The Now Habit

[lifequest]

Hi everyone,

I'm a university student currently struggling with procrastination. Amazingly, I've been able to get through my bachelor's degre in engineering that I'm finishing this semester, but with a cost: bad sleeping habits, not a lot of exercice (but just enough), and a minimal social life (it could be way much better).

Last year, due to a break-up with my ex-boyfriend, I started to take a long hard look at my life, and I realized it wasn't what I wanted it to be. Since then, I've started to make changes. As you can imagine, it's not easy. Sometimes it works, sometimes I have a setback and I have to start over again. But I'm not giving up. I'd say in the last few months, the biggest change I've done is to develop a healthy sleeping habit. And I now excercice regularly, and I try to keep a closer contact with my friends. But now, I'm tackling an ever bigger challenge: procrastination.

In january, I may have the opportunity to start a master's degree. But, if I do that, the procrastination habit I have will be a major obstacle... I have read The Now Habit by Neil Fiore (a really great book), and I have started to apply it to my daily life. However, it is not easy: somedays go by like a charm and I manage to do a lot, and others I can't get anything done, even though I try to apply his "pull method" (go out, have fun, recreate, and when you get back to work, you'll want to do it). It seems that when I go out and do other activities and have fun, I like it a lot, so when I come back to work, I wish I didn't have to work and that I could have fun instead. So I get discouraged from doing others fun activities, because when I get back to work, I dont necessarily do it. The old method I used was: "If I don't go out and have fun, at least I won't know what I'm missing... I'll just be working".

As of right now, I don't want to go back to the old method: it's just not healthy. However, the new method I'm trying to use, implementing Neil Fiore's strategies, aren't completely working. Is there anyone who would have suggestions as to what I could do to better implement Neil Fiore's strategies in my life? I know that what that guy says is true (and that if I did all he says to do, that my life would be way better than it is right now), but you just can't change instantly after reading a book, it doesn't work like that. Changing a habit (especially a bad one) takes time, because it's like trying to rewrite a program in your head - a very long task.

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!

[ginkgo]

Being in the moment can be much more enjoyable than just doing things that are fun. You can practice it and get better at it. It works against your happiness and peace of mind to try to get out of the present. Like you cannot wait to finish what you are doing so you can go and have fun.

A very famous American psychologist, Abraham Maslow (1908-1970), said "I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness." Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet, says "There is a cup of joy inside of you, but you cannot drink from it save [unless] you forget the past and renounce the future." To renounce (give up or refuse) means to have nothing to do with it anymore.

You just need more peace of mind and happiness. The article on this site, What is Enlightenment, may help you to have a happier and more fullfilling life. It tells why sleep is so important. Also you will learn more about yourself. Socrates said "Know thyself." I tried to have a meeting for procrastinaters, but they all called and said that they were too busy, but tomorrrrow or the next day would be better.

[lifequest]

Thanks ginkgo for the advice!

I do admit that I have a bit of a tendancy of thinking about what I have to do instead of doing it. I guess it is similar to what you're saying, about living in the present: by planning and thinking, I'm not taking action in the present, but only thinking about the future. I find that living in the present is often a concept I have difficulty applying.

I also have found another article article on Steve's web site:

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...er-of-the-day/

I must say that I have experienced what he talks about. Maybe if plan the night before what I have to do when I get up in the morning, and then just get up and do it, it would get me on a roll for the day. I'm gonna try it this week, see how it goes.

[lifequest]

Hi everyone!

I thought I'd update on my progress this week so far.

Since reading that I should get up and start working first thing in the morning (something I'd never done), I thought I'd give it a new try. So yesterday and today, I got up a 5h30am, and go to working immediatly after getting dressed and making myself a coffee. The idea being that my day is gonna look like the first hour of that day, I started working immediatly (having outlined what I had to do the night before), and guess what? I was able to do approximately 5h per day on my main project, and 2-3h on other homework. I don't remember being that productive in a long time! Needless to say, I'm gonna continue on that trend!

