I have a deadline coming up at work next week, so I've just put in a couple of 12+-hour days. I've known for a while that work-things would be in a range anywhere from slightly overwhelming to completely unmanageable starting after Thanksgiving, but because of circumstances completely beyond my control (no, really!), I couldn't do anything but just watch it coming and dread its arrival. Not that I'm generally anything less than a world-class procrastinator, but this time, I really couldn't have made things any easier on myself. The necessary tools were just not in place.
Now the dark time is here, and while the workload is just as staggering as I had expected, I'm coping well, even feeling strangely optimistic. I'm reminded of the 1999 holiday season, which I spent working a second job at a Calendar Club store in an attempt to save up for wedding expenses. Though not particulary onerous, the work was not exactly enjoyable. But I happily spent three or four evenings a week plus weekends at it, because I was working toward an important goal. I feel the same way now: I don't mind working long hours, and in fact, I'm invigorated because I know how important my work is (within its context), and because I know it must get done.
(As an aside, this is also how I've completed nearly every paper I've ever written -- which must explain why I've never managed to sustain anything longer than about 25-30 pages. I could never find the necessary spark to motivate myself to write hard when something absolutely critical wasn't riding on it. That, my friends, is why I'd never be able to finish a dissertation.)
So I hope this odd obsession/euphoria lasts, because the worst of this is not going to be over for me until mid-January. Clearly, I'm going to need something more to keep me going than my usual stimulants: caffeine and fear of failure.
Posted by Stacie at December 3, 2004 09:43 PMOh, jeeze! I knew I should have sacked you! What an outrageously negative attitude! CC should have been the center of your universe!
"Dilbert," "The Far Side," and "Studs 'n' Spurs" partially financed your wedding, and "not exactly enjoyable" is how you repay them?
But you loved Splooge™, right?!
Posted by: Christian Erickson at December 6, 2004 11:18 AMJohn and I were just talking about Splurge! the other day. It came up because we were discussing failed soft drink concepts, and we were trying to remember the name of the nasty green drink Coke came up with a few years back to compete with Mountain Dew. We recall that particular drink largely because efforts to promote it included a large, plastic, snot-green, "mountain" that toured college campuses. We couldn't remember the name of the drink, though ... was it "Splurge," maybe? From there, John recalled that it was "Surge," and we placed "Splurge" appropriately as another deservedly failed marketing concept.
Ahhh, soapy goodness...
Posted by: Stacie at December 6, 2004 02:48 PMYou better overcome procrastination. You have identified the cause why you never finished a dissertation and so you must stop procrastinating at once.
Do not wait for the deadline to draw near before preparing for what you need to do. It is better to prepare it ahead of time so that you will have nothing to worry when the deadline comes. Instead, you'll just have to review it for errors.
You may set your own deadline which is ahead of the original one so that you will have to do it earlier. Get yourself motivated to overcome procrastination and do your tasks on time.
Posted by: Overcome Procrastination at June 1, 2007 02:30 PMHave a more positive attitude. That will make you more successful with whatever you do. Believe in the positive things to happen and it will happen.
Using the sedona method will help you achieve emotional wellness that will make you a more positive person.
Posted by: sedona method at April 21, 2008 02:03 PM