Procrastination at its finest

Why do today what can be done tomorrow?

Am I right?  If you have bills to pay and they are due towards the middle to end of the month and you've still got a few weeks to go, why not just wait until it gets a little bit closer to the due date?  If you're in school and you've got a test in a month, why bother studying now?

If you have guests coming over for the holidays and plan on baking sweets and treats, you shouldn't need more then a week (or less) to grocery shop and prepare.  

Doing things way before they need to be done is just silly, because... think of everything else you could be doing!  

WRONG!

Why do tomorrow what you can do today?

By doing the things that you have to do now, you leave yourself more time for the fun things you have to do later.

Also, if you consider the fun things you want to do later, as rewards, then you will plow through whatever tasks you feel like are weighing you down in order to get to the ones that are more enjoyable later.

There is a huge sense of satisfaction in crossing things off of a list of things to-do.  And you no longer feel like there is this little voice whispering in your ear, tainting all your fun with that uncomfortable, nagging feeling of something you are putting off.

I cannot make myself do the things I have to do.... it's too hard!

I know from experience that sometimes bringing ourselves to actually start conquering those annoying tasks that take up our time and our efforts can be a job in itself.  

Some of the things that I like to do to get myself in a "take care of business" mood is sit down in a comfortable area (but not too comfortable) with a piece of paper, maybe a coffee, and some relaxing (but not too relaxing) music.  I usually listen to the same music every time I want to gear myself to get things done, this way it is a mental trigger to me that we are getting serious. (We being me.)

After I sit down with my coffee, my pen and paper, and my Manchester Orchestra Pandora radio station going, I start to write a list of absolutely everything that is weighing on my mind as obligations I need to get done.  Then I review the list and give each task an estimated time to completion.  

The jobs that are going to take the least amount of time, I compile into a new list in order by which ones are easiest.  Then I make a second list of the other things that will take more time.  This second list is also in order from easiest to hardest.  

Once I have my two lists, I pick a few of the super easy and super fast things to start my day with, and I write a third list of actual things I am going to do once I finish writing all these lists. The super fast and easy tasks help me to have that "feel-good-instant-gratification" feeling that gives me a sense of accomplishment and gears me up to keep going.

Then, I try to accomplish at least two of the lengthier, but still easy tasks, on my second list.  If I get through all the things on my third list, then I consider myself having done a good job.  I didn't overwhelm myself with ALL the things I needed to do, resulting in me doing nothing.  But, I was still able to take a step back and look at ALL the things I needed to do.  

Then prioritized the things that I wanted to get done first.

If I got everything done quickly and didn't procrastinate while going through my lists (which sometimes happens), then I still have time to do one of my more fun and rewarding tasks at the end of the day.

Aren't I just procrastinating by writing all these lists?

Well, in a way, Yes. In another way, No.

Basically, it is important to organize your mind in order to not feel overwhelmed with the obligations that are stressing you out.  By writing these lists, you are giving yourself a visual of the things that are stressing yourself out and mapping a plan to make those lists shorter and shorter and eventually completed and done.

This visualization of a long list getting smaller and smaller by being divided into these separate lists makes the one big job feel like a bunch of littler jobs and far more manageable.

Of course, this might not work for everyone.

In fact, I wrote myself a couple of these lists yesterday, have been slowly plugging away at them, and right now am writing a blog post about them as a form of distraction and procrastination from doing them. :D

Better get back to it!