The Now Habit (again)

[Teahugger]

Does anyone want to do a The Now Habit-along? For realz? I've read it but would need to read it again, and, umm, actually do all the exercises and stuff...

[applesauce]

Nice! I don't have the book yet, but I won't procrastinate about getting it!

[bookselves]

I'm in!
I'm due for a re-read.
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"My power doesn't come from other people's lust for my awesome vagina, thanks." - Enzyme

So, I have a blog now.

[Qetox]

Me! I'm buying it right away.

[Qetox]

So I wonder how we can do this without triggering each other. Or ourselves. Tricky.

Anyway, I read the first two chapters and I'm glad to have found this book. It's very timely for me. Thanks for the recommendation teahugger. I'm starting the procrastination log after lunch today. I'll probably do it over the weekend, it depends on what I have planned, but I want to do at least one day next week too.

[Teahugger]

I started reading it this morning, but I haven't gotten very far yet so I don't know which parts require more time. The first two chapters seem to be mostly reading and not so much doing. I'm going to do a procrastination log next week (and maybe this weekend, but I'm more concerned about workdays) because after that I have two weeks off.

I think we did it chapter-by-chapter last time but it might be better to just do it at our own pace? It's usually good to have different perspectives, I mean...those who have gotten further can help those who are starting out, and so on. So everyone can post thoughts and questions in the thread no matter where they are in the book. Or do you prefer deadlines, eg "read this chapter by this date and post your thoughts"?

[checkersumthing]

I should dig out my copy and do a reread. Same thing with Getting Things Done. I find that the two in partnership have helped me well, get a lot of things done . . . now. It's one thing not to put things off, but when you've got so much to do, it's easy to put one thing off in favor of something else, and still feel like you're getting things done . . . but not necessarily in order of priority.
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[applesauce]

Hi! I got it yesterday and have read about 30 pages. Pretty good so far!

[applesauce]

I didn't get to the exercises part of the book yet, but just reading the first section about accomplishing tasks got me excited.....last night I stayed up well past my bedtime doing housework?!?

[Teahugger]

I haven't gotten that far yet either, but I've done an [imperfect, but hey] procrastination log, at least. So far it seems my big problem is perfectionism and to some extent feeling that I'm never done anyway (which obviously ties in with perfectionism too, but in the book it's a separate problem/reason). Haven't got to solutions yet :-)

What about the rest of you, why do you procrastinate?

More thoughts: I tend to procrastinate by posting on forums etc, or knitting, both of which feel productive because it's something concrete and in the case of forums/social media you often get positive feedback too = a sense of accomplishment. Which of course is good but not when you do these things instead of doing things that should have higher priority. I'm wondering how to make those "more important" tasks (that I should be doing) seem more rewarding...wouldn't it be great if one could do a very concrete bit of work and then immediately get positive feedback or some other type of reward?

Unfortunately at my job at the moment it's more like "write a bit of text, send it for feedback, get a list of changes I could make", i e more negative feedback even though it's not meant to be negative, people just don't tend to state the positive things. (My boss is very good at positive feedback though, which is really appreciated!)

I don't know. I should probably get better at pointing out the positive things myself when asked for feedback. It's much more encouraging.

[Qetox]

[Qetox]

Oh, we posted at the same time.

I still don't know why I procrastinate. So far the closest I've gotten to procrastinating is adding much needed time to recharge and putting something off to get better results. I guess I've either failed at procrastination or I'm rebelling authority. I will keep the log going (tomorrow will be harder) and just keep reading, but for now i can say that I relate to all three reasons mentioned (fear of failure, perfectionism, fear of impossible expectations), but more to the latter two.

And then on to chapter three. It's about replacing "have to" and "should" with "I choose" or "I will". (Personally I'm ambivalent to the use of "will" though.) I've actually made a conscious effort to do this in the last few months. It makes me wonder if I overestimate how much I procrastinate today. That would be great. Still, four out of the five suggested self-statements are relevant to me. I'll start with remembering the line "When can I start?"

I think the next chapter about guilt-free play relates to what you write, teahugger. I need to work on playing, but I need to digest this chapter further before I share my thoughts. The other thing I will take with me from this chapter is the word mission.

[puck]

omg, yes.
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xoxpuck
"i'm a little bit pop-culture
and a lot bit d.i.y."
(rawr!)

[applesauce]

Hi! I haven't had much time to read since the weekend but I'm just starting the section about time logs.

I don't have any spoilers!

I'm getting good inspiration from the book so far, but it hasn't quite addressed my worst procrastination area. I think the reason is this task is actually really, really boring and I've been doing it too long...but maybe as I go along I'll come to see that one of the other self-sabotaging reasons is actually behind it.

I'm looking forward to learning more about work-life-play balance. At this point in my life, I exercise almost every night, which is a good thing, but it means I don't have as much time for house chores, studying Swedish, crafting or reading .... I after I do the logs I'll learn more about tidying up my schedule without having to give up exercise. Maybe I also have to think about that The Busy Trap article that was going around a couple weeks ago. Until last fall I didn't do much of those things in my evenings either and I believed it was because I had a really cerebral, stressful job (true!) so I was too burned out to use my brain after work. Maybe I just like to be busy...but I aim to be active and productive. Well, I am productive and work hard, I just procrastinate on one task especially that I dislike, but I work a lot, and hard! /babbling

[puck]

i haven't gotten the book yet (since i just opened this thread today), but i just downloaded rescuetime to do some logging for me.

nowww i should do my work. or order the book? yeeeah.

but i'm not behind-behind any more (see: chronic procrastination plus mono), which makes work a lot easier-seeming than it did before!

eta: oh! it's available on audiobook! perfect. also, definitely still not doing my work.
_________________
xoxpuck
"i'm a little bit pop-culture
and a lot bit d.i.y."
(rawr!)