Fighting Anxiety Based Procrastination

Fighting Anxiety Based Procrastination

It’s my personal philosphy that most of what we need to achieve in a day could be condensed into about 10 minutes, if we were to put all of those tasks into a list and removed all procrastination and self doubt. We’d move like lightning.

I have a list of small life improving things that I need to do and I’d like to have them resolved as soon as possible.
In fact, I was meant to do a few of them today, but I didn’t.

Most of which could be resolved with a handful of phone calls and a few written lists to keep it all clear in my mind.
My plan was to make all of those phone calls this morning, after procrastinating (and doing paid work) for the last few days. I set myself little timeframes, but still I procrastinate and avoid what I need to do and then feel crap when the end of the business day arrives and I have to try again the next day.

I’ve always been this way, now that I think about it. We’re always told that there is a perfect time to contact people, first thing after they’ve had their first coffee in the office so that they are in full work mode amd more than likely to be agreeable to whatever it is that I’m requesting.

Only, there is no perfect time. There is only “not 20 minutes before the business closes” with a complex issue. That’s definitely one to avoid.

The deeper reason why I procrastinate is because whenever I asked for help or money from my father when I was younger, I was yelled at and refused help. My sister got whatever she wanted. I was conditioned to believe that asking for help is a weakness, and it’s not. It most definitely isn’t weak.

However, it is humbling and it does mean accepting a slightly submissive role and that is what triggers the anxiety based avoidance behaviours. I’d rather do the dishes and clean my home than make a phone call where I have to either ask someone for help, or get someone to fix something.

Often it means trying to explain something really minute and simple and easy to fix. Most of the time I could do it myself there are times when I can’t.

Then there are complex issues like housing maintenance which require complex explanations before anything can be done. Last time a plumber was here he said that the taps needed to be replaced. The next day a tap fell apart in my hands!

He also said that there was a blockage and the seal had gone on the s bend part at the back.

If I say there is a blockage, they’ll send out an apprentice with a plunger rather than an expert plumber who will need to replace the entire komode and that’s if I am lucky enough to get someone who is fluent in English on the phone.

It can take 4 days for the order to go through too.
I am working every day next week so I can’t really afford to take a day off.

My Solutions

1. I will spend the weekend off of social media as much as possible, with timed dopamine breaks occasionally.

2. I will write a fleshed out list of tasks that need to be done and include them in the Habitica app and cross them off as I do them.

3. Set a priority for each task. Several can be done in the space of 10 minutes while others could take 30 minutes at a time.

4. I will set a concrete timeframe for each of these tasks to be done by, so I can have mini panic attacks and then take the plunge.

5. I’ll remind myself that most phone calls don’t take longer than 5 minutes, tops.

6. I’ll start tonight when I get home from work, get as mich done as I can before bedtime.

7. I'll cross your Mum off of my To Do list.

My Progress

I’ve made several phone calls, paid my rent, paid my gas bill. These were just getting the easy stuff out of the way first. The tougher stuff can be handled tonight; see point 6 above.

For now, I'm off to work.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Shaidon

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