July: Do it now.

July

Do it now.

- Procrastination

            - Keep a list of things to get done (at home and work)

- Make a schedule with deadlines (fake followed by real, if necessary)

- Mark dates in a calendar; add alarms

            - Divide project into smaller tasks, if necessary

            - Find an accountability partner

            - Make a game out of it (enjoy the process)

            - Keep a file of motivational pictures

- Celebrate progress!

- Bad habits

- Put a quarter in a bag every time I have a nail biting session. At the end of the month, spend the money on someone else.

- Chores

- Do dishes before going to bed or leaving the house

- Take laundry out as soon as it dries (saves energy and money)

- Clean up messes as they happen

- In the workplace

- Volunteer

- When a project comes up, don’t wait for it to be explained, ask for help.

“Procrastination is fueled by weakness in the face of impulse and a failure to think about thinking.”
Read more here.

I have chosen July, the first month of the project, to be the month for anti-procrastination. I will beat this monster, or at least attempt to do so, because I think everyone can agree that when you realize years down the road that you never took care of X, Y, or Z, it is sometimes too late. That’s always a sad thought, and there’s no getting that time back. You usually promise yourself to fix this or that about yourself or your situation in life. But because it can be such a daunting and seemingly insurmountable task, you put it off. Having realized that this is a legitimate problem in my daily life, I’ve decided to focus on beating it in the best way I know how: making lists.

By starting my project off on this foot, I hope to only increase my chance for success in following through on the rest of the project. When things get tough or I start lagging behind on my resolutions, why halt the project altogether? I can see myself doing that (this blog is in part a way to mitigate the chances of that). A major source of this project’s creation was the fact that I’m young now. I am young right now; I won’t be later. I can’t wait until I’m upset about life at age 30 to start fixing problems. There’s a lovely TED Talk of Meg Jay speaking on the premise that 30 is not the new 20, and people need to accept this. There’s no better time than now, freshly 24 years old, to take control of my life and make it what I want for the future me.

Above, I have outlined what I’ll be focusing on in this month of anti-procrastination, as well as strategies for doing so. I’ll most likely be adding to the list here and there, tweaking the details. Every weekend, I plan on updating my successes and failures for the week. This kind of reflection will also enable me to evaluate the upcoming week and perhaps revise my strategies.

If anyone has strategies or ideas on ways they try taming the procrastination dragon, please share! I’m all about suggestions.
-Jamie

Step one: Make the announcement.

Welcome, friends and strangers. My name is Jamie, and I am very un-creatively starting my own version of Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project.


Several months ago I was removed from a two year relationship and a fresh engagement. Needless to say, I was wrecked. However, because of the amazing friends and family I’ve managed to collect over the years, getting through the worst of it happened fairly quickly. From this experience, I recognized quite a few things in my life that I’d like to change. These ‘things’ range from stopping my random nail biting to showing more love for everyone around me to pondering spirituality. For now, I only have a rough list of areas in which I’d like to improve, but starting June 30^th, I’ll be officially launching the project. That’s my 24^th birthday, and it will span twelve months, ending on my 25^th birthday next year. From this project, I am hoping to learn many things about myself and others and to emerge a more well-rounded individual capable of calmly handling daily stressors as well as larger life obstacles.


Before I officially kick the blog off in a few weeks, I will list my twelve resolutions. As each month comes up, I will outline my plan of attack for achieving ‘success’ in that category. For example, if July is 'get smarter,' then I will list out all the ways I intend on measurably doing so. Pretty simple.


This entry is just to set the stage. Feel free to follow this blog, or don’t. It’s really so I don’t bug my friends constantly on facebook, but I can still ramble to the Netizens of the world.

Much love,
Jamie