Thursday, January 18th, 2007...12:43 am
Confessions of a Procrastinator
Hi, my name is Jason…and I am a procrastinator. There…I said it.
David Allen has always said that it will take up to two years to get your GTD system up and running properly. I am approaching that two year mark. I have learned so much about how to set up a system and organize. However, I have apparently failed to absorb the message of Chapter 9 in Getting Things Done.
On Monday, our friend, Merlin Mann of 43 Folders fame published one of his brief, but pointed podcasts. I recommend a listen. This particular podcast hit me right between the eyes. And no…it had nothing to do with the title or the examples used. One thing this podcast pointed out to me was that we can get caught up in the tools all we want, but GTD, or any other system for that matter, is useless…unless we do the stuff on in our system. No don’t get me wrong, deep in the crevasse of my brain, I knew this. Merlin just helped bring it to the surface.
You see, I am very good at managing email with the 2-minute rule. I am great at throwing things into contexts, developing projects…all that planning stuff. In the end, I still avoid doing those things that either take a long time, or that I really don’t want to do. So I have all these lists that are just that…lists. And lists make me no more effective than before GTD…unless I take action.
Let me point out that this is not a GTD problem. David talks about doing in the book. He stresses that we have to be doing the right things…taking the right next actions. It is a behavioral problem (or a mental problem if you ask me). But action is a part of the GTD methodology.
I have fallen into the trap of concentrating on the coolest tool. Trying out all kinds of software and stuff to get the system just right. But no tool will get me to block off time, and focus on getting an uncomfortable task done.
Stress-free does not just mean that it is in a system. The stress does not go away unless you are getting stuff done.
I also suffer from the “humph” disease. You know…the sound that we make when we look at that daunting task and decide there is something we would much rather do, so we put it on the back burner. Because of this, I am sometimes failing to make the right choices when it comes to what next action to take.
Will I return to a paper-based system? Probably not. However, I do need to heed the advice of BBP friend Frank Meeuwsen, when he commented recently to a previous post, that one of his new years resolutions was to, “Work with my system instead of constant tweaking”.
That having been said, I am officially in therapy. I am working on purchasing a copy of The Now Habit. I will also be reviewing and rereading Chapter 9 in GTD. A more effective and consistent weekly review is also in order.
Anyone out there qualify as a procrastination therapist?
10 Comments
January 18th, 2007 at 1:26 am
Just wanted to say that I have exactly the same problem. If you find a cure, please share.
I have “The Now Habit”, but I’ve been putting off reading it. Yeah, that’s how bad I am.
January 18th, 2007 at 4:13 am
Hi, I am a procrastinator too. One thing that seemed to helped me was the constant swtiching of contexts: I don’t stay in the office much, I alternate errands with emails and programming. I manage to do a reasonnable amount of tasks.
I also try to project to myself the feeling of satsifaction after a certain number of done tasks. I said: “ok, I don’t feel AT ALL that I should do that, but… after that I might feel better, relaxed and clear”.
Maybe it has to do something with our reward mechanism in the brain? It’s a mental thing, I agree, and maybe it’s on the reward zone: we learned to be rewarded for each and every thng we do, and so we don’t even start something unless we don’t forsee a minimum reward along the way…
January 18th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I think procrastination comes from having no clear vision of an outcome. Without the vision of an outcome, we start to think of other stuff, that takes away focus, and makes us running around in circles.
- jacco
January 18th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
Jason: I am a procrastinator of the highest order too. I have, however, both purchased and read _The Now Habit_, and unfortunately I can’t say that it lead to significant progress in dealing with my issues. I’d be happy to loan you my copy if you’d like, thereby allowing you to skate on a “next action” by changing it to a “waiting for” ;-).
In a nutshell, I think the most important concept of the book is to carve out the “you” time first, and I do think that’s very important. I think some of my time-wasting stems from dispair that I can’t find the blocks of time to do things that I *want* to do, and that just sucks the energy out of me for everything.
January 18th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
I, too, am a grand procrastinator. I skim my NA’s looking for the best, most fun things to do. Then, the hard, boring, and frustrating gang up on me when I am most vulnerable.
I think I ID’d one failure of mine, though. My “Contexts” have no meaning. I am always @pc, @phone, @email so they have no impact on my time usage. I’m toying with the notion of revising my contexts to something mood oriented…@time_to_stretch; @need_a_laugh; @don’t_talk_to_me_I’m_grumpy.
Too flaky?
January 18th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
Greetings, fellow procrastinators. Ultimately, we must all be finding some comfort in our procrastination. Why? What benefit are we deriving from our procrastinating? If we can figure that out, and then figure out another way to get that benefit without procrastinating…maybe we’ll make some progress.
January 19th, 2007 at 4:21 am
May I suggest you join the “Now Habit” Yahoo! Group. It’s been set up by fans of the book and they’re great at helping people get the initial “Push” they often need to get going on a project. You can have a look at what they’re about here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheNowHabit/
Also, I agree that you should stop messing with your system! That’s just another way to procrastinate, you’re basically saying to yourself “I’ll be able to get things done when the system is right”, well I can you the system will never be “right”!
January 20th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
I totally understand the frustration of always looking for better ways of getting things done and putting off getting things done. It’s a good thing that you recognized what’s happening and are taking steps to correct things. Keep us updated about your experience on the road to recovery.
January 24th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Good material for changing procrastination from a behavioral psychology viewpoint:
http://www.dickmalott.com/students/undergradprogram/psy4600/selfmanage/
January 25th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I can totally relate. I had the exact same problem. I really love GTD for its ability to get things under control. But after that i just DID NOT DO STUFF.
In my opinion the part that is missing is getting tasks linked to your emotions. With old systems you had at least some kind of prioritzing …
What i did, is link GTD with Tony Robbins RPM. RPM is really good at having you come up with strong enough reasons that get you going. If your reason is strong enough you always get things done.
So i use basically the whole of the GTD System. I have contexts and other lists full of my todos. I use gina trapanis todo.txt for it btw. Additionally i create an RPM sheet EVERYDAY. I use One Note for that.
GTD is at that point really handy because RPM forces you to cluster things, so its very easy to make use of GTD projects and contexts (things are already clustered). I just transcribe the things i want to get done today into the RPM sheet. Then i add emotions. I come up with the ultimate reasons why i have to get stuff done…
Sometimes it takes me 30 min. to finish the RPM sheet but once i have written down my reasons im totally pumped.
To me it’s very powerful. I don’t procrastinate so much anymore.
I used both systems separated. The problem was GTD didn’t have the emotions and RPM did not have the holistic overview and the “piece of mind” state of having everything captured. But together to me they are unbeatable.
Another thing i do is plan in fun activities… This way i’m not frustrated that i am missing out on things.
To be honest i use another 10-15 methods every other day to really keep me motivated… but gtd+rpm did a lot for me.
If your interested about the other stuff drop me a line.
regards,
val
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