The Pleasure & pain of procrastination.

msolga- I am not the person to ask this question. I would have done the same thing. I find that the computer is a great way of avoiding something that I have to do. So I stay on the computer until the last minute, and then rush around like crazy, doing what I need to accomplish.

Sorry that I couldn't help. But at least you have the comfort of knowing that you are not alone!

Hi msolga
Oh, how I feel your pain. I made a huge move a few years back after living in the same house for 23 years. I use to save everything and I do mean everything. We moved over 600 miles away, so that meant that I had to get rid of lots of stuff. I never knew I had so much stuff until I started packing. I swear it took me about 6 months just to go through everything and decide what I was going to keep. I also got distracted by everything under the sun simply to avoid the huge task ahead of me. I really had to push myself right into it. When I finally finished packing I was so happy. We hired a moving company to move our stuff and that was a nightmare in itself. It was suppose to take 3 days for us to get our stuff at our new home, unfortunately it didn't work out that way. The truck got lost way on the other end of Canada and it was 3 weeks before we got our things. Keep in mind that when we left we only brought 3 days worth of clothes. We spent 3 weeks in an empty house with no furnature, cloths, etc... It was awful. When we finally got our things, the furnature was destroyed and we had to go out and buy all new stuff after paying over $5,000 to this moving company to move our stuff. I called my lawyer after the company refused to compinsate us for our lossed, but the company went bankrupt before I could do anything :-(

Now I know this is a strange way of getting you motivated, but it might get you going on the thought that sometimes things can be worse. I wish you the very best on your move. Just remember that when you're all done, you're going to feel great :-D

Astounding Assonance !

We have a task before us which must be speedily performed. We know that it will be ruinous to make delay. The most important crisis of our life calls, trumpet-tongued, for immediate energy and action. We glow, we are consumed with eagerness to commence the work, with the anticipation of whose glorious result our whole souls are on fire. It must, it shall be undertaken to-day, and yet we put it off until to-morrow; and why? There is no answer, except that we feel perverse, using the word with no comprehension of the principle. To-morrow arrives, and with it a more impatient anxiety to do our duty, but with this very increase of anxiety arrives, also, a nameless, a positively fearful, because unfathomable craving for delay. This craving gathers strength as the moments fly. The last hour for action is at hand. We tremble with the violence of the conflict within us,; of the definite with the indefinite; of the substance with the shadow. But, if the contest have proceeded thus far, it is the shadow which prevails, we struggle in vain. The clock strikes, and is the knell of our welfare. At the same time, it is the chanticleer-note to the ghost that has so long overawed us. It flies; it disappears; we are free. The old energy returns. We will labor now. Alas, it is too late! (VI, 148-149)

Edgar Allen Poe

Hi msolga,
This is an amazingly rapid response from a seasoned procrastinator. Read Brian Tracy's Eat That Frog, clear, concise advice which you can take in your own good time..uh uh..DO IT NOW DO IT NOW.

Moving gives you a terrific opportunity to cull your stuff. Be ruthless, and you'll have fewer boxes to unpack at the new place.

Oh I love to procrastinate. I'm moving in a few days and haven't packed yet.

A FEW DAYS?!

Ack.

Not exactly on-topic here, but related. Our last move was several years ago (and it WAS our LAST move!). Currently in the basement and in the loft of the barn are boxes packed, sealed, and moved and moved again over many moves. Never unpacked, never even opened since their contents were deemed worthy of retention any number of houses ago, some are mysteries, some have known, but presently un-needed contents, and some are suspected of containing something of real or personal value. We intend to do a full inventory ... someday. Meanwhile, there's serious procrastination to be done, if only we can get to it.



timber

Procrastination is great until the task undone becomes and immediate impediment to progress. In my case that is often the case I put off, and put off, then suddenly I am scrambling. In recent years I have been better at doing things in order of importance even when I do not want to. Life is much simpler that way at least for me.

I have perfected procrastination. So there.

I know there's something I'm avoiding.....Just can't remember what it is....

Rationalize. I am very good at rationalizing why I need not do that which I should be doing. For example, you didn't pack the books because you really should check them out to make sure they are quite suitable for the book store. Who knows? Maybe there are some personal notes in the book or a clipping put there many years ago. You need to go through some of them page by page to be certain.