I've also read a bit of The Now Habit, and I will continue to do so each day. I find that if I stop reading it, it looks like the ideas from that book just get out of my head. I think it like exercising. Everyday or two, you have to do it to keep in shape. So reading from the now habit is like exercise, but for my mind!

Anyway, gotta go sleep if I want to get up early (I'm feeling sleepy already anyway), so bye!

Lifequest

[lifequest]

Hi,

So far my first week of early rising was good, but I also had some setbacks.

From tuesday through saturday (today), I got up at 5h30am, and got to work immediatly. I was able to work a lot on my main project (around 15 hours, which in theory is great). Plus, yesterday, I worked a bit, but I consider it was a pretty relax day, because I mostly had appointements for school projects, a lunch with my boss at noon and a dinner with friends in the evening. So a very social day, and I consider that it was my day off this week

But the first setback came this morning. When I got up, I was tired, like I hadn't slept enough. I have found through experimentation for the last 2 months that if I don't get around 9 hours of sleep each day, after a few days, I become too tired. So, I guess that's what happened this morning. Since I've been getting up at 5h30am, I get around 7,5 to 8 hours of sleep a night. It's really frustrating knowing that I have to sleep 1-2 hours more than most people if I want to have 100% of my mental capacity. I guess I'm gonna have to try to go to bed early (which doesn't always solve the problem, since I can take between 0,5-1 hour to fall asleep sometimes), or get up at 6am. I still haven't decided what to do yet, but if someone has some suggestions on how I could try to regulate my sleep pattern, I'm always open to suggestions. It seems that for me, even if I get up when my alarm goes of, if I'm too tired, I won't be that much productive.

Plus, another setback is that I realized this morning that what I accomplished this week for my main project, well, I may have to trash it and start from scratch. I'm currently programming a application in Excel that helps design bracing in a steel building. Even though it is a school project, it is a 135 hours project that has to be done alone, and my teacher is currently of no help, so I am basically left on my own. This week I was programming the application so it would be able to design the colums of the bracing. But I realized now that what I did, well, cannot really be used by someone else but me (too complicated and I made some bad progamming choices), plus there are errors in the numbers I obtaining. I got really discouraged and afraid that this project will turn out very badly (as it seems to me it is starting to), that I'm not gonna finish it in time at the end of the semester, that I will have to submit something not functionnal to my teacher, which means I could fail the course and have to do it again (or get a really, really bad grade).

What is also frustrating, is that I not only chose to do this project, I also invented it's subject because I wanted to learn "capacity based design", a really important structural notion that is not taught at the undergraduate level (only at graduate level). So basically, if I'm in this situation, it's my own doing...

In the mean time, until I continue my project tomorrow, I decided for today to focus on another homework, and to read a bit from the book "Feel the fear and do it anyway". The book helped a bit, reading that feeling fear is normal, that it is because I'm doing something new, and that I have to tell myself over and over again that whatever happens, I can handle what comes my way. It's not easy to get it in my mind, especially when my project isn't working right now, but I'm choosing to be positive about it. I'm reminding myself that since it's something new I'm learning, that I'm bound to have setbacks and fail, and that I can't expect myself to do a project of this scope perfectly the first time around. But it's not easy, as I haven't gotten rid of my old mentality of panicking when something goes wrong...

Wow! That was a long post! BTW, sorry if there are some mistakes in what I write, english is after all my second langage.

'Till next time, take care everyone!

Lifequest

[lifequest]

Hi!

Well, yesterday wasn't a really good day. I wanted to get up a 6am, but I put my alarm at 5am... So I closed it, got back to bed, and got up by myself... at 8am. (I had gotten to bed at 9pm the night before). My brain was kinda foggy for the rest of the day, even though I went jogging around noon. I didn't accomplish a lot because of that. So, I learned 2 things:
1) really double-check you alarm clock...
2) Getting up by myself without an alarm will make me sleep more than I need, and that seems to have the same results as not sleeping enough.

Plus, I've started to cut back on caffeine this week-end, so maybe that also explains the brain fogginess...

