Thought for the Day - May 12maybe

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: rainbow
Date: 13 May 00 - 03:51 PM

a great book about the rhythm of not doing... and timing ... is the art of war. used by many business leaders and coaches for sports team. ... and THE most important time management/business management book i've ever read.

... lorraine

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: thosp
Date: 12 May 00 - 11:58 PM

don't procrastinate until tomorrow!

peace (Y) thosp

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 May 00 - 11:30 PM

There are some important thoughts I should post here.

Fockit.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: rangeroger
Date: 12 May 00 - 11:24 PM

Don't do today what you can put off til tomorrow.
I joined the Procrastinators Society of America about 30 years ago,but I don't think I sent them my application.
It's got to be around here somehere.Maybe in that stack of papers in the back room.
Oh yeah, I've got to clean the back room.
Peter,can I borrow your cardboard boxes?

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: JenEllen
Date: 12 May 00 - 06:12 PM

Get your sleep! I'm a huge advocate of the 'garden-in-a-can' things they have now. You know, in the great big parmesan cheese shakers? Clear a patch of dirt, and it's a garden to go. Beautiful flowers all season long, with miminal responsibility. And nothing at all in neatly planted, color coordinated rows. Besides, I don't wear pantyhose....;)

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 May 00 - 05:00 PM

You're right - no. I am still recovering from watching Martha color coordinate her old pantihose to her plants so that she could tie them up in an aesthetically pleasing design. I laughed hysterically until I realized it wasn't a SNL skit.

Which brings me back to the topic at hand: Will the sunflowers planted in July be any less beautiful in September than the ones sown early in May and blooming in July?

I need to get some sleep this weekend.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: JenEllen
Date: 12 May 00 - 04:21 PM

Aw, Mary, not psychic....just a lot of living in too short of a time. But I have learned that if you let go of the worry, and learn to embrace the ridiculous things that life gives you, you'll have a LOT more fun. Can you imagine Martha Stewart in her bathrobe sharing a frozen cheesecake with her friends and laughing about the time the neighbors caught her sunbathing topless? Yeah, I thought not.....;)

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 May 00 - 04:11 PM

JenEllen - Are you psychic? Just last night I gave my nephew the "Aunt Mary" talk about worrying. First decide if it will matter tomorrow or next week or next month or next year. If it will matter a year from now it's worth taking care of. If it will matter five years from now, it's worth worrying about.

BUT, if someone else is already worrying about it,let them. Worrying will not change the outcome and no two people should worry about the same thing at the same time.

How did we get so wise?

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: JenEllen
Date: 12 May 00 - 04:02 PM

SINSULL: my addendum to your rule of action...."Will it matter a year from now?" If the answer is yes, then it's probably worth doing. If not, just let it slide.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 May 00 - 03:34 PM

My Rule of Action:

If I die tomorrow will someone else be able to get it done and will it matter? If the answer is yes to both, I let them do it.

My Golden Rule of Life: The ONLY thing I have to do in this life is die. Everything else is an option.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 12 May 00 - 03:25 PM

I was going to make a comment but-maybe tomorrow.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 12 May 00 - 03:08 PM

Thanks! (We may procrastinate, but part of our problem is all the time we spend all day here!)

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: Peter T.
Date: 12 May 00 - 02:42 PM

Animaterra, if you acknowldege my copyright (Peter Timmerman, 2000), feel free. This is only the beginning of a humourous book I have been working on for some time, parodying all these books. It will get published, once I have moved all these cardboard boxes. (hah, hah).
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: Amos
Date: 12 May 00 - 01:59 PM

Ah, the secret of your success...nobly writ, and generously shared. Thank you -- I just knew something was missing in my life!! It was all those UBNAFUs I thought were UAFUs -- I need those strategies for turning UAFUs into UBNAFUs. Please forward the text of that chapter. Can you Fed Ex it?

:>)

A

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 12 May 00 - 01:33 PM

Brilliant, Peter! May I copy it and send it around to some friends, if I ever get around to it?

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: Micca
Date: 12 May 00 - 01:15 PM

Good one Peter, and Jen now I know why you moved!!!! the Ace procrastinators of the world tho' live in the Western Isles of Scotland... aan old crofter in the pub at Ludaig in South Uist once explained it to me "There is nothing so urgent to the Islesman that the Spanish term manana would cover it" that and the motto "When it is not necessary to do something, it is often necessary NOT to do something."

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: JenEllen
Date: 12 May 00 - 12:40 PM

I love that, Praise, 'the willingness to let things have their own rhythm'.

I recently had some friends visit me in Moscow. The first day or so was filled with go-go-go, until the inevitable "What do you MEAN the book/music/wine store is CLOSED??? It's only 7pm????" I had to explain once again that that was the reason I moved there in the first place. No neon-light 24hr mega-mart, no pizza delivery, and (gasp) no television!

It does however, have a dairy, run by special needs kids, that delivers milk to your door in glass bottles. The guys at the book and music stores will hunt up anything my little heart desires, and their main grocery store is a farmer's co-op.

