for me than debilitating laziness. Lazy student at school and college, lazy employee in a succession of jobs, lazy boyfriend and husband.. I always take the path of least resistance and I hate myself for it. Every so often I shake myself out of it, get on with something, finish it and then feel immeasurably better for a brief period before the old sloth reasserts itself. Having kids has helped a lot as the very young just won't let you get away with sitting on your arse, and conscience won't allow me to be a lazy Dad.

Right, I'm off back to the sofa. Good luck with the therapy Doug, should you choose to go for it.

I recently read this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Confidence-Gap-Dr-Russ-Harris/dp/1849016887/ref=...
'The Confidence Gap' by Dr. Russ Harris.
The reason I say two books is that I've now started his first book 'The Happiness Trap' and realise I would have been better reading that first.
I won't try and explain it here, as I'll only do a bad job, but I recommend that you click the link and judge for yourself.

Best of luck, Dougie.

I'm incredibly lazy and procrastinatey sometimes. Recognise a lot of what you say, Dougie.

I don't know if you're exercising much? Hit it hard, is my advice. It sorts me right out. I've been laid low with a bastard of a cough the last week and haven't been able to run or gym without it really hurting, so I've had some time off, and I'm hating it. My head is so much more sorted and organised when I've been exercising; if I can get my weighty ass down the gym, my brain seems to tell me, I can do other stuff too.

YMMV, of course.

Come along here for some distraction, and the first post I see reminds me what I'm really doing...

I'm a chronic procrastinator, and I really can't afford to be so anymore. Currently I'm trying a "half-hour" technique - do one thing for 30 minutes, then stop (no matter what stage I've got to), have a break and then do something else for 30 minutes. Rotate around my jobs like that.

It's working so far, visits to this site notwithstanding...

and bloody lazy as well. Always have been, always will be, I fear.
And at times it really has been a debilitating problem for me as well.
To be honest, it probably is that right now, but I have perfected the art of wearing blinders to anything I don't want to think about.
But I do at least try to keep it in some sort of control and not let things spin into complete chaos. I will let things slide for a month or two and then I will take one or two days when I work like a beaver to get my life in order again.
The only way to make myself do that is to get up really early and skip breakfast, and just start with one relatively easy task. Once I get going I might as well keep on keeping on. Just don't sit down to have something to eat, if you're hungry eat on your feet.
For me at least - if I sit down, I'm doomed.
I used to have a weekly schedule that I followed for a while, which helped. But these days I work too much and never know when I will have a day off, so I can't do that anymore.
And working that hard doesn't help me get anything done at home...when I finally have a day free I feel that I have earned myself the luxury of not having to do anything unpleasant.
So my home right now is kind of a mess. Luckily Christmas is just around the corner and I will have to do something soon if I'm to let my mum in on Christmas Eve!
Seriously, I don't suffer from depression (except in the springtime) but I do feel as if there's something missing in my head sometimes. My on/off switch is always on "off". I just want to sit in a corner and think.
I can get bursts of energy but never when I need them. Oddly enough I'm not lazy at work, it's just at home.
I have an aunt who is exactly the same as me, so it might be a genetic laziness...
To diagnose myself:
a) From childhood I've always been a very calm person, my idea of playing was to sit and think up scenarios in my head, not at all interested in acting them out running, climbing and shouting.
b) I work very hard and I don't have a job that I love, so I tend to want to compensate for my proffessional boredom at home, just doing fun stuff like reading, writing, watching film, hanging out here, listening to music.
c) My work hours makes it difficult for me to see friends and family much (when I'm free, they are asleep, when they are free, I work) and I live alone, so it's a rare occasion when anyone comes to see me at home.
So I don't have to keep it spotless at all times and no one will complain when I don't (just my nagging conscience).
D) all of this might add up to some sort of latent depression in me, but I do have a very positive and happy personality so the two balance each other out and most of the year the happiness wins (but carries the paralysis of depression with it as a trophy of war unfortunately).
e) in conclution - I'm fucked up, but who isn't ?
Good luck getting anything done (like calling about an appointment with the hypnotherapist!) ;-)