Also, I'm trying to find ways to get to sleep faster (as I have a tendancy to take up to an hour to get asleep sometimes). As of right now, here are the ideas I have (or that were given to me) as being calm activities that will calm me before sleep:
-listen to radio (or tv without an image)
-read something boring (otherwise, I get hooked and it awakens me)
-imagining the steps required to build or repair something (something my father says he uses, I know, it look bizarre, but it's worth a shot)
-listening to a relaxation mp3 (however, after a few time, it gets to a point where I know what the person is going to say, and I stop listening, so it stops being useful)
If someone has other ideas, I'm all ears.

Not a lot on procrastination this time, but I think that sleeping and procrastinating go together: if you're tired, you don't feel like working. Anyway, got an exam tomorrow, so I have to complete my studying, more next time.

Lifequest

[lifequest]

Hi!

Well, the first half of my week was a bit off. I had an examen, so I kinda screw up a bit my planning and scheduling to prepare for that examen. Anyway, I don't think it was worth it, because it didn't go well. But it wasn't worth much (15% only), so i'll work harder on that course 'till the end of the semester.

I'm still experimenting with my sleep pattern, as it seems to be linked to my procrastination problem. Yesterday, I got up at seven, and I kinda got the feeling that my day wasn't gonna be productive. Well, guess what, it's what happened, I didn't do much homework yesterday. So I decided that today, I was gonna go back to waking up at 5h30am, even if it meant less sleeping. I got up at that time, and got to work. By noon, I had already completed 4 hours on my main project, plus I had taken care of a couple of emails, phone calls and other stuff I had to do. I had a class this afternoon, now I'm gonna work a bit 'till 7-8pm, and I'll be off to the pool to swim laps. It'll change my mind, and will get me tired for a good night sleep.

I'm still planning to get up at 5h30am for the next few days, at least until monday, because I have a party planned on monday night that will finish very late in the night (3-4am) so tuesday will be my day off for the week because I will get up at noon probably. After that, I will go back to get up at 5h30am in the morning.

Plus, I've had a good idea to prepare me for sleep: read from my handbook of steel. The structural and technical infos in there will tire and bore even the most determined persons... I'll give it a try this weekend.

I've cut back a lot on caffeine, but I'm not going cold turkey (I don't like that), so I'm taking it gradually.

Overall, I've had setbacks, but I'm learning ways to deal with those setbacks. I'm not at level of efficiency I'd like to be (probably still very far from it), but I'm seeing a small progress, so I'm gonna continue working on that.

'Till next time, don't proscratinate to much!

Lifequest

[lifequest]

Hi!

Well, yesterday was a good day. I got up early, 5h30am, go to work early, and did a lot during the day. I was really proud of myself!

Today was good also, but more in the morning. In the afternoon, I lost a lot of time with an assignment that I can't complete. I should have put the assignment down and go to another one, but I kept at it thinking "I'm not far from the end, I'll be able to finish it". Well, let's just say that didn't happen, and that it would have been a better investment of my time to do another homework instead.

I guess I have problems sometimes to identify work that is "A" category (real important), as opposed to "B" (medium important) and "C" category (not really important). Plus, I tend to pass a lot of time on tasks that I could do faster, but that I stick with because I like to do them. Not really productive, isn't it? I'll look into that in the next few days.

Good day,

Lifequest

[jtrikster]

Hey LQ!

Being a college student myself I know how it feels to be trapped under the grips of procrastination. It's still killing me actually especially because I'm taking Human Anatomy. One thing though, my poor habits have definitely been shot in the air because of this class.

So you read a book called The Now Habit? I think I'm going to have to give that a go. I also like your idea of getting up at 5.30 each day. I've been getting up every day pretty early as well, going for a run, stretching and leaving for either class or work. I never wake up at the same time each day though so I'm going to experiment and see if gettin gup at 5.30 will work for me.

I'm glad you posted though because I would never have thought up getting up early like the way you do. It's pretty motivating because now I feel a glimmer of hope!

Keep updating on your develops and I'll update mine and we'll see where adapting all these new habits take us!

