More action, less thoughts

Last night laying in bed I sighed.

Life is a tricky little thing to master. I mean there is a lot to do with running an everyday life, paying bills, going to work, doing laundry, keeping the house tidy etc.. Add to that occasions such as Thanksgiving and Christmas and the whole Busyometer gets cranked up another notch. Not to mention if you have kids or pets or other family members living with you. Oh, and don't forget to make time for your friends and have some sort of social life that exists outside of the telemaphone and computermagig. Of course we should remember to also have our free time activities. Things we do to relax or unwind after a hard day of...well, modern life I suppose.

I sighed last night because I read a saying that "The universe rewards actions, not thought" and pondered on how very true that statement is. While I do complete a lot of actions each week just living through life, I have many more thoughts about things I could be doing. Things that I would enjoy doing but take some extra effort, time and planning to accomplish.

I sighed again just now reading a saying on a blog that basically said that "when I die I will be happy because I know I used all the talents that I was given" and I wondered if I really was using all my talents and really pushing myself to use all of my potential. In the end, I suppose, that is what separates the brilliant and noteworthy from the average and forgotten.

(Tweet version of this blog post: OMG. Just read sayins bout using ma talents LOL Am so lazzee!!!11)

New attempts

I consider myself a problem-solver. I love doing puzzles, playing video games and listening to others and I think all those three things tie into problem-solving. I like searching for solutions and not just picking the first and easiest but coming up with a few and trying them out, see how they fit and whether or not they were as a good idea as when I first thought of it.

A consistent problem with me is not staying focused, not staying organized, procrastination and prioritizing. I have to try and work on this everyday. My latest attempt to try and tackle this involves getting back to basics. I wrote a list of everything I need to do. I've tried this in the past and I kept it somewhere at home where I would see it every morning. Trouble is the things I needed to do usually involved me being somewhere else and I would completely forget my list.

So, I toyed with the idea of putting the list on a string around my neck. I just happen to have a name tag holder-thing that would be perfect. I have even thought about writing "ASK ME WHAT I NEED TO DO TODAY" to further help me. Would that be just too weird? Would that foster a dependence on others to remind me and get my own brain off the hook? I think it would really help me so would that justify doing a slightly odd thing? Perhaps I could pretend I was involved in some sort of memory study. I haven't got to this stage yet. The list right now is in my pocket...and writing on my blog isn't even on it.

Pranxiety

I'm almost certain I've mentioned this before but today I had a good example of Pranxiety. Pranxiety is basically procrastination because you are afraid of what the outcome will be when you do something. It's the anxiety of "I need to do (x), but when I do that I'll know whether or not (y) is true/false/broken/upside down/yellow etc".

For example, putting off calling a hotel because you know that if you do call you will find out the truth that the room that you really wanted is no longer available (that was available last time you called) and that not having that room is awful and will ruin your vacation. Of course, the cycle then begins as you feel more anxiety about calling you therefore delay calling, and then the chances of the room actually being taken increase and you feel even further anxiety about finding out whether this is true or not.

Does that sound familiar?

Well, at last I finally made a call that I had been putting of due to Pranxiety and...it turned out fine. If I had of made the call a month ago I would have saved myself a month of feel Pranxious and probably could have enjoyed myself a little more than I did. If it had of turned out not fine at least I would have known and changed my plans accordingly and still not worried about it. The important thing is though, that Pranxiety does not help a situation, but making a decision and following it through can save a whole lot of worry.

I just need to remember that next time.

Procrastination

There's an old saying that goes "Never do today what can be done tomorrow" or something like that. It's a Procrastinator's motto. I guess I've always been a procrastinator. At high school I would always finish my coursework or homework the night before class, sometimes even the day of class or in my lunch break, feeding off that last-minute-rush feel. I would get good grades and then be left with the thought "What if I actually tried to finish my work early? Could I have gotten a better grade?" But by the time the next piece of homework was due I'd forgotten this. I had even tried finishing starting my work earlier and I felt satisfied and looked at myself smugly every time I remembered it. This was fine except in my head I kept saying "I STARTED the work so don't worry about it" and then found myself swept up in that last minute rush again.

Jerry Seinfeld in one of his stand-up moments on Seinfeld talked about "Evening Jerry" and "Morning Jerry" which I fully understand and had thought about myself. This phenomenon takes place at about 11pm and you think to yourself "Shall I take out the garbage/unload the dishwasher/send those emails now...or shall I let "Morning Allclick" handle it and set the alarm early?" Needless to say "Morning Allclick" constantly complains about "Evening Allclick".

I'd like to think that I am turning over a new leaf. I am trying to do today instead of putting off till tomorrow. Results so far: Less procrastination has lead to a little less stress, but not a decrease in the amount of things I have to do.

Now, what else can I blog about before I do some work...