currently, my bills are all together in a closepin by my fruit bowl. So they are visible and in one place, I know nothing more about them, I don't want to know, they are better dealt with as a whole, not piece by piece. So as soon as they come in the door, they either have spot in my entry or go directly to the closepin. Usually, I will wake up one brave day, having had enough of the guilt at avoidance and I will tackle the pile...the relief and dopamine bliss that follow are in the realm of religious experience, lol.

Everything else-- is on my to do lists, which often becomes a project in itself (writing the list). Yesterday, i bought my second notebook, because I didn't like the wide variety of subjects in the first notebook and recategorized them...this made my head feel much clearer. Did i do anything on the lists? or did i call it good just looking at them, accepting them, contemplating how they should be prioritized. Sometimes, all I can do is look at them, refresh my memory about what needs doing and what needs doing the most. On good days I ask, what can I do that will give me a sense of accomplishment? As things get done, I check them off or put a line through them and eventually begin a new page, with a refreshed list. I do have a little problem with too many lists and too many notebooks but I have just accepted it as a side effect of good effort. TMI? lol, maybe, huh.

I took a long walk today, and jogged two miles. I was feeling really groggy and I thought this would help. It did for a while but by 5 pm my concentration ability waned greatly. But I wake up at 4am. Still I felt good about it, as it's part of my rewiring the brain plan and I am trying to break through a very deep 2 year depression, so it's a real challenge.

I have to stretch in the morning, yoga (downward dog etc), before I can even take a single step because it's the only thing that alleviates my plantar fasciitis, which is extreme pain covering the soles of the feet. Stretching the calves is what makes it so I can walk.

Music is really important but because finding, selecting it often becomes a place I get bogged down in, I tend to skip more than my soul would probably like. It can also be a big distraction, but it's one I should include more, because I think it helps rewire the brain and trains concentration. Accessing music seems much more overwhelming to me than it did when I was younger. I have some play lists on youtube but the ads can be annoying. Anyway, I could stand to make some changes there.

I have very little support system or anyone near me that comprehends the situation. I pretty much have this group, a friend and then my therapist but we don't talk about this much, too much other stuff.

I try to meditate at least 12.5 minutes 2 times a day because my therapist said this is the minimum that's required for rewiring your brain. Often I do more.

Breathing is really important, I definitely tend to shallow breathe so mindful breathing is something I need to do more of during the day.

Overall, I'm struggling with caffeine...I really want to stop using it but I can't seem to, if I don't then I don't seem to ever wake up but yet the crash from it is very low. What happens is that I tend to increase my intake over time then i cut back again, back and forth like this. There was a short time in my life when I didn't use it, I was getting more exercise and sleeping better but it's always a temptation because it adds so much wonderful clarity and focus. I know a lot of people do medication, and I know I too would be better with it, but in the long run I feel it would cost more than I want to give up. I also go a lot on guidance from meditation and dreams and I feel I've been guided away from supplements and medication.

Well, CL, I've figure out now, that I have about a 20 minute window for concentrating on writing and I've reached that now So even though I might say more or revise what I've written here, I'm going to stop, for now. Thanks again, for stirring up ideas to contemplate.

Edit:

oh yea. and Water! really important!

I tend to forget to drink it

[Colorlove in reply to lisariver]

You are so awesome first of all!😍

I do too have so many little notebooks but there is always something that makes me want a new one including my journals. I feel as if I need something huge like a huge calendar that I can see every day to remind me what needs to be done before and after I wake up so I won’t forget. I’ve always been organized with keeping track on what to do. However I have PILES of mails for yeaaaarssa that are saved for me to throw out and check out (the least important mails) my mom has implemented in my head to never throw out mail that has my name or what ever information of mine unless I rip them up. (That is VERY challenging to do ugghhh dread it).

I love music too! However, you and I share the same thing. Creating a playlist feels like a project to me. To search for the right songs to go with the whole playlist to me has to be on the same vibe and that’s so hard for me to do. I love all types of music. One day it’s fun to work on but other days ugh. It’s on my to do list but did not complete that “project” every time I add it to my list of to-dos/reminders.

