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Procrastination. Help!

(71 Posts)
RosieandherMaw Mon 09-Jun-25 14:00:12

I blame lockdown
There was so little to do I would “pace myself” and frequently leave things for tomorrow or the next day as an empty future seemed to stretch out in front of me.
But even now, I find myself leaving things “for later , for tomorrow”
It’s become a sort of mental ,paralysis- because there are few deadlines in my life, I find I am resisting any at all.
I love the feeling of satisfaction when I complete something so why do I fight it? It’s almost as if I am afraid of running out of things on my to-do list (ha! As if!)
Ideas? Hints? Tips?
(The pic is meant to be a joke, but perilously close to the truth!)

Ilovedogs22 Thu 12-Jun-25 17:33:50

Allira

😁

But, as my mother always reminded me, tomorrow never comes.
"So don't delay, do it today."

I hear you Allira, but I'm with M0nica here, slow & steady.
Life's too stressy to actually stress, it's not good for soul.
I only worry about my family, Dog included of course & he's a bit of a taskmaster. A bossy old collie.😊

Allira Thu 12-Jun-25 15:09:30

😁

But, as my mother always reminded me, tomorrow never comes.
"So don't delay, do it today."

M0nica Thu 12-Jun-25 14:56:38

'manana'? As urgent as that? Good heavens, what a rush.

Ilovedogs22 Wed 11-Jun-25 19:51:39

My husband tells me my middle name should be mañana it means tomorrow in Spanish
I think, I'll look it up ...ummmm?tomorrow just to make sure, maybe, who knows, does it matter anyway.
I probably won't actually.
Ohh stuff-it! 😉

Woollywoman Wed 11-Jun-25 19:42:01

Good luck with the move, MOnica! Obviously plenty of teabags and biscuits required if you have a removal company for the big day…

Grammaretto Wed 11-Jun-25 19:07:12

Good luck with the move M0nica and those spreadsheets.

M0nica Wed 11-Jun-25 18:59:52

packing to move in a fortnight, so I had better make another list. I already have 6 spread sheets, I am sure I need another

Woollywoman Wed 11-Jun-25 16:17:29

This thread is very comforting!

butterandjam Wed 11-Jun-25 15:55:27

I was going to send a reply on Monday, but....

Labradora Wed 11-Jun-25 15:33:06

Grammaretto

What's the Gaelic for mañana? Och we don't have anything as urgent as that.

My DBiL was famous in the family for putting things off so one Christmas I bought him a book called Do it now!
I doubt he ever got around to it.
Talking of which, do you remember the Round Tuits which were a jokey badge to display on the office door?

I have an added problem with decluttering in order to downsize and now that I am trying to force myself
to purge my books I have come across one titled;
Clear your clutter with Feng Shui
from 1998. It's unopened.

My OH got me a "Round Tuits" mug. I found it most amusing and treasured it but sadly (from his point of view) was not influenced by it.

lizzypopbottle Wed 11-Jun-25 14:48:12

Confucius or someone said, A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. How true but why is that single step so elusive? I'm a complete procrastinator. I'm fact it's my middle name, Lizzy Procrastinator Popbottle that's me! However, when I do actually do something I've been putting off, it feels so good. Today, I'm standing back admiring my mopped floors. It's made me happy so why do I put it off. It's not an arduous task. It's not a stressful thing I can't face. I enjoy mopping the floor...

cc Wed 11-Jun-25 14:13:57

I always dread doing my tax and procrastinate for quite a while before doing it. Since all the paperwork is safely filed or on my email there's really no reason for this, but it happens every year.

Aveline Wed 11-Jun-25 12:14:56

Allira did you also have a 'long felt want'? They were also popular at the same time.

Allira Wed 11-Jun-25 10:46:31

Talking of which, do you remember the Round Tuits which were a jokey badge to display on the office door?

I have the plate. 🙂
Every so often I read it and remind myself of things that need to be done.

CariadAgain Wed 11-Jun-25 06:55:55

Re decluttering - and I can sometimes get myself into the right headspace for that by doing "just one drawer" or "just one shelf".

On books and that costs me a lot more where I live now - as I've been used to wanting to read a particularly useful/interesting non-fiction book and going into the library and, if they'd not got it (ie most of the time) they would buy it specially and I'd get my read and then it would go on the shelves for everyone else. They'd make comments of "Oh - you do choose such interesting books" and I could see they personally would often borrow them after me. Current library (tiny/short opening hours/etc) and they refuse to order any books they don't have in stock for me and I get told "If we have it already - at some library in Wales - we'll get it through for you" but they won't ever buy a book they don't have in already. Cue for I land up buying a LOT of books that I really only want to read once because of that...and so I've got all these "one-off read" books on my shelves - as well as "my own keepers" so to say.

