Saturday, 24 March 2012

How not to procrastinate in 4 (x2) easy steps.

Point one: Never, never, never look at photos, even if it's work related, and you need a specific one to illustrate a point when there's a deadline looming. That photo will hide maliciously and other ones  that bring back pleasurable memories of long summery walks along the beach will appear to delay and distract you from the impending doom.
This bloke looks like he's going to be sucked into the ocean.
Every photo will beg loudly for a blog post to be written about it.
I love the way the kelp at the back of the rocks stands up
and how the water at the front is trickling over the ledge.
Be strong, don't allow them to distract.

Point two: Do not under any circumstances allow even the merest hint of social media to rear its ugly time sapping head. Not Facebook, not Twitter and certainly NOT G+. Bad, bad, bad G+.

Bad Google for allowing it to be invented.

Bad G+rs for posting such interesting photos and intriguing information.
The Pacific Gulls are unconcerned about the crashing waves.
Remove any social media links from your tabs. The sneakiest hint of something interesting happening on-line is enough to suck up an hour or so. At least. If not more.

Point three: Turn off any alerts for email messages coming in. It's not going to be life threatening if you ignore it! It doesn't matter if you look at it in an hour or so - after you've slurped another cup of tea and made a tempting tea cake to reward you for all that intense concentration and proved that you can resist the temptation of procrastinating!

Point four: Turn off your phone and take it outside and bury it. Deep. Very deep. Throw away the spade into the nearest passing truck that's on a non stop service to the farthest point in the country.

Arck, argh, ergh. Focus... This can be done
The crest on the centre left is a combination of waves crashing into each other
from different directions. Definitely not good for swimming.
The increased stress levels aren't worth it. There's heaps of short-lived entertainment, but eventually a minor meltdown as the deadline looms larger and more threatening.
1.  Splash face with cold water. 
2.  Three minutes of exercise. 
3.  Munch on a piece of fruit. 
4.  And go for it!

After taking my own advice, I'm pleased to say my conference presentation is almost ready! Hooray!!
CDAA 2012 in Canberra, here I come :)


Note: No phone was injured to enable my presentation to be completed. 



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4 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Sue .. I think this dropped off the radar - anyways it's back on now!

Well done on getting your presentation organised - when is it ..

Fun post - and too true .. thankfully I don't so social media (for now) and I don't encourage phone calls!

Glad all's well - and see you around soon .. cheers Hilary

Sue said...

Hi Hilary

My presentation is Friday morning. So I just need to do a couple of practice sessions and I'll be feeling a lot more confident.

Very sensible of you to avoid social media, although I could too easily be a recluse and I don't think that's healthy for me.

The other thing I do is put a sign on the door to discourage door to door salesmen - there always seem to be more around when I'm focusing on something important.

It'll be good to be back when this is all over!

Hope you're well and that everything is good on the homefront cheers

Sue

Ciara said...

I'm a new follower form A-Z. I saw your post about missing the first week. No worries, catch me when you return.

Sue said...

Hi Ciara, welcome! glad you saw my comment over there :)