Procrastitasking

Our subject for this week is Getting Things Done, which is kind of funny because I rarely get anything done. I’m lazy and have a terrible memory, which are two things that do not go well together. So this was definitely a good section for me. I read about a lot of ways to improve my habits and get things done and I could easily implement them into my life. It’s just a matter of doing it and getting it done. I have to do something to change my habits of not doing anything, which is very hard to do, considering that I like doing nothing. It’s a vicious downward cycle. So maybe if I talk about it and all of the benefits, it will motivate me. I’ll also be keeping track of how often I procrastitask, which is a word I just made up to describe the act of doing something productive while also procrastinating and multitasking with something unproductive. So I’ll do my best to stay on track and write this blog. So here it goes.

So I watched this video about multitasking and single-tasking (already I’ve stopped and talked to my wife. Great, she just turned the TV on. American Ninja Warrior. I’m done for.) and how multitasking is actually damaging our brains and attentions. The part that he talks about going off on tangents happens to me all the time. I’ll start by looking up ancient Mexico facts and end up watching puppy videos on youtube. (I just watched TV for like 2 minutes) This article talked about similar things and how multitasking hurts us. I don’t know about multitasking damaging me, but I definitely noticed that I’m a lot less effective when there are outside things happening around me. (I just typed that whole sentence while watching TV) I’ve been trying lately to cut down my distractions while I do homework, but it’s hard because I want to do everything all at once. I have a short attention span. (I just checked comicbookmovie.com)

After reading all these articles and watching the videos, I’ve decided that I need to start organizing my life better. Maybe writing stuff down of everything I need to do. That would probably help a lot since I forget everything. And I could also do all my required tasks before I do anything leisurely. (Monday Night Football now) It would definitely help me to organize my life more and make time for everything that I need to do. I have to balance class, homework, Morning Tea With Princess Ashley, baseball filming, doing personal videos, having a social life, and giving time to my new wife. (just checked my email and sent one)

I have noticed that going back and forth between tasks is hard. One of the articles I read talked about that. How devoting time to more than one thing means that you can’t give your all to one thing and do a good job on it. Every time I’ve come back from being distracted, I’ve completely lost focus on what I was talking about and had to read back over the whole paragraph to get back focused on the subject. (Facebook. And also football) So my challenge to myself for this year is to actually get stuff done and stop procrastitasking. So far, I haven’t been doing very good. But I plan to utilize some strategies I’ve read about and implement them into my life. Wish me luck. I am definitely going to need it.