Procrastination, distractions and Ernesto…

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Avatar for fantagira
2 years ago

Tuesday, 17th on May 2022

Do you ever feel like procrastination is taking over your life? For me the more stressed I am, the more urgent things I have to do the more I procrastinate. It is one of the most annoying ‘qualities’ of mine. My donkey Ernesto just wants to play or do anything as to not do that one thing that really needs to be done.

After 2 successful interviews in 2 engineering companies I visited over last couple of weeks I have decision to make and I have been avoiding making it for as long as possible.

Yes, I did my pros and cons list, I talked to a few friends about it to hear my thoughts out loud, but as soon as I lay out all the details of both jobs, my friends agree it’s a tricky decision to make and wish me the best 😅 So back to the square one - which one do I choose?

Yesterday I decided to take my attention off making decisions and gave myself a task to do for the day. One important thing to do. As I have been self employed for over a year now, I am required to fill in an online self assessment by the end of this year.

Either of the jobs I pick will not start before 30th of May, therefore having still plenty of time now I thought it would be a good idea to get that self assessment out of the way nice and early. Usually I like to leave things for last minute, because… well… Ernesto says there is no rush! Ernesto always has plenty of time.

So in a spirit of changing bad habits I decided to do it yesterday. I picked up necessary documents and put them on my desk. Most of the job was already done, as I have been keeping all the numbers and receipts and summarising the numbers each month. Easy peasy I thought to myself.

Some people get accountant to do these self assessments and had I been earning buckets of money and wanted to save a lot of tax, I might have been doing this too. I didn’t earn much however and paying accountant to fill in a couple of figures in online for just didn’t make any sense to me. I have done a few of those self assessments in the past and it’s really not that complicated.

Easy peasy, yet so complicated!

First I obviously had to have a coffee before I start! A coffee without a cigarette doesn’t taste the same, so I grab a pack and sat on my front porch sipping my coffee and playing a game on my phone.

Well, let’s check Facebook! Not that I even like facebook, but Ernesto says there is plenty to see there and plenty of time to still complete that one task!

Oh look… my friend is messaging me. Yeah, let’s message her back into a conversation and waste some more time. I mean… I really need to complain how anxious I feel and how I don’t like the idea of getting up early for any of the new jobs I have lined up!

A quick look on my desk… yes the documents are still there. Still not touched. I mean why would I touch them?

‘It makes me feel stressed just thinking about it’ says Ernesto.

‘But it is so easy to do and all is ready’ says another voice in my head.

‘Exactly, it will only take a few minutes , so let’s leave it for later and play another game’ answers Ernesto.

So I pick up my phone and waste another few hours playing game. Then it’s time for another coffee. Also another friend messages me, so I’ll waste some more time complaining.

How long did it go for? All day my friends, all day I have done nothing constructive! I have even tried to start writing an article to quiet my conscience, but I stopped that as well, cause you know… I have self assessment to do!

Finally in early evening I picked up the documents. It was already dark outside when I finished. Of course it wasn’t a 5 minutes job, but it was an easy one nonetheless. I had to summarise the months and a little mistake in one of them made me recalculate the figures about 3 times before it all aligned. Then I had to research a few terms to make sure I tick the right boxes.

All in all it was maybe 2 hours job and it could be done by midday and I would have a whole day to enjoy the feeling of the task completed. Instead I wasted the whole day procrastinating and stressing out about the things that haven’t even happened yet.

I must say it did feel very good to complete the task over half a year before the deadline. So for today I also made a to do list of simple tasks to complete before midday. Have I completed them? What do you think? Nahh… I wrote an article instead! Still, that’s better than playing games with Ernesto 😉

This post have been written for Jonica’s prompt Distractions. If you would like to take part in the challenge here, follow the rules below 👇

The rules are easy!

  1. Write anything about distraction

  2. Write 100% original content

  3. Join and submit to the community PromptlyJonica

  4. Tag @JonicaBradley

  5. Have fun!

Until next time 💙

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2 years ago

Comments

I have been lazy for days before too. And I experienced that procrastination thing.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

Not cool when Ernesto moves back in 😅

$ 0.00
2 years ago

I have to do more against this Ernesto because he is always countering my efforts. It's always a good feeling when you finally get things out of the way. I've been there many times too.

About the jobs...your body has been in a state of rest without urgency for too long and you don't know whether you can keep up. I felt that way too when I was asked to pick up a job last year and I gave a perfect excuse not to take it because the pay wasn't encouraging.

You have to make the decision all by yourself and stand by it. Is it fear of the unknown or you just don't want to step outside of that comfort zone yet? Only you can find that answer, Mo...but if it's about how you will adapt or if you don't think you are good enough to pull it off, I believe you should take it and you are good enough.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

It not such an unknown Ola, I’ve been there before and done many of similar jobs and disliked all of them for many reasons, but getting up early in the morning was one of the main ones.

Right now I don’t have another choice. Unless I want to loose my house, I really need to get back into a corporate world again. It makes me rather depressed. I was really enjoying my life outside of these structures.

$ 0.02
2 years ago

I'm so sorry Mo. Since you have no choice, I think you should take it. It gets easier a bit when you give yourself a target on how many years you want to work before facing other things. I wish I won a lottery, you know I would give you a sizeable amount. 😘😘😘

$ 0.01
2 years ago

Who doesn’t wish to win a lottery Ola 😅 For now I told myself I will work for as long as it takes to pay off all my debts and save a little for a rainy day. How will that work in practice I really don’t know, but whichever job I pick I will be doing my 40 hours over 4 days instead of 5, which will make my weekends 3 days long, so hopefully I’ll have time to still write here and maybe work on the alternative.

I feel stressed right now, but maybe having a routine and daily contact with people will have a good effect on my mental state. Who knows? Time will show 💙

$ 0.02
2 years ago

I totally understand... 40 hours in 4 days...that's 10 hours daily. That's stressful but I understand, it creates more time for you.

I believe having daily contact with people would help. I think I need that too...it's somewhat depressing with mounting bills and being indoors.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

Yeah, I think that’s basically what’s happening now. This morning I got news that the start of my new job is postponed by 2 weeks. Now I’m wondering if I should reconsider the other position 🙈

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Hahaha Ernesto, is that you? Hahaha. Two weeks is still a long way off.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

we all been there and done these things lol.. As I was reading, I thought, wait, did she write about me? lol

$ 0.01
2 years ago

Haha 😂 I know sis! I knew many could relate to this 😅

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Hey, wait! we all have good days and bad days, because that's life, but let yourself flow, learn from the bad times and enjoy the good times.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

That’s true. Not all days are like this, but it happens very often 😉

$ 0.00
2 years ago

I am in same shoes as you right now cos I have found two job vacancies but I'm still unsure which to go for. I'll do my accessing soon and get to it, I hope.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

Good to have choices, but then decisions are always hard to make. All the best with job selection!

$ 0.00
2 years ago

I feel this way especially when it is time to write articles, I will think of a million distractions to avoid them!

$ 0.01
2 years ago

Haha, sounds very familiar!

$ 0.00
2 years ago

Everyone in the world will have to deal with procrastination at some point in their lives.

$ 0.01
2 years ago

I must have masters degree in it by now 😅

$ 0.00
2 years ago