What I'm doing on my summer Staycation...

I'm at Starbucks, where I came to get some "work" done. All I'm accomplishing is consuming my 7th cup of coffee and people-watching, but whatever. I am NOT going to the shore, home or out for the weekend, I'm having a Stay-cation. Staying in and getting stuff DONE.

I'm struggling with time management lately. I've always been a procrastinator. Not because I couldn't figure out how to do things, or because I took on too much, but simply because it was possible for me to procrastinate and still succeed. My evidence?

-I never did homework in high school. EVER. I'm not kidding. I was smart enough that I didn't have to do it. The closest I ever came was when I was driving to school every morning - I gave two guys in my neighborhood a ride to school every day, and one of them would sit in the back and call out questions while I gave him the answers. If it didn't require handwriting, he filled out my paper too. If it did, he gave me his paper in homeroom, and I copied it back in my own handwriting during Channel One. Ahhh, Channel One. It was the BEST.
-College? Rarely did it there either. My dad told me the secret to college - which I should have ignored, given the fact that he failed out of Virginia Tech once - was to just GO to class. Even if you didn't take notes, you learned something. At the end of the semester, if you were smart enough, you could basically wing it and at least get a C. I graduated with a 3.75, and I'd consider myself to be a "coaster"...I put it off and did all my work at the end of the semester, cramming like you wouldn't believe.
-Grad school? Yeah, a little different, but it was group work. I had a GREAT group of friends there - we all took the same classes, we always picked each other for groups, and we knew that each of us had strengths. I could put together written materials at 3 am, and I could pick up a presentation and wing it without ever practicing. Celeste was AMAZING at numbers (I seriously am going to hire her to run my business at some point), Kevin was a research guy who actually knew what those databases in the library were, Andrade was great with technology, and John...well, John was just pretty to look at. He kept me sane because I just always wanted to make out with him.
-The corporate world...well, that's the tough one. I was in the wrong profession anyway, and I got scared I'd make mistakes that could feasibly cost millions of dollars.


Now I still procrastinate. I'm scared sometimes that my boss in the site I write for is one day going to say "Molly, it's called DEADLINES. KEEP THEM" or just fire me. Portraits are usually finished at the very.last.moment (just ask my friend Meghan) and I've literally had to send work off to a show on the last possible day to get it postmarked - still wet. I've rarely packed for a trip anything except the day I leave, and I'm famous for finishing my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve - in the last store open.

So I want to change. I'm trying the ever-present "To Do" list, but I'm making this one public. I want to get these things done this weekend...I will let you know what I get done. If I don't get it done, please come up to Philly and beat me over the head.

1. Get my winter clothes downstairs in storage.
2. Put summer clothes upstairs.
3. Clean the kitchen, living room and bathroom - top to bottom.
4. Assemble stretcher frames.
5. Write my assignment for the other website I write for - an essay on "I have never been more drunk than that night..."
6. Call my grandmother.
7. Get my friend April a baby gift - any suggestions?
8. RSVP for April's shower (Ha! maybe it will bring may flowers? Kidding, she's due in late June)
9. Clean out the fridge.
10. Start cleaning out the studio.
11. Get a list of stuff I'm going to sell before moving - anyone want a big-screen?
12. Find the $20 I got out of the ATM the other day.
13. Do some SERIOUS work on this business plan I'm working on.

That's about it. Seriously, don't let me be a slacker. I wish I could give myself an incentive, like a new something, but unless I find that money in item 12, I can't buy myself anything.

I do not want to be a procrastinator.