Granted, none of it is pre-packaged exhistance, with days lining up like so many McNuggets. But the rhythm is great for procrastination, the step is so slow that hardly anyone notices you are out of time.

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: Metchosin
Date: 12 May 00 - 11:56 AM

Thanks Peter, one day I will print that up and then, when I have some time, hang it on the wall above my desk, if I can find "someone to drive the nail".

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: Peg
Date: 12 May 00 - 11:56 AM

ooh, Peter T this is truly evil advice! *Thank you*

p.s. does it count if you spend those moments focusing on stillness doing something like, say watching TV?

peg

Subject: RE: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: wysiwyg
Date: 12 May 00 - 09:07 AM

Watch out for the inner accusations of procrastination when they are not justified at ALL. I have learned that sometimes, I am actually being instinctively smart NOT to do something. It may be that a Key piece of information or understanding has not yet come to me. Or it may be (often) that a key player involved in the final outcome of my action is not yet in place or ready to be part of the thing.

The rural community I'm in has a lock on the whole thing of timing-- nothing important happens here or moves forward until the right people just happen to run into each other, shopping for instance, and "have a conversation" about the thing in question. Action here always occurs in the context of strong community relationships. I used to think it was resistance to change. Now I see that it is an embracing of including the right people in making those changes without unraveling the lovely fabric of caring among neighbors. Sometimes the tiny little actions agreed upon in this fashion become the most powerful unleashed forces.

The other thing I have learned is that it is not always the timeliness that matters, it's the willingness to let things have their own rhythm. I can rail against procrastination or struggle in the face of too-rapidly unfolding change, as they dance back and forth.... or I can just enjoy the dance, and use the slow times for steady foundation building and the fast times for blitz-building.

Thanks for raising the topic, Peter T. Oh, and I'll quit putting off that letter I owe you!

~S~

Subject: Thought for the Day - May 12maybe
From: Peter T.
Date: 12 May 00 - 08:41 AM

I have found that one great method of procrastination is reading books on preventing procrastination. Whenever I feel a deadline approaching, I rush out for a few hours and pick up a new book of tips on how to get organized. They all have titles like: THE NOW PRINCIPLE; DO IT NOW AND LOVE IT, or ORGANIZE YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS. All these books suggest getting new notebooks, diaries, dividing up daily hours, labelling your time slots, color coding, and whatever. Doing any of this requires all kinds of time, and you can feel good about it. I have begun to work on my own book on the subject, which may possibly sometime get finished. This is an excerpt from Chapter 1:

PROCRASTINATION: GETTING TO THEN!!!

The late summer of 1914. All over Europe, vast armies are linked by intricate railway timetables that require split-second mobilization to achieve advantage. In a series of overlapping misunderstandings, the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand sets off a chain reaction of moves and countermoves among Austria, Russia, France, Germany, and England. Over the space of one beautiful summer weekend, the whole of Europe is plunged into the nightmare of war. Why?

Because they refused to procrastinate. Here it was August, they could all have gone fishing and waited till September. But no. Pompous foreign ministers and generals eagerly sped up every deadline!! Result: 25 million dead.

LET THAT BE A LESSON TO YOU!! IT IS NOT CALLED A DEADLINE FOR NOTHING!

Yes, you say, all very well, but what about all this work I have to do, all these emergencies?

FIRST THEN RULE FOR "GETTING AWAY FROM NOW":

"It will all go away."

This essentially Then principle, borrowed in part from the ancient Then Buddhist masters, focusses on stillness and emptiness as creative forces in our lives. Stop what you are doing, and it will all go away. This is a local example of the more powerful belief of the Then Masters that if you stop what you are doing long enough, you will go away permanently. In this way you will begin to move away from "Do It Now" to "Getting to Then."

But let us get to practicalities.

To begin with, 80% of what you are doing is only responding to what other people have sent you in the first place. One secret is: if you don't respond, you don't set up a chain reaction of more questions, responses, etc. This is the dreaded Karma of Work. Do not let this insidious chain even begin. Focus instead on stillness in action: don't move!! Let the universe unfold: do not push the present into mistaken activity. When people send you messages, questions, queries, demands: do nothing. If it is really serious, they will either (a) do it themselves; (b) find someone else to do it; (c) increase their hysterical demand that you do it. If it comes to (c) and you feel that you must respond, your initial gambit ought to be that your e-mail system broke down, or the message got lost in transit. These days, who knows.....But we go on to deal with this in Chapter III, if we get around to it.

MORE PRACTICAL TIPS:

Get 4 cardboard boxes, from an office supplies store as far away from your work place as possible. Divide up the tasks to be done into the following categories:

1. Not Urgent, Not Important (NUNI
This is obviously where you should be spending most of your most valuable time. 2. Urgent, But Not Actually For You (UBNAFU) These tasks are obviously the ones that cheer you up the most -- you can route them to the people who should be doing them, who will now leave you alone. 3. Urgent, Actually For You (UAFU) In Chapter II we talk about strategies for turning UAFUs into UBNAFUs) 4. Everything Else (paper clips sculptures, etc).

Put the cardboard boxes by the door for carting out sometime.