And the cat -- cats need their exercise. And besides, the cat surely senses the move is coming and is somewhat upset. A little playing here and there is required in order to maintain the poor cat's little psyche.

Get the idea -- it is perfectly possible to find a 'reasonable' excuse for any procrastination. Take it from one who knows first hand.

And good luck with the move.

Thanks, all, for sharing your tales of "The Affliction" with me. Nice to know that I'm not alone - Even Poe understood the problem! (Till I reached the end of your post, Joan, I thought they were your words. I was astonished at your eloquence & depth of thought on the subject!)

Since I last posted here I talked very sternly to myself, slapped myself around a bit in disgust & even made a LIST! (a truly shocking thing for a spontaneous soul like my good self to resort to!) ..... but my brain was getting a wee bit sea sick trying to juggle so much information ...)

As a result I have gone from one extreme to the other! This is what I did last night & this morning:
* Organized a removalist truck for the Big Day.
* Spoke with my solicitor about settlement matters & insurance of the new place
* Talked to friends who will appear & help on moving day.
* Collected heaps of paper from the filing cabinet for the waste paper collection tommorrow.
* Organized an electrician (phone extensions at my new place)
* Organized a handyman/builder.
* Packed 12 boxes of books in my car. (It's sagging!)
* Rang the 2nd hand book shop. (Closed today. Damn!)
* Organized a 2nd hand dealer to come out & give me an evaluation on my (now too big) Art Deco lounge suite.
*Had a haircut.
* watered the garden. (It's a dought here ... poor garden!)
* Forgot to have breakfast till 12:30
* Hugged my 3 cats, one at a time, (who were totally shocked by all the crazy activity) with great enthusiasm. Told them that I would NEVER dream of leaving them behind & to bear up!
* Got a call for a job interview ... Tomorrow! Good grief!

So, dear all of you, this may not be such exciting reading, but I'm just astonished at what I achieved in such a short time.

But, but ... I wonder if I've betrayed you all? Having pleaded for tales from fellow procrastinators, I then turn around & become Ms Efficiency! Do you feel a bit put out by this? If so, I assure you that this phase is a temporary aboration ... Or maybe I've gone a little mad?

Think I'll have a glass of wine & stop all of this, right now!

Still curious:

What things (not necessarily house-moving ones) are you avoiding right now?
Best distractions?

I'd tell you tomorrow, but that'd be a problem, eh?

We moved a little over a year ago and it was nearly a disaster. Because I had had surgery the month before, and still wasn't up to my own smart-as-an-ox self, getting organized took much longer than it should have. When the movers came we said take all the furniture, the rugs and all the boxes. anything loose we'll take care of...

Now the move was only a half hour away by minivan... so we took care of everything not already in boxes...

To get boxes, well we emptied boxes at the new (old)house. And since the new (old) house needs lots of TLC there were areas we were trying to avoid putting stuff in... like the attic, basement, and kitchen! (spent the first week with the fridge in the dining room).

Anyway, it took us two additional weeks to get our stuff out. The buyers of the old house (the one we moved out of) were kind enough to let us push stuff into the garage while they moved in... yes, we were still moving stuff out as they were moving stuff in.

and now we have stuff that we can't locate. What a suprise!

So get cracking! Otherwise your punishment is self-defined!

SealPoet

Yes! I'll keep at it!
Thanks for the cautionary tale.
Point taken ... Onward, msolga!
Thanks.

Once I made a list of the ten most important things I had to do the next day in order of there importance. The problem was I worked the list from the bottom up. Thus the most imprtant things did not get done.

I spent a lot of years working and going to school and being married and keeping house and garden and working and going to school all at the same time and now I am just working after having moved, and have a house in semi chaos and am in a state of adult rebellion.

Cleaning house becomes very attractive if I need to write up a report, or paint...in other words, what is not due grows in appeal.

Once I act though, I am pretty swift.

Organization has never been a personal strongpoint. My life is a series of distractions punctuted by interuptions. I once made a list detailing my ten most pressing tasks in order of importance. I have no idea what ever became of that list.


timber