The idea of wearing green with green (especially a green pattern) proved a popular idea with the fashionistas sensitive to my Reverse Inspirations. Here are some nice takes on this concept.
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| Clockwise from upper left: myclosetcatalogue.com, apocketfulofpolkadots.com, happinessinmidlife.com, inthewriterscloset.blogspot.com. |
My version included a tipped blazer (because we are having a brief cold front with expected high of 64 F)...and penguins.
*Green penguin blouse (JNY), $6.12/wear+
Green pants (JCP), $4.40/wear
Black tipped blazer (JNY), $13.63/wear
*White swag necklace (Kohls), $14.45/wear+
Black pointy-toed flats (Nordstrom), $3.33/wear
Yes, I bought two penguin blouses at the JNY sale. I'm not positive that I'd have bought this blouse in another color if it had been available, but I wouldn't rule it out. I mean, they were business casual bird shirts for $6.12 a piece! That doesn't happen every day.
I originally bought this necklace more because I wanted to get free shipping on an order than because I thought I'd love it, but I was pleasantly surprised--it's pretty snazzy in a "rows of plastic beads" way. Shockingly, I didn't already own a white necklace (I mean, that's not pearls)--I think I'm going to find this one useful. I like how it stands out against a dark shirt.
In the "not standing out" category: My mom bought me this frog-in-leaves picture at the Zilker Botanical Gardens gift shop. It's next to Robert's bed in our bedroom.
In other news...Do you recognize yourself or someone you know in this article about the procrastination-doom loop? An insidious aspect of this is that I at least find myself right that I'll be (more) in the mood to do something later just often enough to reinforce the practice of putting things off.
I often procrastinate about things that cause me anxiety, so what I often fall back on is (1) self-calming while deciding that I only have to do A right now, where A is the very first little step of the thing I don't want to do, (2) doing A, and (3) scheduling B, the second little step of the thing, for the next day. Repeat every day until the task is complete. It has taken me 4 days to make a doctor or dentist appointment this way, but getting started at all relieves a lot of anxiety, I can usually handle doing any one piece of it, and it's done in 4 days instead of not done a week later. Do you have any practices/hacks around procrastination?
7 comments:
When I go to the hairdresser I schedule my next appointment while I'm there so I won't have to think about picking up the phone to make the appointment. If I don't do this, I end up getting a haircut weeks after I needed to get one.
Precommitment is a great strategy, particularly when you can do it far enough in advance that you are at a high level of construal--thinking about how great the advantages of a hair cut are and not the pain in the ass factor of doing it.
Yes, precommitment is perfect for stuff like dental and other regular visits. Also for things like insurance payments. Also for going to the gym.
Deadlines have always been good for me. For school things I even got good at making my own multiple pre-deadlines. Being more than caught up means a) I can do other stuff at the last minute (like go to a party the day before a test) and b) I don't have to cram. Which is vital because it became clear early on that I cannot cram. During finals week, I could only study about 8 hours a day at the beginning and 3 at the end--studying 24 or 36 hours is just out of the question. Brain turns off!
For house cleaning, parties provide good deadlines. But cleaning as I go (like studying as I go) is better. I'm adding more things to my list of housework things I'm good at keeping up with.
The main things I currently procrastinate on are things that are very quick and easy but involve something unpleasant, generally calling (and bothering) someone. I'm now willing to admit that my not wanting to do things like this is ridiculous but it's a part of me. It's best if I put things like this on a to-do list, though that is not fool-proof. I feel sorry for people who procrastinate on things that are actually hard and/or time-consuming and/or involves multiple steps. (Occasionally mine involve multiple steps, like rolling over my retirement accounts is turning out to be.)
Then there's my favorite strategy which is deciding that if I'm procrastinating, it must not really be that important after all, so I don't have to do it. Of course, this strategy rarely applies, but it can work for things like "one day I'll write that novel."
Finally, there's yard work, for which I have no strategies. I like to wait for better weather and then be too busy or tired or forgetful or not in the mood during this nice weather.
Debbie, having to call people and work my way through some bureaucratic nonsense is a prime procrastination task for me. Some procrastination tasks like house cleaning and yard work I have either outsourced or have made non-applicable to my life.
I like the "not really that important" concept applied to writing a novel. I've determined that writing a novel is not that important to me, too. (I am content to generate ideas/characters for stories I'll never write.) If the task passes the "and there will be zero unpleasant consequences if I don't do it" test and you don't do it, don't do it with peace of mind!
Yep, outsourcing and making inapplicable are nice strategies.
As you may know, I discovered recently that you can have laundry done by other people, and so I've been taking my laundry to the nice folks who will do it for $1.29/lb at a place down the road. (This seems to be about twice as expensive as doing it myself at a laundromat.) Advantages:
1. Not having to do laundry.
2. Not having to keep laundry products in stock.
3. NOT HAVING TO RUN OUT OF LAUNDRY BECAUSE I PROCRASTINATE DOING LAUNDRY FOREVER.
#3 is really the kicker - by paying someone to do the laundry, I can actually have clean laundry. Plus I save time - not just the small amount of time that doing laundry takes, but (more importantly) all the time I would lie around doing nothing because 'do laundry' was the next thing on my list.
Outsourcing is the bomb. It's especially nice when it's not really that expensive. I'm like, Seriously, somebody will wash your laundry for you for only twice the rate of doing it yourself at a laundromat?! I'm lucky to have a washer/dryer in my apartment, but it's good to know that having somebody else do it is an option (esp. since Robert HATES going to the laundromat).
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