Procrastination - how to slip, slide past it

The easy, not the hard way.  [Prepared earlier, in Jan 2018. Oops, talk about procrastination...]

Any time I see an article about how to beat procrastination, I read it.  I hope for the ultimate insight that will help me get rid of this awful obstacle that makes me feel paralysed and bad, bad, just horribly bad. Ugh.

"I would like to do xyz, but...!  I can't get going, I can't make myself do it, it's too hard, there is xyz difficulty that's stopping me, I just can't." - It's this awful feeling of being stuck in hardening mud. Very close to dried in concrete consistency.

Horrible!

So this last post I read talked about a mental exercise that is meant to connect you with the person you will be once you've done it, or achieved a long-term goal (something like it, I'm not actually quite clear on that point). I'm not too keen on this because it asks you to put yourself rather deeply into the paralysed state of how you feel when you're stuck.  To my mind that's not helpful because it makes me feel even more paralysed. I'd rather come from the other side: from a positive, constructive angle.

This other piece has a different piece of advice that might be pretty helpful: trading in the whole shebang of how dreadful you feel about being stuck right now with what it takes to spend only five minutes and make yourself do the dreaded task, - literally just for the five minutes. You can stop at that point.

I find this pretty helpful actually, particularly when it talks about being in the flow that puts you in a mental state when you no longer care that you used to be stuck once upon a time (when on earth was that? Oh pooh! I've forgotten already!).  That all sounds pretty familiar.

Embed from Getty Images

I just don't know that I can commit to these "just five minutes" all the time and with all the procrastination issues that I run into. Sometimes I am unable to motivate myself into even just five minutes, and that ends up making me feel ever worse... Bleurgh. You can imagine.

I found a way of sort of slipping or sliding past the procrastination obstacle, it works relatively well for me.  I suppose it is a version of the five minute rule. But hey! Whatever works, right?

So: here's what I found what works for me. There are a few different elements to it so it hope that some of it I might work for you too.

Procrastination is all about feeling very stressed or fearful of doing something. There's a heck of a lot of anxiety because I either want or desperately need to do something but it is getting worse and worse because I am just not doing it. I put it off, and put if off, and put it off...

While I do that I manage to get all sorts of other things done!  I'll voluntarily wash up, change the bed sheets, shine shoes... or those displacement tasks. The mere thought of the task makes me shudder and quickly turn to something else, because it is just all too much.

Anxiety Central.

But let's go with the constructive angle, let me pick an example.  I made this beautiful embroidery of orange trees and and a gorgeous border of fruit and berries. The embroidery was all done (halleluya!) but I wanted to turn it into a cushion cover and give the whole thing to my mum as a present. I knew she'd love it and was really looking forward to being able to hand it over.

Did I?  Nope. It must have taken me about 10 years, give or take. And the most horrible, "I could kick myself in the butt" part of it all was that it took me an hour to put the cushion cover together.  Once I started.

It was that starting that was the problem and something else.

Before I successfully stopped smoking I had the same issue and it got me onto the solution:

How am I going to do this?  

What are the practical, actual steps that I'll do?  How am I getting this done?  What does it take? That was it!

Before I was able to envisage stopping smoking I had to start thinking about how I was going to do it. Was I going to use nicotin replacement products like gum or patches, would I want to go with sugarfree lollies to give my mouth something to do? How did I want to approach it?

It still took months but this was the essential first step I needed to put in place, it didn't work without that. In the case of the cushion I needed to ask myself what sort of cover I wanted to make and what the first step was.

A big frill around it has to be sewn to something, and not just the embroidery itself. I didn't realise that: it was just this big mystery about how a mysterious process that would turn a flat embroidered piece into a slip cover. Funnily enough I did a cushion cover with the same technique a few months before I finally spent the hour getting over my ten year long hump. So I learned just in time, but I hadn't thought it through.

So that's what I want to think about in future: anything I procrastinate about: I want to think of the practical steps I either need to take, and that I want to do. It doesn't have to be the way other people would get this done, I can find my own way!

If you want to do the same but feel totally clueless about where to start: the Internet is your friend. It is your very clever friend. It seems to obvious but type in your question: how do I...?  More often than not (and several hours of fun researching this later. Beware the rabbit hole, but hey! That's fun too) you will find an answer of something to try. If it doesn't work for you then keep looking.  Figuring stuff out is part of the feeling of achievement, you don't need someone to take you by the hand and talk you through this: you've got this!

Just one little bit

My other very practical advice for those tasks that I find difficult to get started on is to get to your feet and go get one very small bit done.  Something as small as winding a sewing machine bobbin with the right colour sewing thread, or washing an ashtray out. Or pulling out one of the bits of paper you need for your tax return, something small. Anything at all.

With the understanding that you don't have to do anything else. I don't like to commit to five minutes, it feels like too much pressure. All that expectation that I'll get even five minutes done!  It is paralysing.  I might be able to do a single little bit - and I like to go do that as soon as I think of what it might be. Just slip it in there!  Just a nice, quick one.  Nothing more. Oh no Sir! Utterly, completely, definitely no, not at all, nuthing more...

