Folks, I’ve got some problems with reminders.
I’m not talking about reminders to buy milk or to call the dentist. After many, many years of disorganized forgetting and frantic last-minute scrambling, I think I’ve almost got the hang of the everyday tasks. Most of the time.
What I have trouble with is the Big Stuff. Things like the reason why I create, or what I really want to get done in this life. The kind of things that your procrastination demons are trying ever so hard to make you forget.
Whenever you read a book or an article about starting or maintaining a habit – in my case, a creative practice – you usually come across the same advice: use reminders. Find a way to remind yourself of your commitment, of your intentions, of your purpose for creating, of your higher goal, whatever.
I’ve tried lots of different methods. I have my email service send me automatic emails every day. They are routinely ignored. They pile up in my inbox and now I quite literally have 1,168 unread emails, most of which are telling me about my higher purpose or something.
I set my computer calendar to give me annoying pop-up reminders. Ding! The damn thing goes off at least once an hour. I postpone, dismiss, postpone. The messages might be entering into my subconscious somehow. Or the message my brain is receiving might just be “Jeez, this stupid reminder thing is annoying.”
I tried putting a note in my wardrobe, near the door. I decorated it with crayon, I believe. I don’t think I ever saw it.
I’ve put stickers and notes on my laptop and they usually get ripped off with great annoyance by Day 2.
I use an online mindfulness bell, when I remember do turn it on (doh!). It rings at random intervals, which is great. But when it goes off, all I can remember to do is correct my posture. Which I suppose is good, but what about all of the other stuff I have to remember?
My latest attempt is above. It’s a list of five words that I want to focus on with my current art project. I’ve written it on masking tape – my preferred medium – and stuck it somewhat near the computer, on the top edge of my desk/workstation thingy, in the hopes that I’ll see it each morning.
Will it work? Huh! I doubt it.
I must confess: I’ve got some serious envy for people who “have an awareness practice.” I have no idea what that even means, but man, do I want one. Because I have a feeling that people who are practicing being aware of this kind of stuff all the time do not have masking-tape reminders stuck all over their work spaces. Plus I am pretty sure that their lives are significantly more awesome for it.
I guess I will just have to remind myself that I am working on this.
… Gah!
COMMENTS: How do you use reminders? Which ones have worked for you? Please share. Seriously.
I’ve experienced the writing of notes and ignoring them at-will.
Maybe it’s like the old wine commercial with Orson Wells (?) – No wine before it’s time.
No project before it’s time!!
Hi Jane! Another note-ignorer, woo hoo!
It’s true, sometimes projects do seem to wait until they’re good and ready to come into being. It doesn’t make it very easy for impatient people like myself. Hmm, I guess I wouldn’t make a good winemaker (scratching that one off the list)
Hi,
I can really relate to all of this! The inertia that builds up around NOT DOING THE THINGS WE MOST NEED&WANT TO DO. It’s weird. There can be anxiety involved in simply moving from one thing to the next. ME, I use my kitchen timer. I set it for 15 minutes, and I focus ONLY on that-thing-I-want-to-do for that 15 minutes. It really works! It seems to ease some of the senseless anxiety that leads to procrastination. And by the way, when I started this practice, I set the timer for 5 minutes only! It still worked. Oh, and you should delete those 1,168 e-mails!!! right away!!
Hi Sarah
I endorse Bronwyn’s 15-min thing because I’ve used that method too when I am utterly unable to work on a task that I know needs to get done. Often my mindfulness practice, such as it is, involves doing whatever I want to at work, then figuring out what I’m not doing and looking at my reasons for avoiding them. Often when I think more about the reasons for avoidance I can clear it out and apply myself, if that makes sense.
Hi Bronwyn & Jesse! Welcome!
You guys have some great ideas. I’ve used the 5- and 15-minute trick before and I have to agree, it works like magic. I’ve also had good results with 45 minutes of focusing on one thing, followed by 15 minutes of Something Else (usually movement, but also reading or drawing or staring out the window with some tea). Basically, timers are awesome. And yeah, looking into the layers hiding under avoidance is super helpful too.
I still have trouble, though, with reminding myself of things that are not so much specific stuff to do as qualities I’d like to bring to my work. If that makes any sense. Anyway, I hope they’ll sink in eventually.