I do know the feeling - as one of the reasons I really must get back to "my own" size (size 14 - currently labelled as "vanity size 10-12") so that I can throw out the two-thirds of my wardrobe that is "cheap temporary clothing to wear whilst I wait to get back to my own size". It would be good to have one wardrobe rail instead of three!

Grammaretto Wed 11-Jun-25 06:03:50

What's the Gaelic for mañana? Och we don't have anything as urgent as that.

My DBiL was famous in the family for putting things off so one Christmas I bought him a book called Do it now!
I doubt he ever got around to it.
Talking of which, do you remember the Round Tuits which were a jokey badge to display on the office door?

I have an added problem with decluttering in order to downsize and now that I am trying to force myself
to purge my books I have come across one titled;
Clear your clutter with Feng Shui
from 1998. It's unopened.

jocork Wed 11-Jun-25 05:56:04

Another expert procrastinator here! I seem to need a deadline to get the adrenaline flowing and now I'm retired there are less deadlines to meet so my situation has got worse.
My |DD showed me how to put a 'to do' list on my phone but I never look at it as it depresses me! Must check it tody - well maybe later!

CariadAgain Wed 11-Jun-25 04:50:47

Casdon

I am a queen of procrastination, but I try to beat myself at my own game. What works best for me is having something really important that I really, really don’t want to do. It started with exams. Everything else in my life was completely sorted when I was meant to be revising, and I’d be cram revising at 5am on the day of the exam.
My top procrastination trigger now is home admin, particularly ringing any company where I know I will be kept hanging on for hours, so I do my other hated jobs whilst I keep on putting ringing off until the 11th hour. If a company closes at 8pm and I absolutely must ring them that day, I won’t be doing it until quarter to 8, by which time I’ll have cleared the ironing mountain, filed the last month’s paperwork and done some batch cooking - all of which I loathe, but not quite as much as wasting hours on the phone.

Re ringing companies and obviously I loathe it too - old enough to remember the days when there was someone there directly at the end of the phone, they'd answer it pretty promptly and do whatever-it-is. Having done office work back along myself too = I know just how fast I used to answer the phone and answer whatever the query was.

I do manage, to some extent, by the fact my main (landline) phone is beside my computer. So if I'm left on hold for ages until someone actually deigns to answer - my main phone has a facility to put it on "loud" and I have it on that with phone off the hook to await someone darn well answering it and I can at least read through stuff on my computer whilst I'm waiting. So at least I don't feel quite as much that someone else is wasting my time.

Room4Life Tue 10-Jun-25 23:27:03

Aveline

DH is the opposite which drives me nuts. He seems compelled to do any tasks as soon as humanly possible then is left furious as he has nothing much to do all day and sits about fuming. I retired before him so had practice at spreading out jobs across the day or week.

Mine also likes to do it NOW - so much so if I ask him to do something he's off before I've finished explaining what I need!

Allira Tue 10-Jun-25 22:20:39

I'd been thinking about finishing a project for a few weeks now, just the tedious tidying up and final finishing off.

Having read this thread I'm pleased to say it is now complete. 🙂

Poppyred Tue 10-Jun-25 21:26:05

I’m the total opposite. Can’t sit down and relax until my to do list is done. Admitted it’s not that long now since retirement. My DH is the procrastinator here and it drives me nuts! I call him last minute.com!

Casdon Tue 10-Jun-25 21:15:59

I am a queen of procrastination, but I try to beat myself at my own game. What works best for me is having something really important that I really, really don’t want to do. It started with exams. Everything else in my life was completely sorted when I was meant to be revising, and I’d be cram revising at 5am on the day of the exam.
My top procrastination trigger now is home admin, particularly ringing any company where I know I will be kept hanging on for hours, so I do my other hated jobs whilst I keep on putting ringing off until the 11th hour. If a company closes at 8pm and I absolutely must ring them that day, I won’t be doing it until quarter to 8, by which time I’ll have cleared the ironing mountain, filed the last month’s paperwork and done some batch cooking - all of which I loathe, but not quite as much as wasting hours on the phone.

PamandPix Tue 10-Jun-25 20:54:50

A Daily planner is a good idea for getting things done. I fill in what I want to achieve for the week ahead and having that schedule seems to work. It was something I started on Lockdown as I needed a routine.
I don't do it every week but give it a try if you need some motivation.

kittylester Tue 10-Jun-25 18:06:57

I was going to do a post on this thread but........I just didn't.

Flopsey Tue 10-Jun-25 16:46:57

Thanks everyone who just posted their own experiences about
of procrastination.
I didn’t know I had it …….Well I do now!!!!