...And Go!

Hey there,


Diving right in... So as I stated in class on Thursday, I will use this blog to track and hopefully improve my time management skills/ reduce my tendency to procrastinate. 

My history of procrastination:

I've procrastinated all my life, so this behavior is thoroughly engrained in me; I actually see it as part of my character (i.e. Kristy: daughter, fighter, and procrastinator). I'm not quite sure where it comes from but I do know that I hate being late for everything. People who know me just expect me to be late; which doesn't help. And the consequences for being late are so minute, they hardly ever have an impact. I do feel shame when I'm late; however, that doesn't seem to affect me enough to change this behavior.

 I have attempted to change this behavior countless times before, but obviously without any sustained success. I actually reached a point where I simply stopped trying to be on-time or determining timelines to accomplish work related tasks. In fact, this was my new years resolution. I just got tired of the pressure I put on myself to improve my time management and the continuous failures of my attempts. So I gave up, and tried to accept it as a part of who I am. The problem with that is other people are impacted by my lack of timeliness. By being late, I make other people late. This wouldn't be a problem but they start to complain, and get irritated with me; which sucks.

Other than being constantly late for everything (except classes ), another downfall to procrastinating is pulling the all-nighters to meet deadlines for work and school. Although I don't enjoy doing it, I do enjoy the pressure that comes with performing a last minute task. It feels like a rush of madness, where I don't have time to think. I just do it and pray for the best. And when I'm finally done, it feels like I ran a marathon and can now exhale the deep breath I took 12 hours earlier. Such an awesome feeling! It gives me a great sense of accomplishment, where as pacing myself to complete a task is simply anti-climactic. Never the less, procrastinating does have a negative impact on my life, so I will reluctantly make another attempt to improve my time management.

So, I think I'm gonna use good ole positive reinforcement to begin tracking my efforts. I will set daily and/or weekly goals and reward myself with something if I achieve my tasks. But, here is where we encounter problem # 1. I never know what to reward myself with. Also, being a product child of the 80's, I'm all about instant gratification. I mean, when I try to reward myself for reaching a goal, it seems pointless; since I would have rewarded myself anyway. In any case, I will give this method another try and hope it works. BTW, I'm open to suggestions to address this, so feel free to throw some ideas out there. 

My goal for tomorrow:
Be on time for classes and meeting.
Reward: ? (can't think of one)

Already off to a bad start. Wish me luck! :)