In my struggles with the bugbear Procrastination, it helps to post little successes. So here’s a recent one: knocking off a small but important, and for whatever reason, dreaded, task first thing every work day.  For me, it’s listening to my voicemail messages. I have a habit tracker in my weekly to-do list–some people make one for the whole month, but I find that daunting and therefore counterproductive–and “messages first” has been one of the habits on my list for the past few weeks. Not surprisingly, it is not only fun to check it off my habit tracker right away, but the relief of not having that reproachful little light blinking at me is like an energy boost for the whole day. Also, you know, people appreciate it when I retrieve and respond to their messages promptly. Funny, that.

So as not to imply that the route away from procrastination is lined with roses, I want to report that I’ve been letting my clothes and shoes pile up instead of putting them away every evening (fortunately, this can never get more than two weeks out of hand, because I have to do it when our cleaner comes). It’s discouraging; sometimes it feels as if I have a set amount of do-it-now energy, and if I improve in one area, I have to backslide in another. But I know that’s not really true. Bit by bit, the better habits are becoming easier to maintain.

So, over to you. Do you have one task that is not actually that difficult, but that for some reason is a block for you, that you would like to take care of first thing each day? What is it? What helps you, or might help you, to remove the block?

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