Quick update on the procrastination saga ... on advice from Cate Bolt (you can visit her blog at http://catherinebolt.com/) I am no longer calling it Procrastination.  In fact there is no such thing as procrastination - she is dead to me.  I am also banishing that word from my dictionary.   I wonder if I can contact Macquarie and ask them to remove it from theirs?  That way none of us will have to worry about it anymore!

Anyway, back to Cate's advice.   She said I should stop planning my day and just do the stuff I want to do when I want to do it.   At first that sounded impossible, even wrong.  Then I daydreamed about it and it kinda sounded naughty ...  like I could be doing things I shouldn't be doing.   Something like having a nanna nap when I had a client report due or lying in the sun reading when I should be at a meeting. 

I mulled over this advice all day long.  Whilst mulling I decided that my workspace needed to be cleaned and I needed better systems to improve my work flow.   I spent most of the day doing that. I did it because I wanted to do it - and as well it was a "need to do" job.  It wasn't on my To Do list.

I also posted a blog on parenting.  I wrote that post a couple of years ago and it has been sitting in my writing folder waiting to be shared.  Whilst cleaning up my desk I found a copy of it in an old file and decided that I wanted to post it on my blog.    So I did.   It also wasn't on my To Do List.

I didnt do any client work whatsoever, sorry clients, I still love you, I just need a break from you sometimes.  

Normally I would get to the end of the day and feel so bad about the fact I didn't do any "paid" work and that I had "wasted" the day.   Yesterday I didn't feel that way.   Thank's to Cate's advice, I did some things I wanted to do - both were not on the To Do list, but I still felt like I achieved something.

My desk is now in order and I know just what client work needs to be done - it was a pleasure to sit here this morning.  

The blog I posted yesterday was something that meant a lot to me and I have received some really nice feedback about it.  A friend said it made her feel better about herself.  To do that for one person is a huge achievement, and to be honest makes me feel way better than doing some paid client work. 

So, yesterday was a success for me and I didn't feel bad about not ticking a single thing off my To Do list.   Thank you Cate - your wise words are on my wall to remind me that sometimes taking a sidetrack off the main road can bring us things we may have missed out on had we stayed on track.

I hope you all find some little side tracks that bring you joy today.