...serious bursts of exercise can really make a difference. Okay, sometimes you have to force yourself to do it - in my case an hour's cycling in the country always helps (I'm lucky enough to have a couple of good routes nearby, but if you live in a metropolis try joining a gym: often the very fact that you have to go there, get changed, etc, focuses the mind so that you don't give up after 5 minutes!). Generally speaking, decent bursts of energy every couple of days should really help your ability to do other things - it's a paradox: use up energy, have more energy (though in fact, because of the chemical reactions in the brain as a result of exercise it's not so much having more energy but having a more positive attitude and will to do more with the energy that was always there).

I understand the depression aspect very well, Dougie. There's no doubt it saps the will to do much of anything - but even in your darkest hour you CAN fight it with a combination of willpower/excercise. I had a bad period 2-3 years back and felt completely drained and lacklustre one Saturday, totally lacking in energy. As it was a sunny day I forced myself to go for a cycle. 67 miles later I was knackered physically but re-energised mentally - it feels like doing battle with a demon on your back sometimes. That kind of irrational rationalising can help!

Having said all that, I've been procrastinating reading a 300 page manual on 'Microsoft Project' for an evening course assignmment for a couple of weeks now. Just looking at it now - what a hateful way to spend a Sunday afternoon...

Let me think about that

I'll get back to you

I've been a chronic put it off until tomorrow (or last minute depending on what it is) and I'm also one of life's daydreamers. I'm also easily distracted. Oh shiny....

So concentration *ooh breasts* is a major problem area *he said area snigger snigger* that I have tried to overcome *oh stop it* since my teens.

Did well at school, but the school report always talked about focusing or applying myself.

I'll post this later on if you don't mind, Alvin & The Chipmunks is on.

In all seriousness, I find the only cure for my procastrination is to just get on and do stuff. Make a list of what you're supposed to be doing and do them, ticking them off as you go.

both jocular and serious.

I've got a bit of a problem. I'm about to be evicted from my flat, cut off from my phone provider, my electricity company and the gas too. It's not that I haven't got any money. In fact, I'm fucking minted. It's just that whenever I think about paying a bill, I'd rather go to bed and have a wank. My problem is procrasturbation.

was Lenny's problem.

I read a good book ages ago the name of which I now forget, but the essence of it was about thinking about your life plan, what you want to get out of it at a macro level, then breaking it down into lower level targets so that you build a sense of structure around yourself. For example, Work, Family, Me, Children, etc which you then break down further into lower level ones till you run out of steam...Then you allocate amounts of time to each area of your life within which to try to achieve whatever you've decided is a priority. This doesn't mean being driven and obsessed about doing things - in fact when I did it years ago I was mega busy at work and socially, and I decided I needed to build more time in to loaf about about and do nothing. But it does help you to be more motivated if you put things in an overall context.

Sounds a bit management consultanty but it does work.

50 seconds in.

I feel so much better for reading this thread, I now know it's not just me.

That's the title of a chapter I found helpful in the book '10 days to Self-Esteem' by David Burns. Well I know that's rather an over-optimistic title for a book, but it does have some v useful stuff in it. The chapter goes into the following at greater length but the summary is:

1. Don't Put the Cart Before the Horse.
Instead of waiting for motivation, get started. Remember: action comes first, and motivation comes second.

2. Make a Specific Plan.
Instead of telling yourself you'll get started one of these days, make a specific plan. Would you like to start today? At what time? What will you do first?

3. Make the Job Easy - (little steps for big feats)
Instead of telling yourself you have to do it all at once, decide to do just 10 or 15 minutes of the task. Break the task into little steps and remind yourself you only have to take the first step today. After that you can stop with a clear conscience, or do more.

4. Think positively
Write down the negative thoughts that make you feel guilty and anxious. Substitute others that are more positive and realistic.

