… If you procrastinate.
(Debbie raises hand and waves madly!!)
So why do we? My fabric arrived on time on Tuesday. I've had time every afternoon and evening since to work on my dress. Have I? No. Not until today. The Last Day.
I'm pretty sure I'll get it done tonight. It's cut out and I've basted the pleats. The only other "hard" (not really) part is the neckband (already interfaced) and after that it's just straight seams and a few hems. Even if the power goes out, I can sew by candlelight on the treadle. But why did I wait? Why do some people (me!!) enjoy working under pressure? I mean, I must, right? Since I do this all the time.
But is it really procrastination if you do get the whatever done on time? Or is there another term that fits better? I don't think I ever procrastinate past a deadline and miss it. Maybe in a warped inverse sort of way, I just have excellent organizational and time management skills. Stop laughing. ;-)
Just thoughts.
Back up to the sewing room now.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
26 comments:
Thank you for each and every comment. I appreciate them all, but I have to be honest and let you know that I'm usually bad about answering questions. I hope you understand that there just isn't enough time in the day to do everything I want to do.
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Maybe you're addicted to the adrenalin rush. Or maybe you've just got too much else going on so that even though it seemed like you had time earlier in the week you actually really needed some down time.
ReplyDeleteHope nothing gets between you and a finished dress.
Lois K
I'm procrastinating right now! :)
ReplyDeleteI was trying not to procrastinate but my iron just sprung a leak.
ReplyDeleteHey, I love the new layout. It's super duper awesome.
It's not procrastinaion if you get done it time. It's time management.
ReplyDeleteI was finishing my daughter's first communion dress the morning of the ceremony. My MIL said - you'll NEVER finish in time! But I had several hours to go, so of course I did. Oh she of little faith! I have every confidence that you will finish on time as well.
I don't know why we do this. I always leave things to the last minute. I've had the fabric and pattern for a pair of yoga pants sitting waiting to be cut out for about ten days. It's an easy enough task. When did I finally decided to cut these pants out? This morning when I had 15 minutes spare before I had to leave to go to the gym. I could have done it yesterday afternoon in the hour I wasted wandering around the property with a cup of tea in my hand thinking about all the things I could actually be doing instead. You'll finish on time.
ReplyDeleteI prefer to say I work better under pressure!! Some of the best things I have made were done at the last minute.
ReplyDeleteAnd I see you are on the computer procrastinating rather than sewing!!! :) Old habits dies hard.
ReplyDeleteOh! This is soooo me!
ReplyDeleteI brought the Thai silk, I intended as my MOG outfit, back with me from Thailand beginning of April (for May 29 wedding). When did I sew the outfit? May 21/22 - a two piece fully lined outfit!!!
Luckily this is my last child to marry, so no more final finishes. Ha!
You are so not alone.
Here I am waving too. I get my deadlines finished too, but usually with stress attached. The internet has not helped me in the least to overcome procrastination.
ReplyDeleteBut why do we procrastinate when it comes to sewing? I love to sew. You love to sew. But I never get as much sewing done as I plan. Actually planning becomes my procrastination!
I am looking forward to seeing your new dress.
Me. I'm working on the skirt/top combo I plan to wear tomorrow night when dh and I go out to celebrate our anniversary. I work full time and tomorrow night will have to come up with something for the kids to eat while we are gone, so tonight is it. The skirt just needs pressing and hemming, the slip needs an elastic waistband and the top needs all construction. I'll get it done. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteIf you have ever had a Meyers Briggs personality test done, there is a personality type that given a deadline, will get a task done by exactly that deadline. Drives people crazy that prefer to be done early, but it is a normal personality.
When I "have" to do something, I procrastinate. If I'm just doing it because I want to, then I do it fairly quickly. Its the difference between seeing something as "work" or as "pleasure."
ReplyDeleteTell me about it! My wedding is in 3 weeks and I just finished cutting out all the pieces tonight.
ReplyDeleteThere is saying that goes "work expands to fill the time allotted."
ReplyDeleteEven when we don't "procrastinate" we get perfectionistic and make "design choices" which use up the time allotted, until it is finally finished right on time. Oh, Yeah, that's me.
