Life in progress

Tag Archives: procrastination


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One-Liner Wednesday – I don’t learn

Every Tuesday after I write my One-Liner Wednesday post, I tell myself I’ll have a whole seven days to come up with something to write for this challenge next week, but every Tuesday afternoon, I sit at my desk and ask myself, “What the heck am I going to write for One-Liner Wednesday?”

If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com

Available now! Click the image.


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JusJoJan25 the 30th – Hesitation

This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “hesitation,” comes to us from Wendy. Check out her blog here!

Hesitation has to be my biggest downfall. It happens on different levels.

At the smallest level, take this post, for instance.

I got the title and the first two lines ready to go almost two hours before I finally started writing what was going to be in the body of the post.

At the most critical level (of my writing and publishing career), I tend to hesitate before I publish a book, putting it off—putting off the steps to getting ready—sometimes for months, leaving me to scramble at the last minute to get everything set to go.

I’ve often thought this might be a form of self-sabotage.

And maybe it is.

But the core reason behind my hesitation is the NEED for everything to be perfect.

And it never is and never will be.

What sucks is my hesitation causes me actual physical pain.

Before I started writing this post, my heartburn was extremely painful. Now? After, like, four minutes of writing? It’s almost gone. In fact it was gone before I started writing this paragraph, but now that I’m thinking about it … (Stop thinking about it, Linda. It’s entirely stress-related.)

So yeah. I wish there was a cure for hesitation.

For perfectionism.

And for worrying about screwing up when I’ll never know if things will go smoothly unless I actually start doing them.

This woeful post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Wendy for the prompt!


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JusJoJan25 & #SoCS the 11th – It’s the little things

This post is part of Just Jot it January and my weekly prompt, Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt and see how you can join in HERE.

It’s the little things …

A row of knitting on top of a row of knitting that eventually makes a blanket.

A piece of paper I no longer need shredded and put out for recycling.

A word on my blog that leads to the next.

Without the little things, I’d never wrap my head around the idea that I can get the big things done.

Problem is, there’s always another big thing waiting to get done.

Still, I like the idea of the little things.

It’s the little things that make me happy.

This little post is part of Just Jot it January and SoCS! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

 


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JusJoJan25 & #SoCS the 4th – Sticking to it

This post is part of Just Jot it January and my weekly prompt, Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt and see how you can join in HERE.

Every day, I write out two to-do lists for myself.

One is the stuff I need to get done “today,” things like edit this, write that, read a book, post for Just Jot it January … stuff I know I need to do without making a list, but it’s nice to be able to cross off the easy stuff.

The second list is stuff I need to get done in the near future—update my editing site, update my author site, get covers for my new series, etc. Some of the things on this list have been there for years.

Procrastination is a thing, and apparently so is self-sabotage. But I digress.

Every day, I see the things I need to do—the things in front of me.

But I only go back to see what I’ve accomplished—the things behind me—once a year.

Maybe I’d be less down on myself for not getting things done if I looked back more often and saw that there are things on my second list that I have accomplished.

This contemplative post is part of Just Jot it January and SoCS! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

 


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#SoCS – Just plain lazy

There’s no other way to describe my weekend than just plain lazy.

I’ve barely done anything this weekend.

Well, I did go for a mile-long walk with Alex today.

And I am going to write “The End” on a 93,000-word novel tonight, as long as life doesn’t go sideways on me.

But I didn’t write all those words this weekend. It’s taken me three months.

Maybe I’ve earned a lazy weekend.

Happy Easter!

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This short, day late, plain lazy post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt here and join in! It’s fun!


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#SoCS – My spare … bedroom?

When I decided on the house I’m living in, one of the things I liked was that it had a spare bedroom. Somewhere my mother could sleep when she came over for a holiday.

And it worked out well for the first … I’m going to say eight years I was here.

Then it was 2020 and my mother stopped coming over. She moved to a nursing home and I needed somewhere to put her stuff.

Guess where it went.

Guess where some of it still is.

I decided to repurpose the room as my office since it already had a desk in it, at the foot of the bed.

The bed that’s piled two feet high with stuff I didn’t have anywhere else to put.

But my back is to it, so I only see it if I get up. Or if I’m on a video call.

My office is where I work. Where I procrastinate.

I have evidence.

It’s sneaking up behind me.

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This cluttered post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt here and join in! It’s fun!


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One-Liner Wednesday – Why is it?

Why is it that every week I decide I’m going to write a bunch of one-liners and schedule them out for a month and yet every week, I’m scrambling to come up with a one-liner on Tuesday night at 11pm?

If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com

Available now! Click the image!


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#JusJoJan the 29th/23 – The treadmill

Our prompt word for January 29th is “exercise.” Thanks so much, Wendy, for the energetic prompt!

I try to exercise every day.

Okay, maybe try is a big word.

Maybe it’s more like I plan to exercise every day.

Okay, okay, okay. I think about exercising every day.

During the height of the pandemic, when Alex wasn’t going to school and the library was closed so Chris, my other son, stopped going out once a week, I bought a treadmill.

Are there months when it doesn’t even get used? Sure.

I still try to go out for walks when it’s not too snowy or icy or cold or hot and humid.

But does it get used when those conditions are not the case?

I used it a whole three times last week. And once so far this week.

I need to try harder.

 ***

This self-motivational post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Wendy! Please be sure to check out Wendy’s blog here!

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/29/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-29th-2023/ It’s fun!


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#JusJoJan the 6th/23 – Sweet spot

Thanks so much to Ritu for her delectable prompt of the day, the word “sweet.”

I’m going to write about how busy I am—yes, again—because A) it’s what’s on my mind, and B) if I start talking about sweets … Let’s just say there’s an unopened tin of Quality Street chocolates upstairs and I’m trying to not tempt myself into opening it until I’ve completely digested my holiday dinners.

On point “A,” I’m discovering (today—this is an observation I’m just making today) that if I’m only a little bit busy, meaning I’ve got nothing currently on my plate to get done on a deadline, I get less done of what I need to do and more procrastinating done than if I was busier.

It’s the mindset of Oh, I can get that done in five minutes! I can play a game or scroll through my Facebook feed first … what do you mean it’s four o’clock already?!?

It’s as destructive a mindset as, say, opening a tin of chocolates and eating all the orange ones … *slaps self*

My point is, there’s got to be some kind of sweet spot where I’m busy enough to convince my brain that yes, I have to get some work done today, and no, it’s not okay to waste an entire day doing nothing, or on the other face of the coin, being so busy I just want to crawl under the bed with the cat and go to sleep instead of digging in and getting it done.

And if there’s no sweet spot, how do I create one?

The answer is, of course, discipline. Not chasing after that shiny bit of string (apparently I’m easily influenced by the cat) like Facebook when I could be getting the few things that need to be accomplished done first.

Writing everything down in a planner is helping. Being able to see my to-dos without having to remember them (or conveniently forget them) works well as long as there aren’t too many gaps in my schedule.

Maybe I need to find a way to concentrate all my tasks into a set time. Like, say, 9 to noon and 1-5, and then take my scrolling time after those hours.

Now there’s a concept.

I’ll have to contemplate that over some chocolate.

 ***

This proactive post is brought to you by Just Jot it January and Ritu! Thanks so much again, Ritu, for the sweet prompt. Please be sure to check out her blog.

For Just Jot it January, click the following link to see how you, too, can join in! https://lindaghill.com/2023/01/06/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-6th-2023/ It’s fun!


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One-Liner Wednesday – Thief

Photo: A quote on a starry background. “Procrastination is the sneakiest of thieves. It steals from us time, our most precious resource, yet we allow it to live under our rooves.” ~ Linda G. Hill, from an untitled WIP

If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.

NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, like Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.

Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”

The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com