Tag: Procrastination

Twitter isn’t my jam
Procrastination · Writing

Twitter isn’t my jam

AuntGemLeave a comment

I’m too wordy

As you’ve probably gathered from reading the last few posts, it’s hard to contain myself in 240 characters. Heck, my smaller posts here have at least 1,000. And as the Bard said, “Brevity is the soul of wit.” Guess I’m not much of a wit. <Sigh.>

I mostly just read

I love certain accounts and I hardly ever comment – I just read them. Sometimes I retweet; sometimes I’ll quote-tweet. But that’s about the extent of my “interactions.” Here’s a list:

  • @steveolivas – Steve Olivas is a man of many talents: ghost writer/collaborator with rock stars, host of the interview podcast “The Commute” AND the comedy podcast “Wrong and Wronger” with James Breakwell, a practicing psychiatrist, and, in his spare time, a rancher. Listen to “Wrong and Wronger” to learn about the mishaps on his ranch.
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  • @vbspurs – This lovely lady focuses on tweets about the British Royals. It’s been a hoot following along as she read “Spare.” She saved me and many others the pain of reading that book – she just tweeted out commentary on the juicy bits, and we all got to chime in.
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  • @wrathofgnon – His profile simply states “Traditionalist.” And his tweets celebrate all things traditional and beautiful, especially in older city plans, older buildings, and beautiful surroundings. I look forward to seeing his tweets whenever I want to take a break and luxuriate in beauty.
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  • @okmaher – Kelly Maher is one of my favorite writers on urban farming. I follow her for pics of little goats, chickens and all sorts of farm adventures. She also has a Substack that’s well worth the subscription. If I add two chickens this year to my backyard, it will be because of reading her articles.
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When hobbies turn into obsessions
Hobbies · just plain fun · this and that

When hobbies turn into obsessions

AuntGemLeave a comment

How I turned coloring into a terrible habit

Today, I’m actually staying out of my back yard because I’m having a new small deck and stairs put in, to replace the crumbling, uneven, definitely home-made brick steps. So I’m posting about a different hobby today; one that has gone bad.

Remember when adult coloring books became all the craze? I bought one and found it to be so soothing. My friends soon found out I was into coloring and though, aha, this is a solution to gift-giving! For the next two years I was inundated with coloring books.

Wouldn’t you know it though – any good thing quickly gets turned into an app for your smart phone. And THIS is where I went bad with the hobby. A friend introduced me to the “Happy Color” app. This is not just soothing – it is ADDICTIVE. I have taken it off my phone twice. Sometime in 2019 I put it back on the phone and during the craziness of 2020 I just threw myself into it.

Continue reading “When hobbies turn into obsessions” →
Learning to focus
educational · Hobbies · Introspection · me · Work

Learning to focus

AuntGemLeave a comment

How do you maximize the time you have to do the things you enjoy?

As part of this ‘work-at-home’ journey I’ve been on for the past nearly two years, I’ve had to learn more about focusing than ever before. As much as I enjoy my job (well, not all the meetings, that is) it is tempting to sometimes let my mind wander. And before I know it, 15 minutes has passed. And then I need to work later, longer hours to make up for it. And that eats into my “me” time – my time for my hobbies, the time for my stuff outside of work.

So today I’m going to share with you one of the tried-and-true methods I’ve found for making it easier to stick to the task at hand…

Continue reading “Learning to focus” →
Introspection · me

Ah, that thief of time…stealing hours from my CBAP prep

AuntGem1 Comment

I’ve written before on procrastination.  It’s still a challenge. When I wrote my most recent post I had it all planned out: I would journal each night in my lovely “Keep Calm and Write On” journal a friend gave me for Christmas. Then I’d post regularly each Sunday. Maybe I’d slip a random cat picture in on Saturdays. (“That’s Caturday” says Pickles.) Then both the reality of my new exercise schedule (6:30 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 8 a.m. Saturday), and my inherent sloth kept that from happening. So here we are. On Thursday, writing a post I meant to publish last Sunday.

It’s also making hash of my study schedule for the Certified Business Analysis Practitioner exam. Actually, I should reword that – I’m allowing distractions to make a hash of my schedule. “Procrastination” isn’t something that happens to me – I’m doing it. And I’m doing it to avoid dealing with the dry-as-dirt text of the review manual I must cover. I’ve never read anything so boring. I’ve taken economics and accounting classes in college that had more pep and dramatic interest. It amazes me that the IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis) could wick the life out of my job and drain it of all interest. My day-to-day job – helping to build or add on to web sites for a large company – is fascinating. You’d never know that if all you knew of business analysis was this Business Analysis Book of Knowledge and the review text. After a month I am still on chapter five of a nine-chapter book.

So here’s the plan to conquer procrastination and get this over with: Get up a little earlier on Mondays and Wednesdays, head to work early, and study for one hour before starting work. Tuesday nights – study from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday nights – study from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays – do at least one hour of catch-up review.

Will I do it? I can’t let this drag on forever. Readers, keep me honest and cheer me on!

me · Toastmasters

Procrastination

AuntGem2 Comments

This is part of a speech I gave to my Blue Streak Toastmasters club March 3. Note the dated reference to Charlie Sheen.

Procrastination and I go way back. We have a long-standing relationship – probably one of the longest of my life. I’ve procrastinated over things as small as buying a DVD player (so many choices!) to as large as finishing a work project.

I’ve been concerned about my tendency to procrastinate for a long time as well. In fact, to prepare this speech, I consulted a fantastic book “The Procrastinators’ Handbook – Mastering the Art of Doing it Now” by Rita Emmett. The book is packed with useful tips. Trouble is, I bought the book in May 2003. And I didn’t read it until this week.

The book has lots of funny bits too. Like the Procrastinators’ Club “Top Ten” list: Continue reading “Procrastination” →