[neil007]

I read the Now Habit but it didnt work for me. I have found that trusting your subconcious beats will power every time. I beat procrastination by writing my major goals out r every morning, thinking and mentally rehearsing them. Somehow your mind just seems to guide you do what you need to do as long as you feed it what you want i.e. goals.

Read Maxwell Maltz for more info....'Psycho Cybernetics'

[lifequest]

Thanks for the support everyone!

Well, today started off good, my morning was productive. However, the afternoon was an entirely different thing... I started working on a task that got me nowhere, so after a while I just got frustrated. I tried to switch to another homework, but it didn't work, so let's just say I ended up going jogging and doing a bit of cleaning up my appartement for the rest of the afternoon.

I have remarked that since I write my goals for the day before I go to bed, that when I get up, I immediatly get to work. However, when noon comes around, I become less sure of what I have to do, and that's when I start to procrastinate the most. I'm thinking neil007 has a point here: if you have a goal, a mission of some sort, you will follow through. So, I'm gonna try for this week to write my goals twice a day: just before I go to bed (for the next morning), and around noon, to set me up for the other half of the day.

By the way neil007, if The Now Habit didn't work for you, I'm glad you found another way to beat procrastination I think the key is finding a method that suits you personnality and your working method, not the other way around.

Lifequest

[neil007]

Yes, its all subjective really. I have used GTD a lot and I've found that setting some big, important, major goals above all the day to day stuff and focusing on them has massive advantages in getting things done. You can list everything you need to do - but you need a motivation to do each action. Steve wrote about this as well in his blog a while back.

I read a chapter in Dan Kennedys time management book called 'Fight to link everything to your goals'. This works a treat - now at work I ask myself: does this help me achieve my top 6 work goals for this year? If not - then I think very carefully before investing my time.

[Christian223]

Throw EFT into the mix, it will make everything so much easier. Visit the link at my sig. I can say that it helped me a lot with my procrastrination problem, now i am much more productive.

[lifequest]

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone!

I've rapidly looked up the links and books you have suggested, and I must say it got me interested. I'm gonna look into it.

Good day!

Lifequest

[jubach]

just the thread i was looking for. this is somewhat my concern when it gets to my daily activities. this what i want to apply in my daily life. the "do not wait for tomorrow to do the things that you can do today". i'm gonna be checking out the suggestions you've posted here. thanks also

[lifequest]

Hi!

Well, yesterday was a good day. I got up, did 1,5 hour of work. Then, I went to a morning class, and got back home around midday. I worked for most of the afternoon, and then I was off to my party! I had a blast last night, I really forgot about everything and just had fun.

Today was a slow day, I got up late (since I got to bed at like 4am, getting up at my regular 5h30am was out of the question...). I had a class this afternoon, after that I went to swim some laps at the pool, and then I had my weekly dance lesson (I suscribed to a dance class this semester on tuesday nights as part of my plan to stop procrastination, you have to schedule fun activities during your week so you can look forward to them while you work).

So tomorrow I'll go back to my 5h30am schedule, being really recreated, I know it will be a good day tomorrow. Gotta go now, I'm really tired, it's been a long day.

Lifequest

[lifequest]

Hi!

Well, for starters, good news, I'm now only on decaf, so my coffee and caffeine intake is at it's minimal. My sleep pattern do seem to be getting better!

On productivity, yesterday and today were what I would call fairly average. I know I can do more, but I haven't. I trying to find explanations for it, so far, here's what I have on my mind:

1) I have started to look into GTD at neil007's suggestion. I find it's interesting, because I feel like I can relate to the "brain Ram" thing he explains in the first chapter. My mind cluttered!!! I've started reading the book, and I'm gonna see if I can start looking for small ways to implent it. It'll take the time it takes (it may take a week or 2 months, I don't know, depends on how I fast I can read it and apply the principles I suppose). I'm thinking that GTD could be a better way to get organized, and also help me apply in a better way the things I have read in The Now Habit. Maybe the 2 books go hand in hand after all?