I also have very little support system or anyone near me that comprehends our situation. This group/community, my therapist, and a social worker from and organization called Include who guides me for things I need some guidance in like for example (applying for college) he helped so much with that. I was losing it this summer. But that’s about it.

Is it challenging for you to be consistent with meditation two times a day? Do you lose interest? Some days I can be consistent the most I’ll do is 5 mins 4 times a week there times where I’m consistent all over again because I just can’t deal with not mentally and spiritually taking care of myself. I want to consider the 12.5 minute meditation! Because when I am consistent I would meditate for either 15 mins or 20 mins. Mindful breathing is the way to go! I LOVE IT. It’s like I become so aware of myself of my thoughts, being more present, and so grateful because of it I understand where my anxiety and my past depression stem from (from times when I was a teenager) Let me know how it works for you

I so feel you on the caffeine! There are times where I can last months of not having coffee and it’s because I would rather be able to speak to people than blush involuntarily 🤦🏻‍♀️ it never fails! My anxiety heightens because of caffeine. I love talking and meeting new people but when I have coffee that one day and I go socializing my face blushes. When I don’t have coffee I don’t have this issue at all. I know just have accepted the blushing when it occurs and when I deduced to go back to coffee 🤦🏻‍♀️ lol. So I boil ginger and lemon in the morning, less mucus means no colds and flus, less anxiety, more energy and feeling clean in the inside.

Your welcome lovely!

[lisariver in reply to Colorlove]

Good Morning CL :),

About once or twice a year I go through a paperwork catch all drawer. I just sit down on my living room floor and sort. I usually end up with a paper bag of "doesn't need to be kept in my immediate living space anymore", having marked out any important numbers and that will migrate to the basement. Years later, in an attempt to clean that area, I may decide to permanently trash it. It's the only thing I can do. There are places you can bring your stuff to shred, too. I have a bookshelf of labeled folders as well. This works pretty good for me, over all.

I'm really glad you had Include to help, I've been looking for help of that sort but haven't found it yet.

It's a little bit challenging to be consistent with meditation, but the peaceful reward of it, really pulls me to do it, and the fact that I've made 12.5 minutes the goal, that's pretty short, makes it a reachable goal. I guess part of what pulls me to do it, is that I have a love for tea, green tea at the moment, and I make a cup (it's a ritual, involving a special cup, etc :)) and then I place it beside me and by the time it cools, my meditation is officially over but I try to overlap it into the drinking, savoring of the tea.

It's funny, every time I read "mindful breathing" in your post, I was reminded to pause and take a conscious breath! Cool!

I've managed to mostly quit caffeinated coffee, and I never thought I'd do it but I now love the way green tea cleans my palate (after i drink decaf). I also collected dandelion greens over the summer and using them during my moments of inspiration to get off caffeine, because it's really good for the kidneys, liver, etc and sort of taste like green tea and has the nice bitterness I like about coffee. That is partly how I enjoy my meditation moments, with accents like my own collected plants.

Ginger and lemon is another awesome beverage, so good for you! It sounds to me like you really are off to a great start! I wish I had been so wise back in those years, so many mistakes, overdosing on coffee etc. So glad to hear you're making healthy choices.

[Nick1913 in reply to lisariver]

Hi lisariver,

Procrastinating is definitely a problem for me.

I have a ton of half completed projects laying around. So is clutter... paperwork.

Well as far as bills go I found that I have one credit card and use that for all my monthly bills. This way I only have the one bill to worry about. I put an app on my phone so I can monitor that card. I have a routine that I check in on it every Friday.... pay it ahead of schedule so that’s fine for me...

The rest of the procrastination issue, well I am still looking for ideas, lists don’t work for me. I think postits do, I am going to try posting important thinks on the outside of my planner.... so it’s visible. I don’t have to open the planner..... hmmm just had an idea .... I can write the posts ups and put them in my planner, then transfer them to the outside on the day I want (need) them done.

