Do not shop for office supplies

How do you manage projects… especially when you have to set the deadline?

Today is another deadline that I set for myself and I’m not going to make it.

It’s okay. I forgive myself this time. But I won’t quit… and I promise to let you know when I do finally arrive that shifty, ever-shifting due date.

There is another positive note here, besides my forgiving and patient (maybe too patient?) nature.

It’s this: I did not add to my collection of handsome leather-bound personal planners.

If you were to look in my home office, you would see a collection of leather binders. Some real leather, some genuine Naugahyde. Some with three rings, some with many rings, too many rings to be used for any other purpose. Some are empty, some are filled with calendar pages from years like 2021. 2016. 2008. 2007. 2003. 1998.

You see, I had this habit. When the pressure was high, I would resort to what some call retail therapy. I’d go shopping. And I’d shop for the kinds of things that would make me more organized and therefore productive. Planners. Surely I’d find one that was better than the one I bought last time.

Sometimes I’d catch myself. Why pay for the binder… I’ve got so many! Instead, maybe I can just buy a shrink-wrapped set of pages! But the fourteen holes on this set of calendar pages won’t match up with the eighteen rings on the last binder I bought! And I really like that binder! Except for the stupid number of rings. It’s a trap, meant to keep me addicted to that binder and its lovely accessories! Some kind of trapper keeper!

Not exactly the most productive procrastination.

So I’ll keep working on my project, I’ll set another deadline, and I’ll keep using my homemade planner that serves me well.

And I won’t hide from deadlines in the tall aisles of the office supply store.

What do you do when you should be working? I mean, how do you drag yourself back to work?