True Confessions

Am I Procrastinating?

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Recently a friend of mine asked me on two separate occasions if I procrastinated.  At first I stuttered because I like to think of myself as someone that doesn’t procrastinate.  Time is precious and valuable to me so I’m always looking for the most efficient way to do something.  A long time ago I discovered that by procrastinating I spend more time trying not to think about something than the time it would take me to actually do it.  And of course there are dreaded tasks that I procrastinate on, conveniently forget about, or continually rank as a low, low priority.  I was even delaying writing this blog post which is normally something I enjoy doing each week.  It must be the subject matter….

I do have one task I habitually procrastinate on, much to my detriment, but normally I’m quite diligent about getting things done right away.  However, my friend’s question caused me to think about it for a moment.  As a consultant, I’m constantly reprioritizing my tasks based on urgency and deadlines.  On occasion I may procrastinate by lounging around watching TV, but more often I’m getting something done in place of something else.  If I push a task of lesser importance to the bottom of the list in favor of doing something more immediate, is that procrastinating?

I’ve also found the erratic schedule and shifting priorities is a strong motivator for me to stay on top of my tasks allowing me flexibility when something unexpected happens.  Something always pops up at a random time that is both urgent and time consuming.  This means for certain tasks I have developed a habit of doing them immediately to get them off my list and out of my mind.  Recently, my brother sent me an article about this exact habit, which is called “pre-crastination,” rushing to get things done for the sake of completing them.  Consequently some things, like email responses, may be sent off hastily without thinking it through.

I’m not sure there’s a perfect solution, but I allow myself to do whatever I want as long as it’s productive.  I have a mental list of “productive” activities that evolves constantly.  On occasion, I have even been able to justify watching TV, napping, or teaching myself how to make kettle corn as productive activities.  Most of all, I strive for efficiency and balance.

 

 

Ecuador, Galapagos

Vincente Roca: The Turtle Hang Out

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The day started at sunrise. By 6am most of us had assembled on the covered deck to check out the scenery. We identified turtles by their large rock-like domes emerging silently through the waves.

A short time later we boarded the pangas for a wildlife tour. The boats zipped around the coast line giving us panoramic views of the caldera and cracks of black, hardened lava dykes cutting through the stones in jagged ribbons.

View of a caldera on Isabela Island.

View of a caldera on Isabela Island.

Mola mola fish sailed by waving their fins in the air before diving down.  The panga headed into a cove where we would snorkel later.  Along the edge we saw marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, and a pair of blue-footed boobies.

A pair of blue-footed boobies hanging out.

A pair of blue-footed boobies hanging out.

After the panga tour we suited up for snorkeling.  We plunged into the ocean off the side of the panga and were immediately welcomed by marine life.

Below me two giant turtles glided seamlessly through the murky depths highlighted by the sunshine streaking through.  A small Galapagos penguin darted by, contrasting the serene, peaceful movements of the turtles. It zipped around, flying effortlessly in the water.

A Galapagos Pingüino diving for food.

A Galapagos Pingüino diving for food.

I cruised slowly through the cove, taking care to keep my movements slow and gentle. My arms remained by my sides or crossed in front of me so as not to frighten the turtles with any big motions. Many sea turtles drifted about propelled only by the natural movement of the water. Others glided by using their front flippers like wings. Many of them cruised over to give me an eye or two.  At one point I mimicked the turtles and remained still, allowing myself to drift with the water’s movement.  Seven sea turtles surrounded me.

Sea turtle at Vincente Roca.

Sea turtle at Vincente Roca.

A few of them passed so close beneath me I could count the barnacles on their carapaces.  I could have easily reached out to touch them, but I didn’t.

A marine iguana swam by, swishing its long, flat tail from side-to-side in the water.  I have to confess that I experienced a pang of “tail envy” at this moment. Those iguanas are great swimmers. A flightless cormorant paddled by and a pelican sidled over, checking me out before cruising off.

Deletion, Digital Dilemma, Spring Cleaning

Declaring Email Bankruptcy

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Last week’s posting featured the Spring Challenger, winner of the Spring Cleaning Challenge contest.  I followed up with the Spring Challenger to find out how she managed to delete over 30,000 emails and how long it took her.

She said most of it was performed in a single sitting by first identifying an unwanted promotional email.  Then she unsubscribed to the service to reduce future unwanted emails from arriving.  Then she searched for all of the unwanted promotionals related to that email and deleted them en masse.  This type of a strategy is fairly effective because it’s removing all of the unwanted, unread email, but also prevents future emails by unsubscribing to the email services.

Another strategy I heard about is to declare “email bankruptcy”.  Basically you delete all of your unread emails without reviewing them and start fresh with a clean inbox.  As a courtesy it’s recommended to add a small note to your email signature informing people that you recently declared email bankruptcy and any important emails requiring a response may have to be resent.