5. Give Yourself Credit
Instead of puttting yourself down because your work wasn't good enough, give yourself credit for what you did accomplish.

From all of that I've got the most benefit from 'action comes first, motivation second' and setting out to do just 10 or 15 minutes of something. More often than not I find I'm really getting into it and go over the 10/15 minute limit, and can then feel good about having achieved that, and more.

Good luck Dougie!

...invest your entire sense of self worth in one aspect of your life. When one thing takes on a disproportionate level of importance any task associated with it become so daunting that you can buckle and fold before the enormity of what needs to be done. The fact that you are troubled by your procrastination means that you care, and while on the surface you may feel helpless, the subconscious parts of your brain are engaged in overcoming your present difficulties. One day you might find that you wake up and feel different, in the same way that answer crossword puzzle can jump into your mind hours after you last looked at the clue.

A lot of posters have mentioned exercise. I find that walking, minus an iPod or any other distraction other than the unfolding tapestry of life, allows the mind to turn itself over. When I was unemployed, I suffered from depression and a sense of inertia. Volunteering helped, as it put me in a position where, for a few hours a week, I stopped thinking about myself and fixated on the needs of others.

In regard to putting things into perspective I find great solace in the fact that, a century from now I will be long dead and nobody will remember that I existed, or care what I did or didn't do on Sunday 13th November, 2011. This kind of approach to life isn't for everyone but it puts a smile on my face and a joyful spring in my step as I march onwards towards oblivion.

Have you ever tried meditation? At times I have found my head so full of reliving the past and worrying about the future (and generally just full of a cavalcade of stuff) that I can't get anything done. It's tiring and numbs the head. Meditation generally does the trick for me.

This book is a rather good introduction: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-Practical-Finding-Frantic-Meditation...

Procrastination? - how do you define it as it affects you?

... which I will post after I've looked at pictures of classic album covers posed with kittens.

http://thekittencovers.tumblr.com/

Last week I was going to post a blog entry about not getting stuff done and lo and behold I never got around to it!

I am ashamed of the amount of half finished projects cluttering up my computers. Books, screenplays, songs, pictures, photo albums.

My excuse to myself is how quickly time goes when being creative. I work all week and the precious weekend sits there waiting to be devoured, but slowly and thoroughly. If I open up Reason or Pages or the Korg app, time speeds up ridiculously and then before I have perfected a cymbal sound it's suit on and out the door on Monday morning.

So I end up spending ten minutes on the guitar, half an hour on the computer music projects, 40 minutes writing one of three books and nothing gets done because I will then go off on tangents and start new books and songs and aaaaggghhhhhh.

Fired into action by this thread, today I changed a washer in a tap, changed a bunch of duff mini lightbulbs, ordered some more on eBay which I didn't have to hand, finished frigging about with the wiring in my studio, did a bit of job search, serviced Mrs T's bike and packed ready for tonight's band practice. Trouble is I feel shattered and cant be arsed to go out now!

Is the bike a congestion charge dodge or is he on a health kick after overdoing it on the Snickers bars?
*edit* I may have misread your post. As you were...

We have a task before us which must be speedily performed. We know that it will be ruinous to make delay. The most important crisis of our life calls, trumpet-tongued, for immediate energy and action. ... It must, it shall be undertaken today, and yet we put it off until tomorrow, and why? There is no answer, except that we feel perverse, using the word with no comprehension of the principle. ... [Then] The clock strikes, and is the knell of our welfare. At the same time, it is the chanticleer-note to the ghost that has so long overawed us. It flies—disappears—we are free. The old energy returns. We will labor now. Alas, it is too late!

I was introduced to Edgar Allan Poe's wonderful piece above through a useful little book called Help! How to be Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done by Oliver Burkeman.

It expresses infinitely more eloquently how I feel from time to time than I ever could.

As it happens, things have brightened a fair bit since I raised this topic. No blinding insights, just put into practice the many tips I've learned (including on here). I just 'bottomed out' I suppose...