I am a procrastinator....

Keep putting work off until the eleventh (or twelfth) hour? Here's a few reasons why you might be procrastinating, and a checklist to help you stop. Plus, corporate dishonesty or office politics-which bugs you more?

Mar 22 2004
By Anne Fisher
Fortune.com

Dear Annie:
I just had my annual evaluation and, while it was generally very good, my boss made special note of something I know is a weakness: I tend to procrastinate. So far, I've never actually missed a deadline on any of my work, but there is less and less "wiggle time" with every assignment, so that sometimes my colleagues are forced to rush to accommodate my last-minute ways. I've been an "eleventh-hour" person all my life-usually up until dawn doing a 20-page term paper the night before it was due, in college, for example-but I can see I need to focus on changing this now. Where do I start?
Tick Tock

Dear Tock:
A man after my own heart! After all, why do at a leisurely pace today what you can rush through tomorrow, right? The causes of procrastination are legion. Some people work best under pressure (or think they do: nothing like that ol' adrenaline rush of fear to get things rolling). Others put off only the tasks they really dislike, and if you're faced with enough of those during the average day, it may be a sign you need to change jobs. Still others of us suffer from a deep-seated fear of success, and all that comes with it, so putting stuff off becomes a means of self-sabotage. Of course, I have no idea what's driving your eleventh-hour habit, but I did come across a checklist for making new habits that may help. I have this list (in bold type, below) taped to my computer; it's condensed from Time Power: A Proven System for Getting More Done in Less Time Than You Ever Thought Possible (Amacom, $24.95), by time-management expert Brian Tracy. See if it rings any bells with you:

Select one task where procrastination is holding you back, and resolve to start and finish that one project. Most of us are pulled in so many directions at once, it's easy to put off one thing-no matter how urgent-until you've taken care of something else, and then one more thing, and then that over there.... Stop!

Make a detailed list of everything you will have to do to complete that one project. Think on paper. One thing that works for me-simple, but effective-is to make a to-do list with little boxes on each item and check the boxes as I go.

Choose the single most important item on the list and do it first. Good idea! As the saying goes, "Well begun is half done."

Set a specific time when you are going to begin. Makes sense, doesn't it? Write it in your datebook (or Palm Pilot, or what have you) as if it were the most important appointment of the day-because it is.

Refuse to make excuses or rationalize putting off what you need to do. Ah, excuses. Funny, isn't it, how impatient we are with other people's-and how tolerant (nay, indulgent) of our own?

Visualize yourself working with a sense of urgency. Program your mind by repeating the words "Do it now!" over and over. Another thing I find always helps, speaking of visualization: Picture yourself having finished this task, and how great you'll feel when it's not hanging over your head anymore.

Readers, what say you? Ever had to get that procrastination monkey off your back? What worked for you? Write and tell all. This is so widespread a bugaboo, I'd bet you have some great suggestions, and I'll include them in a future column.

Meanwhile, I got a letter the other day from a longtime college professor about to take the plunge into a corporate job who is concerned-thanks to all the recent scandals (Martha, say it ain't so!)-that ethics in the business world have sunk into an intolerable pit. This reminded me about a survey Watson Wyatt did a couple of months ago revealing that 72% of U.S. employees believe the people around and above them behave "with honesty and integrity" in financial matters, and in dealings with clients and investors. When it comes to overall ethics, though, the picture gets cloudy: "Hypocrisy and favoritism"-in other words, rotten office politics-was the No. 1 reason cited by workers who had lost respect for their employers.

well... just played something creepy on the web, saying that I will die on
Thursday April 13, 2073, at age of 93 in a Nursing Home, due to a Heart disease. JESUS.

http://www.day4death.com/

Autopsy Anyone?

There are a few common questions that I get asked when I tell people that I am interning in the morgue. The first most common question is: "What is the most disgusting/gruesome/grossest/etc. thing that you have seen?" Another common question is: "Doesn't it make you sad or depressed seeing all those dead people?" With that question people like to toss around the words "innocent" and "tragedy." Another very common question I get asked is: "Do you ever lose your appetite? or Do you ever feel like throwing up?" I think I will address this third question because its fun to relate food and pathology.

The only problem I had with food was with my first bad decomp case. The smell stuck with me all day and I could taste it in my mouth. The only thing I could eat was some white rice (actually white rice kind of looks like maggots... yum), but that was hard because everything tasted like decomp. After that one time I have had no problems with food. Yes, human muscle does look like a type of steak and liver looks like the liver you would buy in the grocery store (thats just plain disgusting) and when it is cut up, it looks like cubed pieces of beef you would use in a stew or shish kabob. The aorta looks like a piece of pasta when it is opened and cleaned off. Postmortem blood clots look like grape jelly. Decomposing brain looks and has the texture of cake batter. And then there is the fun of actually fishing through the gastric contents (in other words, vomit). You can find all sorts of goodies by fishing through the contents of the stomach. It is sometimes a fun game to try and guess what the decedent's last meal was. And don't even get me started on the many different types of bowel contents (poopey, for all you refined folks out there). Let me just say that you know when a person had Mexican food before he or she died. So, I have no problem with loss of appetite. I even eat my lunch in the morgue with bodies that are being autopsied in front of me (shhh, don't tell OSHA. They don't want us eating in the autopsy room.). As I have said, it is the talent of pathologists and morgue personnel to be able to describe everything in terms of food (actually a lot of doctors do this in medical school) and still be able to enjoy those foods.

---

Now how's that?

Are u feeling bored now?
Read this email scam.

worth      splats.

I'm feeling quite happy with myself now. Just finished revamping my blog from that boring look! look at those banners on the right hand bottom corner!!! :(

Time for lunch! Cya!

gosh. jus finish god damn 2 long questions of my assignments... off to bed now! nitey!

zzzzzzzzzzzzz......ZZzz......

I saw this book on some top charter, and the title somehow capture my attention. I went to popular wanted to get it, but it was sold out. Reserved my copy, and bought it after a few days, finished it in 2 days, now in the hands of eloise.


"The five people you meet in heaven" by Mitch Albom is a fabulous story about the purpose of life. Basically you die and when you do you meet 5 people who helped to shape your life in some way and they help you understand your life, answer the questions you had about your life, and help you to achieve peace. The story is very well told and since I don't want to give away anything about the book, I suggest having a box of tissue nearby because the book will make you cry if you have a soul (nope i didn't cry :P). The book attempts to teach us what is important in life through these lessons. All together I think it is a good book to read. Not to mention short...

Am now thinking about reading Tuesdays with Morrie next.

(Disclaimer: that silly image of the previous entry wasn't done by me k)

My new comics blog coming out soon!!! watch out on this space :)

(i'm afraid that would be a long time later..... )

Hmm, i'm trying out an account with http://www.20six.co.uk, seems like the site is down? Could my network administrator ban the site? hmm...