Slight change in structure. I intend to do "chores" for at least 1 hour everyday (and more on weekends). Yesterday this was wash and folding laundry, and going through a backlog of mail (mostly bills that are auto-paid but need to filed).

Over the days I missed posting, took out garbage, cleaned the master bedroom, took my car in for service, etc.

I like the concept of doing "stuff" for 1 hour rather than doing a specific item. I had no problem spending more than 1 hour in order to finish some items.

Decide what you want, and set to it like running water. Soft, slight, steady. Unstoppable.
-David Weber

So what did I do yesterday? Went to parents for dinner (missed last Friday), and helped put the finishing touches on "setting-up" my dad's new computer. I spent more time than expected there.

"Pimp my Pad" work: Emptied the stack of newspapers waiting to be taken out. 2 min task.
"Stock Trading" work: Scanned some potential stock purchases while waiting for dinner. 20 min task.
"Maintenance" work: Took my car in for an oil change and new tires. 45 min total.

Not a stellar start, but a start.

I am a procrastinator, I have it within me to amuse myself instead of doing the things that actually need to be done.

I don't want to be a procrastinator anymore, it sucks. So I have to develop new habits to replace the long since ingrained habit of procrastination. I've tried and failed to do this a few times. After some reading lately I found I was going about it in a very difficult way. I wasn't setting clear goals for myself. My goal was to "stop procrastinating". "Stopping" something is a very poor goal. You repeat the behavior then lament after-the-fact, when nothing can be done about it. Instead having a goal to "do" something, you lament that you are not doing anything and can change that.

And so this journal is born. I'll list my long term and short term goals. Most importantly I'll do ONE thing EVERYday that is a step towards those goals. When that has become a habit, I'll increase it to TWO things everyday, and so on.

There are two primary goals at the moment. The primary short term goal is to make my condo the 'default' "hang-out" place for my friends and I. I got behind on decorating and then slipped horribly behind on normal maintenance, this must be remedied. There are a myriad of tasks to be done, and most individually take very little time to do. The primary long term goal is to learn and practice stock trading (hence the other blog). Tasks for this goal include reading, daily and weekly research, etc. Of course there are also 'maintenance' type tasks that should be done regularly, many of which I'm so far behind on that they become part of the above short term goal. Once, I'm 'caught up' these will be done on a regular basis.


The primary use of this Journal will be to list the activities that get done each day, and to keep track of the number of consecutive days that I have put towards making this behavior a habit.