Time & Procrastination

Procrastination

noun

the action of unnecessarily and voluntarily delaying or postponing something despite knowing that there will be negative consequences for doing so.

Kalima resort pool in Pa Tong, Thailand with my homie Dylan. Calm waters, Phuket, Thailand

One of the things I do NOT like about me is when I spend more than 2 minutes just mindlessly procrastinating when I know I shouldn’t be or know I can do something better

I’m just speaking for myself. It’s a me thing.

I’m not writing this to go ‘easy’ on myself. I want to change this.

I know that sometimes your mind wanders and sometimes it’s okay to just sit on your phone or get distracted every once in a while. But I’m not talking about those instances. I’m talking about when I catch myself doing that and continue on doing it - (perhaps a habit?). 2 minutes is about the maximum time it takes, I’ve figured, that it takes for me to realise myself slipping.

I’m a big fan of ‘using’ my time.

Using time. Not - not using time. Whether that means being engaged in an activity, meditating, resting or even purposefully staying still, as long as I know I’m not procrastinating and am using my time somehow. Makes me feel alive and in control.

Instances like -

1. When I go straight to my phone as soon as I get up when I know I have nothing to check for,

2. How I take my phone when I go to the bathroom when I can leave it outside (why do I even take it, it’s unhygienic)

3. When I have a dilemma and I let my mind constantly go on a tangent to avoid dealing with something that requires rather immediate action

4. When I need to send an email to someone that requires attention to something that could help myself, another person or people.

These are just some of the things that’s on my mind.

So,, what will I do about it?

Sunset at Port Melbourne beach, Melbourne, Australia

Using the SMART Goals model, I will set a goal to:

• I’m going to define tackle my issue of procrastinating while using my phone and laptop - namely my phone, and laptop.

• Keep a weekly tally of how many times I procrastinate for over 2 minutes using these devices. I will keep a weekly tally and update the PDMs team (personal development meeting team - a group of friends where we discuss goals on a regular basis). I will have a note on my phone of the weekly tally that starts on a Thursday and ends on a Wednesday.

  • I will do this starting today - 17/Nov/2022, until the end of the year 1/Feb/2022

  • Each Wednesday, I’ll come back to this blog and write updates on the tally and a written update on how I’m going.

A decrease in tally numbers will prove I’m making progress. I’m aiming for 0-5 moments of procrastination per week.

Week 1

17/Nov/22 - 23/Nov/22

IIII - 4 times I went off track procrastinating, caught myself and only once out of the 4 times I kept going. I could clearly tell that my attention span for tasks at hand was getting better and I felt rather proud each time I went back on task or did something with intent.

Week 2

24/Nov/22 - 30/Nov/22

IIIII III -

Week 3

01/Dec/22 - 08/Dec/22

IIII -

Week 4

09/Dec/22 - 16/Dec/22

IIIII -

Week 5

17/Dec/22 - 24/Dec/22

IIIII I -

Week 6

25/Dec/2022 - 01/Jan/2023

III -

Week 7

02/Jan/23 - 09/Jan/23

II -

Week 8

10/Jan/23 - 17/Jan/23

III -

Week 9

18/Jan/23 - 25/Jan/23

II -

Week 10

26/Jan/23 - 02/Feb/23

I -

How about you?

Do you ever think about this? Have you ever had a problem with the use of technology and social media? If so, how did you solve it?

I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comment section.

As always, thank you for reading.

@taeheebk

p.s. I want to achieve greatness. This isn’t gonna lead me there. So I’m here to fix this