Email bankruptcy, similar to financial bankruptcy, is not the kind of thing you want to declare often.  While email bankruptcy may provide some immediate relief for getting a handle on email, if it’s not accompanied by methods, strategies, and habits to deal with incoming email, you’re going to end up in the same predicament.  How quickly this happens depends on the daily volume.

If you’re interested in cleaning up your email, you may decide to do it more gradually like the Spring Challenger, or you may decide to declare email bankruptcy and purge everything unread in one go.  Either way, both options need to be accompanied with new habits and tactics.  Here’s a few tips that I find useful:

  1. Unsubscribe to any and all promotionals, newsletters, social notifications, etc. that you review less than once a month
  2. Adjust settings to receive notifications as a digest (i.e. aggregate of emails over a period of time) rather than as single email notifications
  3. Create rules to sort and organize emails automatically (many applications come equipped with this option)
  4. Delete anything unwanted right away
  5. Develop a routine to sort emails by the action required before answering/processing any of them (i.e. respond, book an appointment, delegate)

Be mindful of how and why you use email.  Think of alternative options.

 

 

Deletion, Spring Cleaning

Spring Challenger

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In mid-May I posted a Spring Cleaning Challenge inviting readers to process a pile of unwanted clutter.  I was inspired by my own cleaning project and I wanted to commemorate 2 years of blog postings.

The winner of the Spring Cleaning Challenge deleted 31,116 emails from her collection of email accounts.  Wow!  I was equally impressed with her responses to the contest entry questions.

  1. What was your Spring Cleaning Challenge? Deleting old emails. I’ve never deleted any as long as I’ve had these email addresses!!
  2. How long had you been procrastinating on cleaning up this area? At least 6 years, maybe as long as 10!!!
  3. Why were you procrastinating? It didn’t seem necessary and I’m a notorious procrastinator.
  4. On a scale of 1 – 10, how annoyed/stressed/guilty, etc. did you feel before? I wasn’t stressed or guilty until I got an iPhone and saw that there were 40Thousand emails sitting there!!! When I did see it, about a 6.
  5. On a scale of 1 – 10, how relieved did you feel after? 6 or 7. Much lighter!!!

***Bonus question: were you able accomplish another action based on the results of the Spring Cleaning?  If yes, please elaborate. I can now find emails I WANT to keep more easily. No more scrolling through a thousand updates and promotions to find what I need! Yay!!

Question 4 reminds me of how easy it is to accumulate electronic clutter because we never realize how much space it takes up.  As the winner points out, she felt neither stressed nor guilty about it until she saw the actual number of unread emails on her iPhone app.

Screencap of the winner's phone before the big purge.

Screencap of the winner’s phone before the big purge.

Another highlight for me is the added bonus of being able to find things more easily because there is less to search through.  Similar to the winner, I also find it much easier to find what I need when I have less to scroll through.  By practicing “strategic saving” and only retaining that which brings me value, I usually have instant success when searching for emails.  Another important part of the strategy is to delete promotionals and junk right away, or unsubscribe, before it accumulates.

I even feel a bit relieved looking at the after picture thinking that this person has 30,000 less emails to deal with.  Whew!

Screencap of the winner's phone after the big purge.

Screencap of the winner’s phone after the big purge.

Excellent work!

 

Ecuador, Galapagos

Black Sand Beaches

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After another long, rocky night of travel on the boat, we ended up on the west side of Santiago Island at a place called Puerto Egas. It was the same island where we went on our first excursion back in time, but the west side offered totally different terrain including a wet landing onto a black sand beach.  Sea lions dozed peacefully nestled into the rocks. The marine iguanas blended in so perfectly with the sand I had to watch carefully not to step on them.

Landing on the black sand beach. A small sea lion pup napping on a rock edge. Sea lions lounged everywhere in the rock formations. Marine iguanas lazed about on the sand.

Landing on the black sand beach. A small sea lion pup napping on a rock edge. Sea lions lounged everywhere in the rock formations. Marine iguanas lazed about on the sand.

We hiked along a dusty, sandy path and had the good fortune to see a Galapagos Hawk, the top predator of the Galapagos Islands. On this particular island the hawks have adapted to become polyandrous (one female, many males), instead of the life-long, monogamous pairing typical of hawks.

Scenery along the sandy trail to the coast. It was arid and scrubby looking filled with cacti, acacia trees and lots of sharp, pointy brush in muted tones.

Scenery along the sandy trail to the coast. It was arid and scrubby looking filled with cacti, acacia trees and lots of sharp, pointy brush in muted tones.

