Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Prompt Foolishness

As an example of the previous post on Foolish Prompts, I pick a random number and get #23 Imagine: Misremember the Past:

What memories are getting in the way? How can I misremember them?

I list 3 memories that are getting in my way. I remember:
  1. That I haven't been writing recently.
  2. All the other things I could be doing instead.
  3. How difficult writing this blog can be.
I imagine things being different. I misremember the past:
  1. I picture myself having written everyday, all week.
  2. I keep coming back to the same thing; I can blog, or I can blog, or I can blog.
  3. Blogging is easy!
I focus on just one of these. I go to my To Do list and start listing all the things I have to do today. I pretend all I can remember is

  • Write blog
  • Write blog
  • Write blog
  • Write blog
  • Write blog

It becomes a game. When I ask myself, “What do I do now?” the answer is, “To blog!” 

I start writing, but eventually want to procrastinate. How do I procrastinate? By writing my blog!

If I forget, I check my To Do list. I make multiple To Do lists, all with the same item repeated. I can have one on my computer; one on my phone; one in a notebook; and one on a scrap of paper. I have fun with the silliness of this seemingly pointless task.

Do I believe this all I have to do today? No, I'm just playing. Will this get me to blog everyday? No, I'm just trying something foolish for short-term gains. It got me to write about half of this entry. Then, a few days later, it got me to write the rest. For me, totally worth it.

Now what do I do?

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