( continues...) I don't need to have hanging around in my inbox for years to come. With email, I can also forward things to myself with notes attached -- if I've responded by email, I've got the response right there; but if I followed up some other way, I tend to lose track of whether I did anything or not. So I send myself a dorky little note that says "talked to her about iPod video formats on 11/2" or "paid in full 10/30". That way, I can file both the original and what I did about it together, and GET 'EM OUT OF MY FRAKKIN' INBOX. If it's in the inbox, it hasn't been dealt with yet. If it's not, it may not be done, but it's in the chain.

• Life hacks. There was a good article on this in the NYT magazine a week or two back, which I'd suggest starting with -- basically, it's a (what? movement? concept? bunch of cool blogs that feed off each other?)... a thing. A very geek-friendly thing, about making and sharing tricks and systems and tools to make your life more manageable and user-friendly and (ack) productive.

I've tried the everything-must-be-tracked-and-recorded approach, and it made things worse by ratcheting up my anxiety. I've tried the ADD-support-group, you-are-wonderful-and-creative-and-not-an-idiot! approach, and it pretty much made me want to barf in addition to not fixing anything. And I'm just starting to fix a lot of really old habits, and I still screw up all the damned time. And that's where remembering that I'm human comes in. Which probably ought to be a bullet-point on the list.

• Remember that you're human.

With all of this, start with what you can. One "no", or one inbox. I've just dumped a lot of information on you, but don't think it's even possible to do all of it at once, nor that I'd dream of recommending you do so. I'm not even going to say "you must read this book!" or "try this system" or whatever -- you can do all that (and you can feel free to contact me -- my bookmark list is bigger every day) when you're ready to.

And always feel free to ask for support -- here, in LJ, by email, whatev. This is one of the things I'm worst at. Don't be me.

Constantly. And even worse, I have this repeating cycle wherein I screw something up, get all hardassed on myself about how This Time I'm Going To Write EVERYTHING Down, Damn It, and then when can't keep up with the level of detail in the hardassed system, I find that I still haven't gotten whatever it was done, plus I get extra guilt and self-flagellation out of the transaction. Yay fun.

Amy is me.

Oh! And a good thing this year.

Mawwiage.

Also, getting my brain rewired, finally.

Catch up post.

{{Aimee}} I’m sorry for your loss. It sounds like he waited for you to be with him.

Brenda’s sister is better off without the jerk.

{{Betsy}} Oh my. Quick resolution ~ma on the eye. Alas, there is no quick resolution on teacher and homework issues. Sigh.

Nora! Go you, and congratulations.

The Walnut/Parm slash was quite timely since cheese ravioli is on the menu at Casa Holt tonight.

And yay for vw breathing and PCPs who write angry letters, and suzi's lovely day. Boo for concussions and migraines and headaches and other assorted pains.

Can’t say it any better than Deena.

I thought it would be reassuring to mention one really nifty thing that happened to each of us this year.

I sold my unused back yard for a really big chunk of coin which relieved much financial tension.

Does anyone else have this kind of problem with follow-through? How do other people deal with making sure they follow through, and cleaning up the messes when they don't?

Alas, I suffer from this as well. Worse yet, I also have a huge defensive streak when called on it. About the only thing that helps me at all is list making and prioritizing. In my face desktop lists.

Give ‘em hell in DC Ginger, and/or have fun.

Fay, it’s absolutely not too late. You can find the survey here

Oh good, because I missed it for obvious reasons.

Good thing: Novel's finished.

Wow, that is a very good thing.

Also, thanks amych for the wonderful detail on the procrastination demon slaying report.

thanks amych for the wonderful detail on the procrastination demon slaying report.

Speaking of blogs, 43 Folders can be a little self-congratulatory at times, but they have interesting things to say about efficiency and anti-procrastination. They're much of the reason I've retooled how I send business e-mails.

I should go shower.

thanks amych for the wonderful detail on the procrastination demon slaying report.

I forgot to say marking both of amych's posts for future reference.

Some of the 43F stuff on business emails made me think of you, ita -- I'm not sure why; or maybe it's just that you said something here about it at around the same time the matter was being discussed there.

Anyway, they're a little too prone to the one-true-notebook error, but they turned me on to quicksilver, and so I am their willing slave.

If it made you think of me before yesterday, then I'm flattered. Because I don't think I knowingly mentioned them before then.

I have such communication frustration at work (you know when things aren't your fault, but they're still your responsibility?) that I need every freaking trick in the book. They make me feel I'm doing more.

Hard to tell. She hated them less than bananas, but they're still Not Boobie.

Well, they are particularly nice boobies.

Does anyone else have this kind of problem with follow-through? How do other people deal with making sure they follow through, and cleaning up the messes when they don't?

Once I didn't give a Buffista her blanket for... hmm... over a year. Now who was that? Wait, Anne, it was YOU! ::smooch::

IIRC I went with "groveling" when I finally handed it over.

This is probably the thing about myself I dislike the most, and it has had a huge impact in many areas of my life. If I could have it surgically removed I would, but no, I'm just going to have to deal with the myriad issues that drive my chronic procrastination. I know what some of these issues are (perfectionism, fear of conflict, a tendency to take on more than I can do), but it seems like knowing them is less than half the battle.

Oh yeah, oh G-d yeah. I think its one part depression and three parts bad habit borne out of depression and some part me just being a weenie. I do it less when I'm "doing well" mentally-- but it doesn't go away.

I thought it would be reassuring to mention one really nifty thing that happened to each of us this year.

The show I've been working on for five months played Caroline's. And killed.