2) I've been thinking a lot about the possibility of starting a master's degree. However, I'm starting to find that maybe it just isn't the thing for me. Up until I finished my first bachelor's degree, I just considered school as a necessary pain I had to go through. When I discovered civil engineering and went back to do another bachelor's degree, I took the decision in less than a week, and I was sure about my decision. It was hard, but I got through it. Now, I've been thinking about starting a graduate degree for months, and I just can't seem to decide. So that's why I'm thinking, if I really wanted to do it, wouldn't I have decided it already? What do ya think? Maybe I'm just too tired of having done 2 undergraduate degrees back-to-back (almost 7 years...). Maybe that's why also that I have a bit of trouble motivating myself nowadays, I've been in school to long, and it's starting to wear me out.

I'm gonna go sleep on it, to see if my dreams will come up with a better explanation... lol!

Lifequest

[lifequest]

Hi,

After having some fairly average days, not too productive, but not doing nothing either, I came to the conclusion it was because of my lack of sleep. You see, I figured, since my sleep pattern was getting better, that I needed less. So I got by with 7h/night. I guess I see now that doesn't work. Maybe someday it will, but not now. What happens (I think) is that I start getting just lightly tired so I become kinda sluggish, but not as much tired as I used to be when I used to study during nightime, so I don't recognize it soon enough. My old pattern was "work 'till exhaustion and sleep when you can". Now, since I don't do that anymore, I'm learning to recognize my body's messages on fatigue. Not something easy to learn, but I'm glad I'm doing it.

On the upside, staying on the subject of sleep, I seem to have gotten mostly rid of my insomnia problems that have plagued me for years. Honestly, it feels really, really great to know that when I go to bed, I won't be long until I start sleeping. I figured 3 things have helped for that:

1) regular sleeping hours (duh!)
2) no caffeine (or next to none)
3) an old memory trick I've adapted to get me to sleep

What's that trick? I read in a book a decade ago an exercice to practice your memory and your attention span, and I've adapted it. You simply count backward from a 100, using -3 and +2. So basically, you get: 100, 97, 99, 96, 98, 95, 97, and so on. At each breath, you picture the number in your mind (don't think it aloud with the little voice in your head, because I find the whole point of the exercice is to shut up that voice so you can go to sleep!). Personnaly, I can't seem to be able to get past 80...

Since I got to bed early last night and gave myself permission to sleep in late (i.e. 7h30am! wow that's nothing with what sleeping in late used to mean for me!), I now feel refreshed and ready to go. I've planned my work for today last night, so I'm getting on it right now.

Good day!

Lifequest

[lifequest]

Hello!

Well, I had an exam this morning, it went ok so I'm happy about that. It wasn't the best exam ever, but it was average, I did good enough and I'm happy with that.

Concerning procrastination, I seem to have noticed two things recently:

1) I have tried to work more in small blocks of 1-2 hours recently when it’s work that I don't necessarily like. Then, I allow myself a kinda work that I feel is more like a reward (meaning a task a like). I have found that it is at the same time productive, and counter-productive.
Productive: when working on a task you don't like, knowing you are limiting the amount of time you are gonna spend on the task helps to complete it (example: I do 2 hours of work on my main project in the morning, then I work an hour on a fun task like a powerpoint presentation, and then I do another block of 2 hours on the project. That way, the project gets done each day, little by little.
Counter-productive: when starting a task I like (i.e. the powerpoint) knowing that I won't stay on it long because it's only a "break" is kinda deceiving. Plus you always get to do fun task in short block (even when they could be done in one sitting if I did it for 5 consecutive hours), so you always have to "get back" into the task, meaning
- understanding where you were when you left the task (which takes some time)
- and then starting from there.
It’s time consuming.

So, I'll gonna reflect on something to do about that. After all, finding what works is through trial and error...