Hand raised, waiving madly. Call it adrenalin rush, I call it living life on the edge. I always procrastinate. Sometimes to the point where it must not have been all that important because I didn't get it done. I also drive with my gas tank on empty. I haven't run out of gas yet, but I've come very very close. It adds excitement to my otherwise dull life.
ReplyDeleteLol, you could be describing me too! I also have always said I work well under pressure - and I have never missed a deadline yet.
ReplyDeleteOne of my problems is that there are so many things queueing up in my head that I don't know where to start - in the end i do nothing cos I can't decide what to do first! Is there a name for that?!
Raising hand....
ReplyDeleteI work better with a deadline, too. Much better. If I don't have one, I often never get around to it.
Timely, I have no helpful suggestions for you on the Procrastination topic....BUT I did receive a book in the mail just now, just unpacked it actually. The title:
ReplyDelete"Time Management for the Creative Person" Right-Brain Strategies for Stopping Procrastination, Getting Control of the Clock & Calendar and Freeing up Your Time of Your Life
by
Lee Silber
Since I haven't read it yet, I am not able to recommend it...being cautious.
All this is just to tell you that you are not alone.....I am sitting here procrastinating too...my dd just came by in a little skirt she got up and made this morning out of my Power Dry stash......(I got up to the sound of the sewing machine).
How about confident in your ability to get it done on time? :)
ReplyDeleteI'm being confident right now about my deadlines on Tuesday. I probably won't get much sleep Mon night tho...
I'm with the other commenter that it's just a personality type. I've been a procrastinator my whole life and I've finally made peace with it. But I had to crack up at Sherrill's comment about driving around with the gas tank on empty. I do that too. And taxes? If they're done before the end of March, well, that's a bona fide miracle.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you just work better under pressure. I know I do.
ReplyDeleteI'm raising my hand. My daughter was in a wedding last sunday and I altered her dress that morning. It was a size nine and she's a size four- it needed major alterations. And she's 5'10" so had to add a ruffle to linning for additional length. But it was finished and she looked beautiful. At least I always get it done. I finished my daughters homecoming dress in the car on the way to the stadium. But she was gorgeous on the field that night.
ReplyDeleteOMG you procrastinators are giving me palpitations! I do NOT work well under pressure and have to be early on everything. OK, I'm going to stop procratinating and get off my arse and to the fabric store. LOL
ReplyDelete::raises both hands::
ReplyDeleteIt's ridiculous, isn't it? For the last baby dress I made, I was literally hand hemming the thing 2 hours before the birthday party. Gah. Sure, it got done in time, but I cut it waaay too close. I don't know what it is, but I keep finding myself in these situations. Glad to hear I'm not the only one, though. ;)
I think that procrastinating makes me focus and concentrate better. It keeps me from wandering to another project or another part of the house (computer!).
ReplyDeleteIt also derails my perfectionistic tendencies. If there's no time to do that seam over again, or topstitch a pocket better, or reinsert the zipper, then I just move on. Nine times out of 10, I decide later that it functions fine and wouldn't have been worth the extra time to make it "perfect."
Without procrastination, er I mean stress, my life would be empty. Our late night sewing stories are like war stories from the textile trenches. If you fine with it and happy. Who cares?
ReplyDeleteDebbie,
ReplyDeleteMy *major* procrastination comes from two things.
1) I no longer work outside my home. It seems like I have all the time in the world to do things so it's easy to put things off to do "tomorrow". The trouble is, my life of babysitting and chauffeuring the grand-kids from time to time takes up more time than you would expect.
That's one reason.
2) a friend who is a psychologist once told me (when I whined to her why do I do this over and over?) told me that one category of procrastinator is the perfectionist. The person who things about a task, mentally does the task in their head and then underestimates the time it will take to get it done. Also in this case I am constantly looking for better buttons, a better match on the lining etc. etc. to make the things perfect. So I am sad to say I only sew when there is a very fixed deadline. Like the 24 ballet costumes for Krista's dance class. The pictures had to be taken on a certain day and they were done, but I sewed 24 hours around the clock to finish on time.
So though like you, even though I procrastinate, I never miss a deadline.