MyklK

For me, I am a list person.  And I’m not.

I like making lists.  It can actually feel the items dripping out of my brain and onto the list.  I then have space to add new things to my mental memory banks.

But there’s the problem I see in many places.  I don’t have a good name for it though.  Well, when you don’t have a good name for something you give it a little description and call it a “syndrome.”  So this is “I declared it, so it’s done” syndrome.

I sit in meetings where we discuss a course of action.  The discussion can get elevated and when we come to a decision, it feels like we really did something.  But we didn’t do anything!  We decided to do something.  That’s not the same as carrying out the decision – I have to keep reminding myself of this, because I suffer from this syndrome.

So when I make a “to do” list (or a “will do” list, or a “wish to do” list, or a “should do” list, or now a “do do” list…), I think that putting it on the list accomplishes something.  I think that is because I feel the dripping out sensation.  I think what I need to find is the feeling of accomplishment.

This leads me to a life coaching question, “What have you done well, lately?”  This could be refined to yesterday, or even so far today.  This question puts aside the nice feeling you get from “I declared it, so it’s done” syndrome, and actually asks you to dig in and recognize actual accomplishments.

Then as a follow up, you just ask clarifying questions.  “How do you plan to continue doing this?”  “What else could you do to build on this?”  “How did you feel when you recognized you achieved this accomplishment?”

This is a great self-coaching session you can have with yourself whenever you need to step it up a notch and actually accomplish what’s on your list and not just be a list maker.

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Wow, it’s been almost a week since I posted.  I read an entry on another blog that you should only write a blog post 2-3 times a week.  You will wear people out with all your drivel otherwise.  To each their own.  If I was blogging for them, I might take that advice.  But at this point – I’m blogging purely for myself, so…

I just read this morning about two things to do to conquer procrastination:

1. Break it up – look at tasks you are putting off in small, manageable, bite-sized pieces.
2. Write it down – writing goals is great, but to help with this problem you need to log what you’re doing so you can look at it with honesty and see where you are wasting your time.

I think I’m up for this.  As a major procrastinator, I want to find something that works.  Because my whole goal in the “SetOfSail” thing is to find things that work and share them with “the rest of us.”

So how do I achieve that?  Do I use my Palm and put entries in DayNotez?  Do I put entries in Twitter (which will be rebounded back to here)?  Nope – nixing that one up front.  Could use AirSet… that’s a possibility.  Or could use my text TODO trick…  I hate having so many options!  Just kidding.  Options are a good thing – when you take one.

So my Will Do list today consists of:

• Decide how to track my procrastination list (I’ll call this my “Do Do” list 😉
• At work – try to understand the CAL since I’ll be working on it for a few days 🙁
• Have an outline for this weekends Sabbath School lesson (handouts would be good)

Let’s not get carried away.  This is plenty.

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