Procrastination - a disorganizer

Procrastination - putting things off - is one of the big barriers to getting or staying organized. I see something laying where it shouldn't be and I think to myself, "I'll have to put that away later." I procrastinate instead of putting it away immediately.

In his blog, john place online.com, John outlines 11 causes and cures for procrastination. The causes he lists are:

1. Complicated-task anxiety
2. Fear of imperfection
3. Indecision
4. Priority confusion
5. Boredom from minutiae
6. Lack of focus
7. Poor organizational skills
8. Laziness
9. Lack of energy
10. Early morning lag
11. Post-lunch fatigue

John lists cures of each of these. You can see those cures at the link above. The ones I want to address here are # 3, Indecision, and # 8, Laziness.

I retired the end of May this year. I now have a lot more time to get my yard work done, to fill the cracks in the driveway, to get the broken limb out of the tree, etc. However, I find myself procrastinating on those things. I think it is a combination of indecision and laziness. Now that I have time to do fun things, I want to do fun things all the time and not be bothered with "work" things (laziness). While I'm being lazy, I realize that I'm getting slower at deciding what I am going to do (indecision). I still like the sense of accomplishment when I finish a task, but I just don't want to start it.

Here are some of my possible solutions if you are in the same boat.

1. I've found that making a task list helps. I hate it when the list keeps growing and nothing gets crossed off. The list kind of embarrasses me into doing something.
2. Tell someone else about what you want to accomplish. This can make you more accountable. My wife is good at reminding me about things I need to do. This can be a negative motivator at times, but after a while it works. :)
3. Give yourself a day. If you just don't feel like doing something today, and you will have time tomorrow, promise yourself you will do it tomorrow. Then be sure to keep that promise to yourself. (Tell your wife you are going to do it tomorrow. She'll remind you!)
4. Make note of "better times" to do things. If I put off filling the cracks in the driveway too long, it will be too cold and I won't get it done before winter. Then the cracks will be worse by spring. And I don't like working outside in the cold, so it is better to do it now while the weather is nice. I could use that as an opportunity to enjoy a nice fall day. (I should have done it on one of those nice summer days we had, but I procrastinated. I'm telling myself that was good, because it gave me a topic for this blog post.)
5. Think about what will work best for you. We all have our motivators. If there are things you really need to do, use your motivators to apply pressure on yourself. The important thing is to get done what we need to get done. Use whatever works!

Good luck accomplishing your tasks. On the other hand, if you want to become a professional procrastinator, don't put off procrastinating. Do it right now!

Organized Bargains

Have you ever wished someone would go to the work of searching the Web for bargains, and then organize them all in one place? Well, wish no more. HonestBargain.com is doing just that.

HonestBargain.com is a community driven site locating great bargains across the web. Bargains are updated daily so they are always fresh. People may vote for bargains they know to be good, or leave a comment about those that are good or not so good. That's the value of community! Merchants or individuals who know of good bargains may submit those bargains on the site. That provides the greatest possibility of bargain coverage.

Bargains are organized by category, or you may search through the site for a particular item. Some of the bargains "offers" are time limited, so you will want to check back often to get in on the bargain before the offer runs out.

I wish I had known of such a site when I was buying my last computer. It would have saved me a lot of searching around. The work is already done here.

Someone is not organized

A few days ago I was searching for podcasts I could download to my PDA. I ran across the Yahoo Podcasts site. The site said I would need to download Yahoo Music Engine in order to move the podcasts to my PDA. So I downloaded and installed Yahoo Music Engine. After rebooting, I started up Yahoo Music Engine and was prompted that there was an upgrade that I had to install first. So I went through the process again. After rebooting this time, I was prompted that Yahoo Music Engine had been changed to Yahoo Music Jukebox and I would have to install that first. So I went through the process a third time. After rebooting once more (this was getting old) I was prompted that there was an upgrade to Yahoo Music Jukebox that I would have to install first. So it took a fourth download and reboot, which by now had wasted a lot of my time. By now I am thinking I don't even want to use the program. Fortunately I had blogs to read on my laptop while I waited for this 4-step process on my desktop. So it wasn't a total waste of time.

Here's my question: why couldn't the initial link to the Yahoo Music Engine have taken me directly to the fourth download which was the one they claim I really needed? That would have saved me a lot of time and frustration. A little bit of organization here would help a great deal.

What's really sad is that a notice at the top of the Yahoo podcast site says it is closing down on Oct. 31. I see no explanation given, just a note: "Yahoo! apologizes deeply, but we will be closing down the Podcasts site on Oct. 31, 2007." It appears someone's disorganization wasted a lot of my time, and all for nothing!

Do things right away

I have a new neighbor whose yard always looks clean. He works hard at keeping it looking nice, but I've noticed he does things right away to keep it looking good.

For example, a few days ago we had two days of very strong winds. That brought down a lot of branches, mostly small ones, but some large enough to need a trimmer to cut them up for the trash. I was out picking up my branches the next day. Our trash container was starting to overflow. My neighbor came over and said he had room in his if I needed extra room. The trash haulers were coming that day so I wanted to get as many picked up as I could. So I took him up on the offer. Then he mentioned that he had picked his up the evening before.

The wind had hardly stopped blowing at that point. He was out immediately picking up his branches, keeping his yard looking nice. That my not seem like a big deal, but his yard sure looks nice compared so some of the others in the neighborhood.

When they gave us a tour of their house one day, I noticed everything is well organized. His garage has a place for every tool and each piece of his garden equipment. The house was neat and organized. I expect they put things away immediately inside as well as outside. That makes a big difference.

Doing things right away is a big step in getting and staying organized. When you use something, put it away as soon as you are done. If you see something you forgot to put away, do it as soon as you notice it. If you see something out of place, put it where it belongs right away. This one little "right away" practice will take you a long ways toward being organized.