The habit of watering plants

[Tom.9]

It´s said when you have 5-10 minutes, but you are nearly brain-flat, go and water your plants, fill the stapler etc.

I have a nice list of things to do when I´m tired, but WHEN I´m tired I never look on it
(instead I procrastinate until the day´s next hard deadline )

Since for now I can´t manage to read "The power of habit" -
any more brief suggestions ?

 

[mcogilvie]

It´s said when you have 5-10 minutes, but you are nearly brain-flat, go and water your plants, fill the stapler etc.

I have a nice list of things to do when I´m tired, but WHEN I´m tired I never look on it
(instead I procrastinate until the day´s next hard deadline )

Since for now I can´t manage to read "The power of habit" -
any more brief suggestions ?

Physically tired is not the same as brain-dead, and neither one is the same as procrastinating. Most people need recovery time from both physical and mental exertion. A good trick is to "put things by the door", that is, make sure the barrier to doing something useful is low, and is easily perceived. For example, put books you want to read in a place where you might pick them up and read them when you have a few minutes free. You can also consciously pursue mental and physical pick-me-ups, like listening to up-tempo music. On the other hand, procrastination is a different problem, so you have to figure out what's going on in your case.

 

[cwoodgold]

These are just suggestions.

• Make sure the list is written in such a way that you'll feel OK reading it when tired: avoid including tasks you won't want to think about when tired; phrase them so that they sound polite, not "Do this!" but whatever gives you the feel of "You might like to do this." or whatever makes you feel good. Also phrasing efficiently, not too many words. (These are mostly contradictory requirements.) Whatever combination works best for you.
• Think about where you're likely to be when tired, e.g. sitting in your office chair, walking into or out of your office etc. Write them in biggish letters and post them on the wall so that you can easily see them by just turning your head slightly.
• Practice looking at them regularly. E.g. develop a habit that once a day you'll look at that list, or once a day you'll do at least one thing on that list, whether you're tired or not.
• Identify the time of day you tend to get tired, and develop a habit of using that list at that time of day, whether tired or not.
• When you do something on that list, give yourself a reward.
• Include rewarding activities on the list, or things you're likely to enjoy doing when tired, e.g. go for a walk, have something to eat
• Develop a habit that several times a day, you evaluate your energy level and think about what kinds of activities are most suited to your priorities and energy level

 

[treelike]

It´s said when you have 5-10 minutes, but you are nearly brain-flat, go and water your plants, fill the stapler etc.

I've actually got a repeating reminder in my electronic diary every few days to water my plants. It works as I've hardly ever lost a plant to thirst since I've done this. Sorry this doesn't answer your question but I thought I'd share

EDIT: Maybe the ultimate solution for procrastination is to procrastinate. Once you see how much of your precious time on this planet you have wasted you might be shocked into JUST DOING the stuff on your lists.... By the way, resting is a much maligned but valid activity in response to actual tiredness in my opinion.