Listened to Procrastination webinar...

mwinn

Registered
while doing something I'd been putting off... :)

When Kelly & David talked about having something in mind you'd been procrastinating on, I thought "raking the leaves in the backyard". It was PERFECT - I realized I could do it while listening to the podcast!

And I realized one of the reasons I'd been procrastinating on it is I was afraid it was a much bigger project than it turned out to be.

Last year I didn't rake any of the leaves in our enclosed backyard until they ALL had fallen off the trees and it took hours & hours & hours to do when I finally got to it. Exhausting, messy, and annoying. If I'd done it earlier in the season, I could have just raked them out the gate in the back fence. The homeowner's grounds-keeping service would have taken care of them when they got the leaves that fall in the common areas. But because I was weeks past when the leaves stopped falling, I had to bag all of them and put them at the curb for recycling. Never again!

So, after finishing that project last year, I set a recurring weekly task for this year from mid-October to mid-December to "rake leaves out of the backyard" - I figured that time-frame would cover the window of time when the leaves tend to fall off the trees here in northern Virginia. But then I didn't do anything about it. My 'thinking' brain knows that if I spend anywhere from 15-45 minutes every week during the Fall season raking the leaves out the back gate and bundling up any small branches that have fallen (to put out for recycling with the trash), it will be very do-able.

My "doing" brain sees "rake leaves" and says "OH NO!!!!! THAT IS GOING TO TAKE HOURS!!!! WHERE ARE THE CLEAR YARD-REFUSE TRASH BAGS??? IT RAINED A FEW DAYS AGO, THEY'RE GOING TO BE ALL SOGGY AND HEAVY AND MESSY. I DON'T WANT TO SPEND THE WHOLE HOLIDAY (Veteran's Day) RAKING LEAVES!!!!!!".

Great webinar! The 'thinking' brain was right.

Total time, including dealing with a lot of small branches that had come done in earlier storms -- something I'd also been procrastinating on -- was 45 minutes. And the leaves have been falling for about 2.5 weeks already. Next week should take even less time. And, for about 2 minutes, before the wind started blowing again, there was no "backlog" of leaves to rake. :)
 

TesTeq

Registered
No trees - no leaves!

mwinn;93356 said:
So, after finishing that project last year, I set a recurring weekly task for this year from mid-October to mid-December to "rake leaves out of the backyard" - I figured that time-frame would cover the window of time when the leaves tend to fall off the trees here in northern Virginia. But then I didn't do anything about it. My 'thinking' brain knows that if I spend anywhere from 15-45 minutes every week during the Fall season raking the leaves out the back gate and bundling up any small branches that have fallen (to put out for recycling with the trash), it will be very do-able.

My "doing" brain sees "rake leaves" and says "OH NO!!!!! THAT IS GOING TO TAKE HOURS!!!! WHERE ARE THE CLEAR YARD-REFUSE TRASH BAGS??? IT RAINED A FEW DAYS AGO, THEY'RE GOING TO BE ALL SOGGY AND HEAVY AND MESSY. I DON'T WANT TO SPEND THE WHOLE HOLIDAY (Veteran's Day) RAKING LEAVES!!!!!!".

Did you consider a brand new project for the next year: "Get rid of these nasty trees."?

Isn't it a clever and more productive solution?

No trees - no leaves!
 

mcogilvie

Registered
TesTeq;93371 said:
Did you consider a brand new project for the next year: "Get rid of these nasty trees."?

Isn't it a clever and more productive solution?

No trees - no leaves!

I keep hearing on tv about anti-oxidants. Wouldn't it be easier to get rid of that nasty oxygen stuff? Maybe if we just had more trees...
 

John Forrister

GTD Connect
Staff member
mwinn;93356 said:
And I realized one of the reasons I'd been procrastinating on it is I was afraid it was a much bigger project than it turned out to be.

Exactly! This is just what I often do -- imagine a project is bigger than it really is. You've inspired me to review my projects with that in mind.

TesTeq is certainly productive (and humorous). But before you take his advice about removing trees, you might want to consider how not to make that a neverending project:
http://www.davidco.com/forum/showth...es-a-(neverending-)-project&p=76942#post76942
 

Barb

Registered
Sound affects

RCL;93442 said:
The moral here is this: Don't leaf until tomorrow what you can do today. ;)

I'm making a sound affect now that a drummer would do after a Henny Youngman joke (showing my age--but I was a little kid!).

Prrrrrmp pmmmmp.

Ouch.
 

mwinn

Registered
TesTeq - made me laugh!

TesTeq;93371 said:
Did you consider a brand new project for the next year: "Get rid of these nasty trees."?

Isn't it a clever and more productive solution?

No trees - no leaves!

That WOULD be eliminating the problem at the source. :D But after over 20 years in Colorado where there aren't a lot of trees unless there is water, I really love all the trees & fall colors here in northern Virginia. [Plus the tree is in the neighbor's yard...]
 

mwinn

Registered
John Forrister;93376 said:
Exactly! This is just what I often do -- imagine a project is bigger than it really is. You've inspired me to review my projects with that in mind.

TesTeq is certainly productive (and humorous). But before you take his advice about removing trees, you might want to consider how not to make that a neverending project:
http://www.davidco.com/forum/showth...es-a-(neverending-)-project&p=76942#post76942

John - glad I could return the favor! You've often inspired me with your book suggestions.

"Enjoyed" (if that is the right word) your never-ending hedge project. Did you ever get the landscaping dealt with? Or did you guys just move to a new house??

My never-ending project was a plumbing repair. The toilet tank was leaking, I said "I can probably fix that" and after many hours, multiple trips to the hardware store and some colorful language directed at the recalcitrant inner-workings of the tank I had actually fixed it. And I said "Never again". I've asked my husband to respond to my future statements of "I can probably fix that" (especially if it relates to plumbing) with "Yes, I'm sure you can -- but do you really WANT to?" It has worked like a charm and keeps me focused on my "successful outcome" of enjoying my time off instead of spending it on a never-ending, frustrating repair project.
 
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