Anti-Procrastination Archives - Page 4 of 9

Category Archives for Anti-Procrastination

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Gettin’ Messy!

This probably makes me a horrible mom, but I am always hesitant to let my kids do certain things because I dread the mess it will create. (Let me clarify, I dread cleaning up the mess it will create!) My list of I-rarely-say-yes-to-doing-this activities includes play-dough, playing in the rain, playing in the dirt/mud, painting, and more. I realize that all of these activities are some of the best memories I have of my own childhood. How much fun can a kid have without doing those things? I keep telling myself that I will let them do more of it when they're older and can help more with clean-up.

But, seeing as how this is anti-procrastination year and all, I decided that today was the day I was going to surprise the ~~socks~~ flip-flops off the kids by telling them I would get the kiddie pool out for them. Last year I kept putting them off because I “didn't have time” to clean the dirt off from storage, blow it up, and ultimately clean up dripping wet kids. The whole summer ended up going by and we never got the pool out one time. Shameful, isn't it? But you have time for what you make time for, right? And there's nobody more important that I should be making time for than my kids, even if that means it's not totally convenient for me.

So here we are getting things set up. It wasn't too bad yet at this point. I put the baby in his inflatable bath tub because I was afraid the older kids were going to get too wild and hurt him if I put him in with them.

But he saw how much fun they were having, crawled out of his tub, across the grass, and into the pool with them. What did I say about the other kids being too wild? See the bottles of water in their hands? They were headed straight for the baby's head, and landed there about a second after I snapped this picture! (Oh, and don't you just love the shirt I drew on my oldest? My artistic abilities are amazing, I know!)

Did they make a mess? Most definitely! It was interesting trying to figure out what to do with three soaking wet kids when I could only bathe and dry one of them at a time. Leaving them outside by themselves is not an option in the house where we currently live. I ended up making them stand in the laundry room while I took them in one by one and bathed them as fast as I could. Then there was the fun part of draining the pool and rinsing out all the dirt and grass, setting it out to dry, cleaning up all the toys, and washing wet towels and clothes.

Did they have fun? Absolutely! Of course the first thing they asked when we came in was, “Can we go swimming again tomorrow?”

We just might, little ones. Mommy had a whole lot of fun out there too. I think the mess was worth watching your happy faces!

Your turn! What is it that you've been putting off because you don't want to deal with the mess? Whether it's something fun with the kids, a household project, cooking supper (ha!) or whatever else, it's time to get it done.

If you're just now joining our Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can read all the details here. Be sure you're subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each new challenge!

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Thinking Ahead

One thing that I am horrible about is thinking that I have plenty of time to get something done. Before I know it, the event has sneaked up on me and I am hanging out to dry. (Insert head hanging in shame here as I admit that Father's Day was a day of “Oh, yeah, it's Father's Day. I really meant to have a gift ready for you, but I didn't get it ready in time.”)

So, today I am thinking ahead to things that are coming up and trying to go ahead and prepare even though it seems like I have plenty of time.

I spent most of the morning doing lesson plans for the upcoming school year. I can't believe I'm going to be a homeschooling mom! Somehow that makes me feel old. I've got the first 12 weeks of kindergarten almost completely prepared. I want to prepare ahead of time for activities for my 2 year old as well so that I'm not getting frustrated as I try to think of things for her to do. I'll use my list of 15 self-directed activites for toddlers, but I also want to have some educational worksheets ready for her that correspond with what Little Bear is learning in school.

Your turn! Can you think of anything coming up for which you need to prepare. Maybe it seems like you have plenty of time, but it's better to go ahead and get it done instead of letting it sneak up on you.

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: An Apple a Day…

…doesn't always keep the doctor away.

Tomorrow morning will find me at the doctor's office trying to find out some answers about the fatigue with which I've been struggling, among other issues.

Believe me, folks. This is a big deal for me. I'm the kind of girl who doesn't even take a Tylenol when I have a headache. I don't just go running to the doctor for every little ailment. But when my health is keeping me from taking care of my family the way I'd like to, and when there could potentially be something wrong with my heart, it's time to go. That's not really something I should mess around with.

Hopefully I will get some answers, or at least get started down the right track. I will be going to see my ob doctor simply because the medical center is booked until August. After having had 3 babies with the same ob, I'm wonderfully comfortable talking to her anyway, so I'm hoping she can at the very least point me in the right direction and use her medical influence to get me in to a cardiologist if that's what I need to do.

