Anti-Procrastination day -update the blog!

It's Wednesday -hence anti-procrastination day. As I have been meaning to update my blog, I have made it an anti-procrastination task!

The whole purpose of this blog was to get me doing things that I put off. That has certainly become a reality. I am definitely doing more things straight away. There is room for improvement, but I have noticed with some things that I actually begin to dislike the feeling of procrastinating!!!

I have also been documenting my journey of restarting flylady's babsteps. There have been some interesting ones in the last week. Probably the most difficult one was deleting flylady's e-mails (I had about 500 unread!). I did it! And now I feel I could do it again, it was liberating!

I also put an inspirational quotes page in my control journal. I did feel like putting it off, as it didn't seem important. But I did it. I thought I would share my quotes with you:

No-one can make you feel inferior -you have to accept it

Success is the failure to admit defeat

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

Do one thing everyday that scares you

One babystep at a time, peace is mine!

Please share your favourite quotes in in the comments for this post. I love hearing new ones

I have to say that I have stagnated with the babysteps. I am finding adding new things hard. I haven't started doing Kelly's missions because I am trying to get into a routine of hotspot clearing and room rescues/decluttering. Those habits are hard to fit in. So what I have decided is to stop moving on, until I have conquered where I have got to and they are habits. Then I can move on a bit. I could make excuses about the hours that I work, etc. But I want to conquer them in the end so making excuses is not helpful. Having seen that when things become automatic it is easier, I will just try to get them to be automatic!

Thank you for following me on this journey, I hope that by sharing my thoughts and experiences it will help others with flylady.

15 minutes at a time... or is that 13 minutes

Today is day 10 of restarting flylady. Her beginner babysteps say that today is about learning that you can do anything for 15 minutes. Now although I do use a timer and set it for 15 minutes, and I am amazed at what can be done (see Dr. Kim's blog for what amazing things can be done!) I have another tactic. My favourite radio soap the Archers is 13 minutes long. I love just pottering during the Archers. Today I sorted some laundry, put some more on, emptied the dishwasher, did some washing up and tidied up a bit.

I am pleased with how the babysteps are going. My 5 minute room rescue this morning involved starting on my desk. Although I haven't finished it, it did make me smile when I walked back in. I think I am learning that by slowly chipping away I will get things sorted, and it will be in smaller chunks than I realised.

tomorrow's babystep is to add an inspirational page to my control journal. I am looking forward to that, as I have never done it before.

Thank you for following me along on this journey, I am finding it really inspiring seeing other people go through it too.

Anti procrastination day

Another anti-procrastination day. Last night I started writing a list of anti-procrastination tasks (things I keep putting off) so that I have a goal for getting things done. I wrote it in my newly formed control journal. My control journal is a small hardback notebook which came free with a magazine. It is pretty, although has the name of the magazine on it. I have written in it my routines as they are forming. I have more notebooks like that, and I like the fact that it is small. I can also rip it out and start again as habits change.

Anyway, I decided that today's AP task would be to order some furniture that I have been meaning to order for weeks, but keep forgetting. I had a discount that would run out soon. So that is now done :) There are more AP tasks and I think that I will try and do one at least every couple of days.

As to the babysteps, I am trying to keep doing them. Some days are better than others. I wear shoes more often in the house, I have set up a control journal, I do 2 mins hotspots (different hotspots each day), now I need to do a 5 min room rescue as part of my morning routine. I think that I am going to start using a timer, otherwise I will do less than 5 mins and think, "oh well that will do" or "I don't have time". I do find it difficult that I work, but I think that I need to make time!

Now I am off to do my before bed routine (need to lay those clothes out!) and get to bed as I am tired!

hotspots

Today's babystep was to spend two minutes cleaning up a hotspot. Unlike Dr Kim I didn't take photos. I picked our kitchen table, which we don't use as a table, it is a dumping ground. I spent 2 minutes, and although not clear now, we found the unopened post, and looks better. I am going to concentrate on that and the dining room table, as my hotspots this week. 2 mins a day to keep tidy.

We all have areas like this around the house, and it doesn't take long, but as Dr Kim commented on her blog, even though we know it doesn't take us long, we put it off. Why we do this baffles me?

Thank you for following me on this journey. tomorrow's babystep is to lay clothes out (and do everything that I have already been doing!!).

So, I am heading towards 4 weeks of anti-procrastination and so I am switching focus slightly onto following flylady's babysteps. I am on day 5 which means writing down the negative voices that I hear and switching them to positive things. So what better place to write them down but here, for the whole world to see!
I have been composing this throughout the day and writing them down as I think of them. If anyone would like to add anything positive please feel free to write comments:

• Why do you always put off doing your schoolwork? Well done for getting your work done on Saturday, knowing that you won't have time on Sunday. But you haven't done it all. Well done for doing what is needed. Life is not all about work.
• Tut, tut, you haven't got the WHB done and you won't have time on Sunday. Well done for keeping your sink shiny, being dressed to shoes and following the babysteps. It is progress not perfection.

