The Queen of Procrastination

I have something to say.

And I’m not sure where to start. The word procrastination keeps circling my brain like a vulture waiting to pounce on it’s prey.

I got guilted into writing today. And I am SO thankful for my accountability buddy for making me feel this way. You know who you are.

I’m not sure what it is…maybe it’s because I have so many thoughts and ideas floating around in my head and the idea of putting them together in to logical sentences is overwhelming. Or maybe it’s because people tell me that I have lots of good information to share, but hey, so do a gazillion other people, and I don’t really believe them. Or maybe I’ve procrastinated writing because I’ve had too much other, more important things to do. (that’s a flat out lie.)

Merriam Webster defines procrastinating – to put off intentionally and habitually. I nailed it. So, when I was meeting with my accountability buddy a few days ago (let’s call her “Julie”), we had a serious chat about procrastination. Basically, me not writing this blog wasn’t painful enough. There were no consequences. The earth wasn’t going to cave in. Nothing was going to happen to my favorite tea mug. My hair wasn’t going to fall out. I was still going to function like an adult.

But here’s what happened next. “Julie” said something that hit my guilt muscle. She said something about making a commitment and not following through She said something about me having something worthwhile to say, and people wanted to hear from me. She said something about disappointing others. And that hurt. (and I was SO grateful to her for saying those things!)

So, that chat has kicked me into gear. I have procrastinated on MANY things lately, and over the last 48 hours, I’ve dug deep and crossed MANY things off of my to-do list in my monaplanner© (thank goodness I had them written down.)

But, the end of the world was drawing near, and I knew I had to write my feelings about procrastinating.

Oh, part of the procrastinating process was researching procrastination (that was after scouring through my recipes and not finding anything I wanted to make, going to a movie, running into Target without a list and finally, yes FINALLY deciding that I would head to the library and NOT LEAVE until this was done) I have 1 hour and 11 minutes before they close.

I’ve also already done my weekly brain dump, which usually doesn’t happen until after 6pm on a Sunday, I’ve done 3 loads of laundry, decided on a few recipes for the week, and read for an hour. You see, I’m milking this procrastination game for all I can. Who am I kidding…I’ve been uber productive!

Here’s a good article that made me think it was written just for me, and maybe you too. I think the hardest thing about putting off writing this post was admitting that I don’t always practice what I preach. Hard pill to swallow sometimes.

So, what have I learned?

1. Accountability buddies are worth their weight in gold.

2. Writing at the library is fairly free of distractions.

3. Guilt, and fear of disappointing someone can be a great motivator for me.

4. If I just “did the task” to begin with, I could avoid the guilt.

5. I am my best audience

I’d love to hear how you procrastinate. When you get around to it.