Now, is there anybody reading this that knows you need to go see a doctor for some reason or another? Perhaps you're the type that always puts that sort of thing off. I was just talking to a lady the other day who had two adult children diagnosed with cancer within one week of each other. Her daughter found out right away, and the cancer was only stage 1. She will probably be fine. Her son? She told me with head down and tears in her eyes that “He waited too long to go.” His cancer is stage 5, and things aren't looking too good.

If you need to go…then go! Don't try to convince yourself that it's probably nothing. If you go, and it's nothing, then you can be glad to know you're fine! If you go, and it's not nothing, you'll be so thankful you went sooner rather than later.

The Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Getting Back in the Ballgame

As you may remember, I haven't been feeling too well lately. As a result, I have sort of fallen off the Anti-Procrastination bandwagon. I have been trying to just keep up with the basics around the house and haven't had enough energy to do anything extra. However, I have been feeling a tiny bit better, and I'm trying to ease myself back into the ballgame of completing my Anti-Procrastination tasks every day. I definitely haven't done anything big, but at least I've been doing something.

So if I've been working on stuff, then why haven't you seen me posting my daily challenges here? Ummm….I have an excuse. You know, since I haven't been feeling well, I have had to take naps during the afternoons instead of blogging. After I went for a while without blogging, I just didn't know where to start to get back into it. So…I procrastinated. Waiting never helps things get any easier, though. So I'm here today just to get started.

Have you ever gotten out of a habit for some reason or another, and then never got back into it because you just didn't know where to start? Is there something right now that you need to just start, whether for the first time or something that you need to get back into?

Just start.

And hey, it won't hurt my feelings if you leave me a comment either. 🙂

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Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Time for a Break

I haven't been posting a lot of new challenges lately. Honestly, I haven't really been doing any. I have about a bazillion shortish longish term goals that I'm chipping away at every day, so I'm counting any work I do on those as my Anti-Procrastination task for the day. I just haven't had time to work on any specific finishable task. I haven't really even had much time to sleep. I know this sounds like more excuses, but I promise it's not this time. In fact, I've been running on too little sleep long enough.

My Anti-Procrastination challenge for the day is to go take a nap! I've been concentrating so hard on getting these things done, plus running a household and taking care of three children, that I just need to stop and take a break.

Go do the same if you need to. Or maybe sitting down and reading blogs is your break. Either way, rest a while if you need to so you'll have more energy to get back up and get back at it!

I don't know if this post is even coherent; I'm just plumb tarred. (That would be “tired”, but my southern accent really comes out when I'm “tarred”.)

So that's all for now, folks. I'm outta here while the little ones are sleeping…or are at least in their bedrooms…not sure what they're actually doing…ignorance is bliss…for a while anyway.

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Something is Better than Nothing

I keep a scrub brush in the shower, and I normally try to clean it while I'm taking my shower. Lately the hot water hasn't been sticking around long enough for my liking, so I've been ready to get out as quickly as possible rather than staying in to clean. That hasn't done much to help with the cleanliness of the shower, though.

Yesterday, I was taking another semi-cold shower, and I was getting disgusted with how dirty it was getting in there. I figured if I stayed in long enough to clean just one section (maybe 30 seconds worth) it would only take about 7 or 8 showers before the whole thing was out of totally gross mode and back into routine maintenance mode.

I tackled just one shelf, but decided to do the other one on that side. That wasn't so bad, so I did the other 2 shelves on the other side. After that I figured I might as well scrub the walls down too. After only1 shower half the thing was clean! And I didn't freeze to death, either. I was cold, but I survived.

And of course, now that I'm typing this out, I realize how lame of an excuse cold water was to not clean the shower. That's how most of my excuses have ended up seeming throughout this challenge. They sound so legitimate in my head, but when I actually start putting it out there for everybody else to see, it becomes obvious that I'm just being a sissy and need to get over it.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I was procrastinating because I knew I couldn't clean the whole shower in one shot (at least not in one warm-water shot!) Because I couldn't do the whole thing, I didn't do anything. But something is better than nothing! Now I only need to take one more shower and the whole thing will be sparkling again!

So, my friend, what have you been putting off because you couldn't do it all in one shot? Something is better than nothing, and if you just start you'll be further ahead on it than if you never start at all!

Set a timer for 15 minutes and see how far you can get before the timer goes off! You might surprise yourself! You might decide you have the time after all to do the whole project. If not, that's okay too. You'll have more done than before you started!

This post may be linked to one of these parties.

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