Welcome to the February Edition of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour.  This month we’re examining everyone’s favorite subject:  Procrastination!  I love procrastination.  I can do it all day, every day.  I make a game of it.  In fact, I procrastinate about getting down to serious procrastination by tackling my To Do list on a regular basis.

I have lists of lists (a form of procrastination).  I use Easy Note on my iPad and Things and Life Balance on both the Mac and iPad.  Yes, perhaps three list-making and managing software programs would be considered excessive, but we have a master procrastinator here.  If you’re merely an amateur, do not try this at home without proper supervision.  You could get hurt (don’t ask me how; there’s no paper for paper cuts).

I have standard lists.  Easy Note holds shopping lists and trip lists.  Recurring, portable subjects.  Things holds my Fly Lady Control Journal for household tasks as well as other household-related items.  For instance, I have a category for Veterinarian which brings up reminders for when the kids need to see the vet.  I have a Vehicle category which reminds me when our various vehicle registrations and inspections are due.  With one or two vehicles, I wouldn’t worry, but we have two Navigators, a Jeep, a motor home, a motorcycle, and five trailers to monitor and keep current.  Things is ideal for this.  Things also handles Someday – Maybe items.  In the vernacular of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, these are projects you might decide to do someday.  I get them out of my head and put them into Things, adding items as I think of them.

I added Life Balance this year, because simply getting things done isn’t necessarily productive in achieving the things I want to achieve.  I looked around and found Life Balance, which allows me to structure my goals in a manner which allows me to see if I am achieving them in the balance I hope to achieve in my life.

One things that has helped me achieve the most effective procrastination levels yet this year is the following process:  At the beginning of the year, I set broad, yet specific goals.  Each week, I project what I want to specifically accomplish over the next week. Before going to bed, I jot down a list of what I need to accomplish the next day.  When I get up in the morning, I begin working on that list.  At the end of the week, I reflect upon how well I accomplished the weeks goals and set new ones for the next week.  During the day, I check off the items on my list.  I update my Things and Life Balance software usually toward the end of the day.

I find if I don’t do something like this, I am less successful at procrastinating about procrastinating and more successful at actually procrastinating.  Remember, my goal is to embrace procrastination, which means I need to put it off as long as possible.  Writing this article has been an effort in holding procrastination at bay, but, now that I’m nearly done, I’ll have to see what I else I can do.