...oh go on then, just a little bit more. Or not, no pressure. But if the next little bit seems easily do-able, why not? Every little helps!

Sometimes you get into the flow (that's what you're aiming for) but not always. Be proud of that single thing you managed to do! It is more than you had gotten done before that. Sit back down, celebrate the feeling of achievement! You've done good.

And whenever the urge or the thought comes up of what the next step might be, go and do that too - however long after the first one. At some point you'll start doing this thing that you've put off for so long. You've "tricked" yourself into it by taking the pressure of expecation out of the equation. That's sometimes all it takes.

And here's the last element that helps me.

A change is as good as a rest

When I sew a project that feels endless and I find it difficult to keep going - this often happens when I haven't found "the flow" or dropped out of it.  I know I could do more but I am feeling something close to revulsion about having to carry on with the blasted task.

Then a bit of a change is good. You can do something like changing the order of things that you need to do to complete your tasks, or you can go do another small (unrelated) task that also helps you feel achievement. It's probably a good idea to do something that won't take long. It does happen that I'll happily distract myself from the dreaded task by deep-diving into something else that I get the flow thing with. You might get yourself back into it with another stab at a small thing only.

The benefit

And the last thing I'd like to add is that it helps a lot to have a visual image in mind: something that will or could happen once you're successful. I kept imagining the look of sheer surprise on my father's face when he'd realise that I no longer smoked. It really kept me going, it was such a nice thing to aim for because it made me feel exceedingly good.

So that's my ideas. I'd love to hear of other things that help you get around procrastination. Please comment!

PS: These posts are also pretty good: why procrastinators procrastine (part 1) and how to beat procrastination (part 2). Actually thinking about it, these posts probably did influence my ideas (as above) quite a bit. So give them a read, see if if kicks something off in your brain.

Move posts, keep goals

This is a post I drafted in 2012, and forgot to publish. It is still a good thought that I'm glad I came across again. I want to also blog again. Let's see how that goes!

Embed from Getty Images

I caught an advertising slogan out of the corner of my eye this morning: something about moving posts but not goals.  It's very apt: my goals are the things I want to achieve - those are not going to change whatever else happens, - but it is the posts that can be moved, uprooted and re-set.

I don't have to rigidly stick with 'the plan' that I hoped would get me there.  I can be flexible and reconsider when things enter tough-going terrain and I begin to fear that I am giving up on a cherished hope.  I tend to run out of steam somewhere along the way and feel utterly frustrated and discouraged when that happens.

Thinking about this posts versus the actual goal thing: the discouragement has nothing to do with the goal being 'too tough', my goal is still the same thing: something I would love to be able to do or to get to.  Whether it's an activity (like dressmaking or heck yes even dating), or something I want to get to (like slimming down and getting fitter), or what I want to be (more optimistic; living in a more 'aware' manner; becoming more confidant about achieving my goals even).  Whether it's tough or easy to achieve, the goal remains the same.

But the posts I set to get there, those can be anything and anywhere.  I see them as both the measurements I use to decide success or failure as well as my overall strategy in itself.

I've often made the mistake of going very over-the-top in what I expect from myself in terms of a specific goal.  When I think about wanting to be slimmer I get totally carried away and start to think that a couple of kilos just won't do and it's got to be at least a stone that I want or need to lose, and while I'm at it, why not two stone or, heck, even three?

Where does that rubbish thinking come from?  Why on earth would I heap this monumental burden on top of my hopes and inflate expectations and standards to  unachievable proportions?  Am I trying to set myself up for a lack of success?  Am I trying to make sure that I'll fail?  What the hell is going on?

This is ridiculous.

My goal hasn't changed: I still want to slim down and get fitter.  Feel better within myself.  Be proud of the way I look and the way I carry myself.  But it seems that I've done something with the posts that almost guarantees that the goal remains at an unreachable distance from my grasp.  The initial expectation and hope of perhaps a couple of kilos, maybe three, - that's achievable.  Is it that I'm scared that I won't achieve the low-expectation objective?  Is that why I ratchet up my expectation so I can tell myself: oh well, it was too difficult, no wonder that I didn't succeed.  Is that it?

Eating the right kinds of fat

Well, what do you know.  It is important to eat the right kinds of fat and I just found out that I don't know nearly as much about that subject as I fondly imagined I did.

Dang.

Very inspiring article in the Huffington Post: Time for an oil change
(Give it a read, lots of useful information there.)


I have noticed some of these symptoms but had no idea that these are clues: brittle nails, dry skin and aching joints.  Because of my high cholesterol I try to eat as little fat as possible and eat more omega 3 rich foods than other greasy and processed foods.  It seems that I have't identified the right kinds of food yet.

I am doing okay in eating salmon but I was clueless about walnuts and brazil nuts.  These are good for me?  Dammit, I love those and I've been trying to stay away from them!