• You don't deserve a nice house, you can't keep it tidy. Look at the mess on your desk. Your office will never look nice. Remember how messy and unclean your house used to be? You have come so far. Enjoy the areas that are clean and tidy and you will make progress

Wow, actually writing them down does make a difference. I am beginning to realise that when I first started flylady I didn't go through the babysteps properly. So, now that I am in the place, with motivation and support, to do this this could be a big changing point!

At the end of each day I look at tomorrow's babystep, which will be clearing a hotspot. I'm excited about that, as I know I can do it. I already have all my bills in one place, but I will pick to tidy-up the table in the kitchen.

Shoes, shoes, shoes

What a day, I got dressed as soon as I could in the morning (I'm afraid I did go to the computer first) but didn't put any shoes on (more about that later). I got on with various things (washing, ironing etc) and then decided that the cat needed to go to the vet. At least I was dressed and able to take him. It was quite an emotional time at the vets (I am very soppy and he hates the vets, I hate doing that to him) and I did end up crying a bit. I felt a bit silly, but sometimes those tears flow (I am also not sleeping that well at the moment so am tired) and there is nothing that I can do to stop it. It upsets me that he has now gone into hiding and is not a happy cat, I know he'll recover but I want him back to normal now!

I also had a massage booked at a physiotherapy clinic, I thought about canceling it, but then thought that it would be better to go. It was really helpful and as I lay there I realised that one side was more tense than the other. I had in my mind all of your comments from yesterday about shoes and realised that the side that was most tense/tight was my longer side (I have one leg shorter than the other) which was probably contracting to balance me out when I don't wear my lifted shoes at home. Now it isn't simple to sort this. I am only allowed 3 pairs of shoes lifted a year on the NHS and I have to take them to the hospital. I also need a lot of new shoes as they have decided that I need them at a greater height. However, I do have some shoes which I can clean up which have a smaller lift and would be better than nothing as indoor shoes. So that is my AP task for tomorrow. Then I will keep an eye out for some shoes that are suitable to be lifted (not an easy task! -it is so complicated buying shoes suitable!). So as much as I don't want to and am fighting it, I probably should wear shoes indoors.

Tomorrows babystep is to write everything down. That's another thing I put off. I have never got on with a control journal.. but that's for tomorrows post.

Another AP day and day 2 of Flylady restart

So, I'm going to start with the fact that it is day 2 of flylady. That means get dressed to shoes. I have two 'issues' here which I am going to have to conquer. The first one is that flylady tells you that you should get dressed immediately. I usually go and feed the cat, get some coffee and then have a shower (maybe up to half an hour after I got up). I often go on the computer whilst I drink my coffee. Should I change this routine and go straight to the bathroom? I don't know. I also don't want to upset DH's routine. Maybe I'm one of those people who always have excuses! Secondly, when I lived in Japan I left my shoes in the genkan (entrance way) to the house and got used to it. I cannot stand walking inside with shoes on. Now I've heard Flylady talk to people about it, and I've tried having a pair of indoor shoes, but I just can't get used to it. Plus I think shoes will wear out quicker my new carpet. I know that sounds pathetic, but I'm afraid I just haven't found a viable solution! (I'm also now a bit scared about confessing this!)

Today I didn't get dressed immediately, so I think that that needs to be my target for tomorrow. (Day 3 is shining sink and getting dressed to shoes). I am going to concentrate on the getting dressed immediately and just put off a bit thinking about shoes. On a plus my sink is still clean and shiny. DH even commented on how clean I had got it!

As far as the AP day goes, I didn't have much time today but I did put away my household manuals in their file (that was on the side for a couple of days), clean the sofa and paint my toenails (I always put that off -I don't tend to look after me). Not putting stuff off is definitely getting easier. I just hope that I am able to transfer these skills into my flylady babysteps.

Day 22 -keeping new habits going

Sorry for the lack of update, things have been really hectic over the last week, so I'll give you all a quick run down of some of the things that have happened in the last 6 days:

Thursday: caught up on a lot of marking. However, I stayed up a bit too late to do so. -Need to avoid that.

Friday: rushed home from work to do my WHB before my cousin came to stay. -Was nice to start the weekend with the house feeling good.

Long weekend -I just kept trying to keep up with everything and not leaving it, so making sure the kitchen was cleaned up before I went to bed etc. We were very busy, but managed it. Sometimes it was hard to not put it off. We finished the weekend by putting up all of our pictures, so that is something else that we have been trying to do but not getting round to, which is now done. It makes the house feel nice.
Today -went to work. Have felt a bit all day, and so don't feel like I'm getting everything done. Tonight my plan is to do the ironing and get an early night!

I have also decided to join on another challenge which will fit in nicely with this one. I will join Kiddos and others with starting flylady again from day 1, to make sure that I am doing everything. Now that I am learning to not procrastinate this is perfect timing. So currently I have bleach in my white sink to clean it up and will go and give it a good scrub, so that I know on day 1 I have my shiny sink!

edit: here is my shiny sink: