Its such a 'small' thing and it makes me sad no one will know just how hard it was for me, but I do try to be proud of myself when I do something like that.
EDIT: Thanks guys, your msgs made me feel lighter
Getting to the point of doing the task is part of doing the task.
Don’t let anyone shame you for your accomplishments!
I’m proud of you homie/homette <3
I’m proud of you friend.
I think we're all here because we all know more or less. We're in the same boat together
This happens to me with surprising regularity... HOWEVER - I recently managed to do a chore after 9 months of procrastination, and while it did only take 15 minutes, those minutes sucked so bad that, for a change, I felt really justified in putting it off as long as I did. So it can go either way, I guess!
Right? They always say "this will be done so fast and it won't be so bad and you will feel better afterwards" but while it may be really done fast, it just sucks so much and I hate every second of it and afterwards I may feel that I accomplished something, but I still remember how much every second sucked and probably will still keep procrastinating the next time.
Now I have to know, what was it that sucked so bad?
I think it's not half as interesting as you think it might be...
I had a huge trash bag in my home office from a long ago deep clean of my flat, filled with all kinds of stuff. It was there so long it was basically furniture.
The sticking point was that because of local laws, I had to sort out the recyclable trash and dump it in the special dumpsters before getting rid of the rest. (Also, I knew that before gathering the trash all together like this, but it seemed easier at the time...)
Last week, due to external pressures, I finally managed to lug the bag to the dumpsters and do it. It only took 15 minutes, but it sucked exactly as much as I thought it would - just putting my arms in there searching for paper and recyclable plastics, not even knowing what was in there anymore... thankfully it didn't smell, but when I accidentally grabbed a very old, unsuffiently packaged positive covid home testing kit, I called it a day, dumped the rest (neighbours be damned) and went home to scrub my hands clean...
0/10, would procrastinate again. :D
You title says shores instead of chores. You can edit it, only take a second, really, don't put it off.
- six months later…
Well that's a less than 15 minute chores that I definitely can do right away
I've gotten by too long and too successfully letting my impulses keep everything chugging along well enough that now that there's a massive range of responsibility, dependence upon me, and deadlines with major consequences, hoping I'll impulsively get around to things had begun putting a painful spotlight on previously undiagnosed ADHD.
I think the key to learning is to not do the thing out of impulse, but to train setting a goal of doing the thing and then painstakingly doing nothing until that thing is done. That's the skill to train, not the thing that's getting done.
But now, I'll just wait for the time that that skill is the impulsive thing to work on and keep on keeping on.
Setting a goal could help, but sometimes it might not. You might get depressed that your goals aren't being met just by going off your impulses
Are you me? lol
A friend recently told me something that has really helped:
- We will all die one day and things will keep chugging along; accept it.
- Do not jeopardize your personal well being nor that of the people who matter to you; you're boss won't remember all the late nights, but you loved ones will.
- Keeping with that: be picky with your time. Chose and accept work which you bring unique value to. If someone else can do it, let them, and if the work must get done, then someone will do it.
I put off a drywall fix for almost 3 years (towel rack got pulled out of wall by a family member who needed a helper bar), did a bad job if it, then ended up hiring someone with actual skills.
Don’t feel bad, you know better, your brain just isn’t wired to act on that knowledge.