I can't believe that I didn't know that.  I feel a bit stunned.  Pulled up.  It is really good to find out now: I can start to do something about this.

I thought for a while that I want to find out more about nutrition.  My diet is not great and I know it could be a lot better.  I'm beginning to get the feeling that my diet might actually be quite a bit worse than I thought - the lovely thing is that I can actively do something about it and the best place to start is knowing what kinds of foods to try that I haven't given a chance.

It is even better that between writing the last bit and this, I went and got busy in the kitchen.  I had courgette and broccoli stems in the fridge that were fresh, lots of onion and made steamed rice with it.  I'm munching on that now.  Nothing to do with fats (I used a touch of olive oil) but I am doing something about my vegetable deficit.

My problem is that I don't really know what tastes good.  When standing in a big supermarket it's just so hard to try and decide what I feel like. And when I find ingredients or sauces and marinades that sound tasty then I don't know how to cook them.  I am just clueless. If I do ever date again then I will need to warn the poor guy: I boil a mean pasta (just the right side of nicely al dente. A lot of the time anyway) and I'm a terrific warmer-upper of pasta sauce, but apart from that...

I had a lime and sweet chilli marinade that works well with these vegetables plus a can of chopped tomatoes. I added plenty of salt reduced soy sauce and then went to town on some herbs that I felt like: Italian mixed herbs, chilli powder and lemon pepper.  A bit of chicken would have improved the meal but that's the only negative.  I very much want to try out all sorts of flavours so I know what I like - I'll be able to shop with specific dishes in mind and I just know that that's going to make things so, so, so much easier!

I will be looking out for walnuts and omega 3 eggs next time I'm in the supermarket (I can already picture which aisles they're on) - I would add them to my shopping list, if I made one, whoops (another point for that list of: might be a good idea/could try that).  Now all I need to figure out is: what the heck is cold water fish when it's at home?

Isn't it a good thing that I like figuring things out?  Another opportunity for my favourite pastime: diving into this there Internet thingy  - with abandon!

Fun.

What does sleep have to do with weight?

What I came across today: really interesting information when you're desperately trying not to gain weight but something unfathomable is going very, very wrong. You try and try and it ain't happening.

Well, are you sleeping enough? Well enough, early enough?

I never thought to connect the amount of sleep I get with my fluctutions in weight.  Stands to reason that other things work out better as well when you get enough sleep, - but your weight?  Blimey, that's a really good point - I will definitely watch out for a bit to see how I am doing on this.

Here is the link to the article: "People who stay up late eat more, eat worse, study finds". There is the link to the source data on Obesity, a research journal, this also mentions previous studies on animal feeding times and their weight regulation.  One of the big conclusions of the present study (about humans, obviously) is that eating after 8pm increases the risk of obesity.  Who'd have thought that there's scientific evidence for this. In-ter-est-ing!

Years ago I saw an Oprah Winfrey programme where she mentioned that she doesn't eat after a certain time in the evening ("Not even a grape!"), which happened to be earlier than 8pm, and was and is way too early for me.  I would think that her work day starts a lot earlier than mine though.  I'd arrived at a 8pm cut-off time as a good time for me and I was very happy to find that I lost over a stone and a half in weight.  It took about 8-9 months.  The nice thing was that I wasn't doing anything all that differently except for just not eating after 8pm.  (Most of the time: aiming for doing the right thing 80% of the time is good.  It is achievable and that percentage gives you optimum effect and the best chance of success)

The trick is to find the right time to make the change into the new regime.  Our habits don't let go of us so easily, it takes a bit of time and effort to adapt to a new habit and stick with it.  When I had success with this (rather a while ago...) it was because I started on a Friday evening when I didn't have anything on and a whole relaxing weekend to get into it - there was no pressure, no stress from having to be anywhere or do anything.  I think I'd like to do that again: look out for the right time and then go for it.  Might be useful to make sure I have healthy food in the house and an idea of what to cook so I can do that in time for the cut-off point.  Always useful to have a plan...

The bit about not eating even a grape is to do with the acid/fruit sugar in a grape: it does a great job in increasing your appetite.  Not the sort of thing you want to happen late in the day: you've already eaten your evening meal and you really don't want to have to deal with getting hungry again.  Particularly when you had enough food...  Makes sense, don't it?

The increase in appetite is down to, I think, the effect on your stomach juices (or are they called digestive or gastric juices?  Basically, the liquid stuff that breaks down food).  Plain water is good: there's nothing in there with unwanted side effects and it fills your stomach.  Some people prefer not to drink anything with a meal, they say that it dilutes those stomach juices and makes digestion less effective, or something along those lines.  I am not sure what I think of this thought yet, I'll have to look into it a bit further.

There's another good article: "Are you getting enough good sleep?"

This also relates consequences of poor sleep as "increased fat storage" as well as "reduced insulin sensitivity" amongst other factors.  I thought the reference to magnesium deficiency was very interesting.  The problem is that symptoms of magnesium deficiency are extremely hard to interpret correctly.