2) I have encountered last week some mental resistance on waking at 5h30am every morning. Thinking back, I realized that for years, I have gotten up at like 11am-12pm, taken some time to prepare and eat a good lunch, read the newspaper, and then get to work near 2pm. I have come to the conclusion that my mind hasn't completely agreed with me on that change. I liked to take it slow in the morning, and working in the afternoon and at night. So, as a compromise, I have designed the following plan: on weekend, I will allow myself to sleep in a bit late (like 7h30am instead of 5h30am). On saturday, I will take the morning to run some errands and take some air. On saturday morning, I will do a "small weekly review" (I'm starting GTD!), some house chores and prepare a nice lunch for noon. This way, I believe I will allow my mind some relaxing time, and then when I start doing my homework, I will be alert and relaxed.

I know that a lot of books and techniques tell you to work first, and then get your reward. It seems I have worked for years with another principle: relax first, then get to work. So, on weekend, I will continue a bit with my old habit, since it is the weekend so I’m supposed to relax 

And, as mentioned early, I started GTD last week. So far, I have implemented the 2 minutes rules, I have emptied my email inbox, and started using an agenda. I also have created 2 inbox (one for my day-to-day things and my weekly review on Sunday morning), and one for after my last exam on December 13th. I figured some things can be left alone until that date, and that I will deal with them when classes are over. For this week, my goal is to go to the store on Friday, buy some folders and a labeler. On my weekly review on Sunday, I will clean up my “stuff”, and setup my tickler file. Then, I’ll see from there what my next step will be.

Also, I have come to the conclusion that even though the opportunity to start a master’s degree in January is a great one, I don’t think I will pursue it. I just don’t feel it in my gut that this is right, that this is what I want to do. I’m going with my intuitions on that one, so in January, I will be starting a new job. But I’m still gonna use this semester to try different things and implement changes in my life.

Whew! Sorry, very long post...
‘till next time, take care everyone!

Lifequest

[lifequest]

Hi!

Well, I had a presentation today, and I'm really proud, because I nailed it. It went very smootly, and the question period that came afterward went really well, there is just one question I couldn't answer, so, good job!

This morning, I again screwed up my alarm clock again, so it didn't ring (I wanted to go back from 6am to 5h30am). Finally, since I got up late (like 8am!), I decided to have a slow morning. I know I shouldn't have, but then, I pratice my presentation some more (maybe a bit more than I should have), so I felt really prepared and confident when I got in front of the class. Since it went very well, I'm not gonna be hard on myself on that one.

Although, I do admit that for a couple of days, I have been taking pretty easy. Ok, so I had an exam on monday, and after that I took most of the two last days to prepare my presentation, so I haven't accomplished a lot on my main project and my other classes. But also, I think it's because since I've decided that I won't pursue a master's degree, that I've consciously (or unconsciouly) decided to slack off. I mean, I know I'm gonna finish (maybe not with straight A's, but I'm almost finished, so I care less now). I still have my main project to complete, so I'm gonna get right back on track about that tomorrow morning.

As for GTD, I'm really glad it took it up, even though my current gtd system is very minimal. I hadn't realized how much information I had in my head! Seriously, it feels great to at least know that all my stuff is getting taken care of, or that is gonna be taken care of. I'm looking forward to sunday morning for my weekly review.

Well, I have a bit of work planned for the next hour, so, 'til next time, bye!

Lifequest

[lifequest]

Hi there!

Friday was a good day, I got a lot done plus I went to see a movie at night with my friends. And, this weekend, I did what I had planned. I got up later (8am-9am), took time off to run some errands and do stuff like rotate my tires (yeah, I'm that kind of girl ), and studied from the end of the afternoon 'till nightime. The result was that I didn't get as much homework as I had planned. Plus, since I knew I was gonna get up later, I stayed up longer, so it wasn't that good for my internal clock (plus we went back to normal time, so that screws up your system a bit also). However, by the end of the weekend, I felt really rested.

Many books and people suggest that you should take a complete day off each week. I don't know why, but I just can't bring myself to do that. In my head, you should work everyday, even if it's just a bit (like 3h-4h on weekend days). It's like my mind refuses to let me take a whole day off each week. But then again, my mind also doesn't like the idea that it has to work everyday, even if just a few hours.

Any suggestions anyone as how I could try to make that change in my life?

Lifequest