Eventually the trail led us to a lava beach. Sea lions frisked around in the diaphanous blue-green waters. I was fascinated by a spot nicknamed “Darwin’s toilet” aptly named due the waves filling up and draining a particular hole in the lava with a flush-like action. Marine iguanas lazed about on the rocks soaking up the sun.

Two alpha males fighting for the prime spot of rock. They were rather raucous. If you look carefully you can also see a few marine iguanas (look for the tails) and the bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs.

Two alpha males fighting for the prime spot of rock. They were rather raucous. If you look carefully you can also see a few marine iguanas (look for the tails) and the bright red Sally Lightfoot crabs.

We returned to the boat for our snorkeling gear and headed back to the black sand beach. I was lucky enough to see a giant sea turtle resting quietly on the sandy floor of the ocean, partially obscured by a school of tiny fish. On the other side of the beach I watched another sea turtle quietly grazing on a patch of sea lettuce, waving gently in the currents. Just before we had to leave I spotted two white-tipped reef sharks. My initial response was one of panic before I remembered to calm down so as not to attract any unwanted attention.

In the afternoon we headed to Buccaneer Cove for deep water snorkeling.  I saw my first starfishes, which prefer to live in colder waters. One was called a chocolate-chip starfish because of the dark, chocolate-colored markings on it.

A chocolate chip starfish. Starfish like colder water so I actually had to dive down to get a picture of this one.

A chocolate chip starfish. Starfish like colder water so I actually had to dive down to get a picture of this one.

Bonus picture of a pelican. I accidentally got sunscreen on the lens so there’s a bit of a smudge on the image.

One of the many curious pelicans that would cruise over to check me out while I was in the water.

One of the many curious pelicans that would cruise over to check me out while I was in the water.

Deletion, Spring Cleaning, True Confessions

Spring Cleaning Challenge II

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I caught a lucky break with my spring cleaning challenge.  The day after posting the challenge, I found a bookcase on the street while taking an early morning walk.  My body hurt for about two days from lugging the bookcase to my building and then hefting it up three flights of stairs, but it did make the clean up easier.

Like most clean-up projects, I started by sorting the items into piles: Donate, Keep, and Discard (Shred, Recycle, Toss).  It sounds simple, but the Keep pile always gets a bit complicated.  There’s always a curveball, meaning something random I want to keep that doesn’t fit anywhere.

Mid-way point, after ~1.5 hours of work:

The piles starting from on top of the white box, moving down and then clockwise: green holder of professional reference materials, flower box of active client files, 3 piles of books and journals (donations), garbage, shred and recycling piles, stack of office supplies (folders, etc.), 2 curve balls (comic and envelope of product samples), and 1 new project to organize all my business cards.

The piles starting from on top of the white box, moving down and then clockwise: green holder of professional reference materials, flower box of active client files, 3 piles of books and journals (donations), garbage, shred and recycling piles, stack of office supplies (folders, etc.), 2 curve balls (comic and envelope of product samples), and 1 new project to organize all my business cards.

I finally found a home for my professional reference materials and active client files.  Score!  I donated the contents of the green holder to make space for my professional reference materials.  The outdated files in the flower box were shredded and replaced with new active files.  Still remaining was 1 banker’s box of school materials and a pile of teaching/training materials.

After the first push, this is what the closet looked like.

After the first push, this is what the closet looked like.

I finished processing the first round of stuff, including all the books that went straight to the new bookcase.  Then I tackled the second round, basically the banker’s box of *stuff*.  I followed the same process and donated or recycled the majority of the contents.

The piles starting from the top left clockwise: Office supplies, Professional Reference materials, Keep, Teaching Materials, Recycle, Return to Friend (I borrowed the booklets about two years ago).

The piles starting from the top left clockwise: Office supplies, Professional Reference materials, Keep, Teaching Materials, Recycle, Return to Friend (I borrowed the booklets about two years ago).

Finally, the closet and boxes are empty.

All clear! Whew!

All clear! Whew!

There were definitely a few hard moments, like when I had to admit my erudite days of being a scholar were long gone and recycled or donated a lot of academic materials.  Or when I pulled down a pile of papers containing my original birth certificate, a few other vital records and my two graduate degrees.  Erp.  Definitely not safe storage!  Another hard moment came when I unearthed two boxes of business cards and carefully balanced it on top of my inbox as a future project.  I hate it when I make more work for myself!

As an added *bonus* I rented a car and took care of the donations right away, including a mound of stuff piled in my bedroom for months.  I was able to donate many of the academic journals by posting a notice on a listserv.

Pile of *stuff* waiting to be donated.

Pile of *stuff* waiting to be donated.

Thanks to those of you who participated in the contest.  I hope it provided some relief. I know I feel a lot “lighter”.