Rebecca, I have a question. I absolutely love your lipstick / lip gloss you wear in most of the videos. Would you mind telling me what Brand/color number it is? Thanks..

I procrastinate out of fear, at least when it comes to work. I get stalled or blocked, and I can spend two thirds of the day pacing the hall, eating entire bags of Pirate Booty, and drinking a pot of coffee before I finally get down to it. Once I do, it's all business and I can crank something out in two hours. But the time WASTED to get there is a travesty.

For me to not procrastinate my laptop needs to be turned OFF! Otherwise it calls to me, beckons me to touch the keys. “Put down that school book, those dishes will wait, turn off the vacuum cleaner and lets read some blogs together”, it says. I even procrastinate at blogging, how bad is that? I clarify it by saying I’m taking a “break”, when I’m just too lazy to write and I’m putting it off. So sad.

Alice when you said you read productivity books as a form of procrastination I laughed out LOUD .. I do just that.. or google articles like "8 quick tips to beat procrastination" or "take this quiz to find out what KIND of slacker you are..." blah blah.. oh, and to an earlier commenter, RE: Lists? who hasn't done a neat copy of your original list, possibly subdivided by when you're going to Do these tasks, or which order the list should appear. Gee, you can even crack out the highlighter if you're really hell bent on putting it off, er.. I mean... getting organized once and for all, Darn it! :D I used to justify it because i was a Type A, worked better under pressure, etc but then a few years ago a good friend said to me (as we were on this topic) Just think how awesome you could be if you allowed yourself enough time to actually get the minimum done? Just think how much better it would be? That played to my keener instincts and I revisit that phrase. I also have taped to my monitor "If you open a browser window, and you don't know why... do something else". My method to stop it before it starts, do SOMETHING worth while as soon as i sit at my desk with my coffee.. reply to email, start on something without doing my little blog role ritual. I make it my reward, like work really focused unil 10 AM and then take 15 minutes to surf and read blogs and facebook, etc. sometimes it works. I also have a friend who is in the same line of work, who I'll IM and say "I'm unable to get out of my own way! make me accountable!" and I'll promise to her I'll have X done by Y time and I'll IM her to report. This works for me because I'm supposed to be all self accountable and lead by example crap. Once I asked a coworker to keep my gym bag and sneakers at his desk, and if I don't get something done (biggest one on memory was the year end Income & Tax forms for all the staff I HAD to get done and filed with the revenue agency... holy mother of stressful procrastination) then I couldn't go to my lunch time exercise class. I hope this doesn't offend anyone's delicate sensibilities, (sorry if someone already wrote this too) but this classic quote sums it up "Procrastination is like masturbation, in the end, you're only screwing yourself". :P Great topic, oh so much potential to expand on this (motherhood procrastination, self improvement procrastination, professional procrastination) why, look at me making a list... I don't need to do that chore now, right? I'll go have a cookie with Alice instead.

It's not that I don't ever put things off, but I do recognize that I feel bad about myself when I procrastinate, and feeling bad about yourself sucks. So I try to be as proactive as possible in avoiding it. When I start procrastinating at work, it's my sign that I need to find a new job or take on new projects. Because procrastinating means not only do I no longer find the work engaging, but I also know that I can complete it in far less time than I have allotted, so I wait until the last minute to start. But no matter how fabulous the job, there are always little annoying things--like filing papers--that are so, so easy to put off. I try to schedule regular pockets of time for these; I find it's easier to say "I'll take care of all my paperwork on Wednesdays" and knock it out instead of letting it all pile up for that mythical day when I have all the time and energy in the world. I also find defining the time window to be very helpful, e.g., "I have 30 minutes to focus on paperwork and then I can move on to other things." Because if I give myself all afternoon to do something, I'll take all afternoon to do it. When I do complete the task or work for the designated number of minutes, I give myself a break away from my desk. Leaving the desk is key for me; if I stay at my desk and mess around on the Internet then I won't feel like I've had a break at all. My favorite break is just looking out the window and observing what's going on; it helps me rest my eyes and clear my head for the next challenge.

I procrastinate a lot at work. Right now I have in my desk a pile of bills that I have to scan, put in envelopes and mail out. It's 3pm. I leave at 5pm. I usually do things last minute in a rush and then I feel good about it! Last time my boss was out of town and I wanted him to come back and really notice all the work that I had done, notice that my pile in the To-do box was really small instead of the HUGE pile I usually have, so I waited till the last day before he came back to the office to do everything!!! He was really happy though for all the work I'd done! If he only knew that it only took me 4 hrs instead of 2 weeks! My favorite ways to procrastinate are: Playing Playfish Games in Facebook (Restaurant City, Pet Society and Crazy Planets) Reading Blogs (alhtough I consider that to be "research") :) At home I procrastinate watching tv... Glad to see I'm not alone! :)

I procrastinate like it's my job! I don't even know why because most of the stuff I procrastinate on doing isn't even that major! Sometimes it's so bad, I feel like stubborn teenager refusing to do a simple chore. I'll say it, I procrastinate about unloading the dishwasher, folding laundry, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning out the fridge... must I go on. You know how I get those simple things done? I find something more important that needs to be done, and then procrastinate about the more important thing. For example, let's say, I need to do my taxes. I will decide that there is no way on earth I can do my taxes until I do the laundry. The laundry gets done, and along with anything else I can think of that needs to be done before I can even imagine looking at W-2's and 1099's. It's a rare art form that I like to call "Productive Procrastination"!

I laughed so hard when Giyen started talking about making lists as a way to structure one's self. I make lists AS A FORM OF procrastination. It goes like this: Hmm...I have a doctor's appointment to schedule, baby clothes to wash, grocery shopping to do, lessons to plan, copies to make, camping to pack for and eighty-three papers to grade. What should I do about this? I KNOW. I'll make a neat list with CHECK BOXES. (it does actually make me feel better to do this, but I recognized it in college as my favorite form of the P-word.) :-)

BeingSuper...I thing we share the same theory! Right now, I'm on summer vacation from my job (school counselor), so I'm procrastinating on the things I put off doing during the school year. Instead of working out, redecorating our bedroom, getting the house super-clean, and organizing all of Jack's pictures, I'm spending most of my time lounging around the house and yard with my toddler. Chalk it up to developing the mom-son bond. We're both intelligent beings:)