Thanks

[Cupressaceae]

I can't stress enough that you should have headphones with you wherever you go to study, and they need to be able to block ambient noise even if nothing is playing on your headphones. You can't rely on the favorable noise atmosphere of where you go, you need to plan ahead to have something that works for you. If the sound in the cafe happens to work one day, that's great, but have a favorite playlist that wont distract you from doing your work. If you're singing along, you wont be reading. I don't actually create a playlist of various artists, I have several artists that I love, and I listen to their albums in their entirety, depending on my mood. Sometimes I do get distracted by a song that I love, but often I'll be too focused on studying, with the comfort of listening to my favorite music, that I wont even really pay attention to the music until I'm done with my study.

At my school, there was a silent study lounge that almost nobody knew about, and it was new, so the chairs were nice. I went there when I didn't feel like going to the silent study floors in the library. Physically going there made me more inclined to do my work, and not procrastinate so easily, because I was in a space specifically for studying. I usually wore headphones to block out the sound of other people writing or shifting in their chairs, because I get sensitive to small noises when it's quiet and I need to concentrate.

The other place I liked to study was my favorite tea shop. Even though its usually full of people, I have a few favorite chairs tucked in corners where I can sit, wearing headphones, and get a lot of reading done. Part of what makes this place my favorite is that I have to take a train ride (light rail, not a big train) to get there, so I'm motivated to finish my work before it gets too late to take the train home. If I was at the library or the study lounge, I'm close enough to walk home, so I can stay much longer and procrastinate more. The small amount of caffeine in the tea, and the snacks helped me concentrate, but also helped me know how much time I had spent, based on how much tea I had drunk.

Another thing - if I get hungry, a lot of times I can't focus as well, so I find myself procrastinating and not realizing why until I think about when I last ate. The third main place I'd go to study served bubble tea and Chinese dishes, and had lots of tables for people to study at, so it was a good way for me to feel like I wasn't isolated in a boring place, but I also was encouraged to study because it was set up for students to study, and it was a friendly place.

Overall, I find it easiest to procrastinate if I try to study at home, or any place where there are lots of other options besides studying. I focus best if I go to places which are set up for studying, or I designate as my study places. I also make sure to designate at least one day a week where I do NOT study, and instead I hang out with friends, to recharge. It helps to have friends who are in school like you, and friends who are not, so you can commiserate if you need to, or escape and take a complete break if you want.

You might consider deleting social media apps from your phone, if you can't keep yourself from checking them, or downloading an app that stops you from using your phone during your designated study time. Oh, I also tried to study during the same hours each day, so that it was easier to just do it, since it was a routine. If I had to write, I find that I write best first thing in the morning, before I do anything else, but I can read any time of day.

[RachealCR]

I just have to feel extreme pressure to get stuff done, which usually means that I wait until the last possible minute. I know that's not healthy or helpful, but it's really the only way I can make myself focus and do a good job. I waited until the night before my best friends wedding to write the toast I was expected to give. I always used to wait until the night before a research paper was due to actually write it (I would do the research itself ahead of time though), and I'm usually using quarter deadlines for completing projects at work. If I don't start feeling pressure, then I can't seem to get the energy or willpower to do anything. Luckily, I work for the government, which means we go by FY and Quarters, and we also have to write weekly reports. This tends to put pressure on me all the time, so I perform well compared to others. If I'm lacking come Friday, I bust my ass to get as much work done so that my weekly looks good. We also have annual and midyear performance reviews, which also gives me the pressure I need to complete my work. I need that structure to stay on track.

[RachealCR]

Also, when I was in school (all the way from middle school through college), I used to go the Library and get one of those private rooms. I wouldn't bring any technology, only my books and work, and I would arrange for my ride to pick me up at the very end of the day. There was basically nothing to do BUT work. That used to help me a lot.