Procrastination

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cras Latin; adv.: Tomorrow

I am a chronic procrastinator. I know noone who does this worse than I do. I can plan out my work, setting reasonable deadlines and working pace, but I cannot follow my own plans. I only truly get cracking when I feel the pressure of a deadline hot on my heels, and if something happens to go wrong during that crucial minimum period I have allowed myself to complete a project, everything goes to hell.

This means that to get anywhere and to maintain an income, I pretty much have to be constantly under pressure, or do work in spurts that allow me to take a week off when it all gets too much. On those rare occasions where I actually complete something significantly ahead of schedule, and have some time where I can truly relax and recreate without a cloud looming over me, I am in about as good a mood as I can be. The things that normally trigger an anxiety attack, or days of gloom and rage are more likely to just roll off of me, and in a roundabout way, are less likely to be directed towards me in the first place: Some people can smell vulnerability, and will use any opportunity to f**k up someone's day.

Apart from just... DOING it, does anyone else frequently dig themselves into similar holes? Is anyone a cured, or improving procrastinator? How do I overcome this terrible characteristic of my own nature?

I am quite the opposite.

Tim

Hard work ofter pays off after time, but laziness always pays off now.

Telling myself the following worked for awhile......

When ever I told myself ..."I can do that tomorrow"......I learned to replace it with ....."Is there a reason why I cant do it now?"....If I could only come up with stupid rationals,like "I dont feel like it"
Then I would have to do it "now".......I always felt such a releif after having it done ,that it reiniforced my completing tasks on time.It became a habit,though a "forced" one.

After a few years of doing this,I eventually slipped back into the habit of procrastination.It is particularly bad when I am trying to avoid things I find most stressful....

Looking for a new job
making a Doctors apt or finding a new DR
Calling my family or a "friend"
Organzing my apt (I have a hard time letting things go but have to much clutter)

I am still good about not procrastinating at my job or taking care of my animals.

My motto is "Desperation is a great motivator." However, if it is something I genuinely want to do, I do it immediately. I have this nasty habit of spending all of my Internet time playing games or doing research. My homework piles up at the last minute.

Yeah procrastination is an example of the life destroying part of inattentive ADD
(ADHD-I). Its pretty much destroyed me anyway. To simply daydream is more interesting than doing something boring that may or may not pay off tommorrow.

The solution is stimulants if you have ADHD-I.

I have found one way to help with my procrastination. I divide all activity into three groups: chores, work and fun. Before the start of the weekend, I'll decide on the few chores that I think I might be able to achieve with a bit of motivation. I then design a plan that intersperses the chores or work with the fun. I will have also considered the fun activities that I most want to do in advance too. I'll then write down the plan with approximate times for when I think I'll complete each activity. In a strange way this helps motivate me to complete the chores, because I know in a few hours I'll be having fun. Obviously if I fail to do some of the chores, I do feel a bit guilty.

For example, the plan for this weekend involves,

- wash car (chore)
- play computer game (fun)
- work on presentation (work)
- research family history (fun)

I'm a world-class procrastinator. One of my favorites: "But first, a cup of tea." Or even better: "But first, a nap."

There's a way to trick myself into doing things. I've noticed that I'll do almost anything to avoid scrubbing the bathtub. So I can schedule doing that know that I will accomplish other things. Sometimes it's even things that need doing.

Pitiful, isn't it?

I've never been hyperactive, and concentration problems for me are rarely what I'd describe as chronic, so I've never really suspected I experience ADD/ADHD, but there have been some things that have made me wonder. I find I can actually slip into a kind of manic phase when on depressants (THC), but not with consistent enough results to warrant using it as a tool. The few occasions I've been able to try stimulants more psychoactive than caffeine have been an interesting experience, but were in a social setting, so I wasn't able to test my ability to work. It's something I'd dearly like to try at some point.