Jessi Arrington: Color-Obsessed Thrift Shopper Extraordinaire

Jessi Arrington is a Brooklyn based, color-obsessed designer and founder of the design firm WORKSHOP. Her favorite color is rainbow and she’s made a hobby out of wearing nothing new because it’s healthier for the environment, her wallet and offers her the opportunity to indulge her unique fashion sense!

She recently gave a lecture for TED and I was so fascinated by her personal style and spirit that I wanted to share her thoughts with all of you.

If you’d like to read more about what she thinks about color and design and thrift store shopping, check out her blog at LuckySoAndSo.com!

I just did and came across the most eloquent and insightful post about her struggles with perfectionism and procrastination, which just so happen to go hand in hand...something I never actually realized until tonight!

One mental epiphany later, I had to share the link to the post because it so perfectly articulates how I feel inside.

Procrastinating Christmas

With only ten days until Christmas, my intentions for this evening mainly consisted of working on my gift list and doing some online shopping.

Alas, I can barely keep my eyes open after a couple short nights and a busy day at work so the shopping will have to wait yet another day.

I guess there’s always room for improvement on the procrastination front!

Animal Videos Cure All

I feel a little bit down tonight and I think it’s because I’ve been giving myself a hard time for not accomplishing as much as I’ve wanted to lately. I’ve been posting more but I’ve also been procrastinating a bit on some important tasks on my to do list.

Fortunately, there are always cute animal videos to make me feel better when I need it the most! This one I just saw on a taped Ellen DeGeneres Show and it is friggin’ adorable.

Sigh, how can you not love animals?

Would You Believe My Cat Ate My Homework??

Oh the shame…

It’s been two days since my declaration about posting a new header and re-committing to my blog.

And I’ve got zip to show for it. Sigh.

I was feeling so guilty over this that I almost didn’t want to show my face today and post anything at all. But then the guilt over not posting anything for the last two days won out over the guilt of not having posted the new header.

Welcome to my crazy little world of procrastination, self-doubt and guilt!

But in all sincerity, I’m blaming the delay on the fact that I’ve needed some technical assistance that hasn’t been available. But things are looking up as I have begged my sister (aka html guru) for help this weekend.

Thank goodness for free help! Er, I mean family.

Mission Accomplished!

My weekend was a perfect balance of work and play.

I know it’s surprising, but that’s what happens when I put my TO DO list on blast. It sort of sits in the back of my mind and gives me the mother of all guilt trips.

So, even though it was absolutely perfect weather to go tubing, I made myself stay indoors and catch up on my work instead.

Then, after getting inspired by some of the BYW posts, I took to the streets with my cameras to work on an idea I had for my blog re-design.

It didn’t quite solidify till Sunday afternoon, but when it did I was super psyched at how it came out! And in an ironic twist, I ended up using the pictures taken with my iPhone instead of SLR. I won’t bore you with my plug for the iPhone 4, but it takes incredible pictures and you should go get one now!

After playing for a bit in Photoshop, I think I’m getting close to the final design and I’m excited to show it off! I just hope everybody likes it as much as I do.

So now’s the part where I fess up and admit that I didn’t accomplish everything on my TO DO list. I never got around to signing up for an Etsy store account and deep down I know that procrastination is trying to take hold to keep me from the next ‘big’ step. And it appears to be working, which is really annoying.

You’d think I’d just suck it up and do it right after I post this, but I’m feeling a bit tired so I think I’m going to turn the computer off instead and leave it for another day.

Sigggh, I seriously have some issues!

Goal of the Day

The goal for today is to write one email; one quick, short email to inquire about my trademark.

Should be easy enough right?

Well it should be but it’s almost midnight and I’ve been dragging my feet all day.

Siggh…procrastination and fear are banging on my door again.

But you know what? You guys can go bug somebody else because I’m not letting you in tonight - I have an email to write!

The Moral? Sometimes you have to dig deep and keep pushing yourself even when you just want to go to bed.

Mid-Week Guidance

Sometimes we just have to wait. We have to wait for the check to arrive in the mail; we have to wait for the test results; and we have to wait for the way to open before we can know the way to go. Unless your issue is procrastination[1], waiting is one of the harder things to do. Anxiety will rise as we wait. We might feel useless. We might feel scared or worried there will not be enough time, money, energy, or "whatever" to last until the wait time passes.

We've all found ourselves anxiously waiting for one thing or another. The important thing to know about waiting is we create the emotional climate that enfolds it. If our minds are waiting for a better future because we dislike the present, or waiting for the "other shoe to drop" by imagining the worst, it helps to realize our minds are simply trying to fill the gap, to give us answers now before "now" appears. If we accept these ill-fated propositions of the mind, we live in an illusion and we are out of touch of what is really going on. If we are escaping - waiting for our ship to come in -
we miss the opportunities this day presents. And if we fear the future, we are living that imagined reality now even though it may never actualize.

How does one avoid the anxiety of waiting? (1) By bringing the mind back to this moment and realizing the reality of what is actually going on right now; and (2) By finding something to appreciate in this moment, no matter how you are feeling. This practice actually strengthens us and equips us to meet the challenges in life. It keeps us in the only place we ever find God
- the here and now. Through divine order, Spirit works things for good. Find the good in this moment. Make it a habit and you'll never be waiting for your good to show up.[2]

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[1] Actually, procrastination makes the waiting harder and the anxiety worse because you only have yourself to blame.

[2] Mid-Week Message by Reverend Donna. May 19, 2010.

Procrastination is an Expensive Habit

Two steps forward, one step back.

So last year I committed to starting my own company and began to buy up domains as soon as I had come up with the name of my business. Due to my lack of commitment and uncertainty about actually going through with the whole thing, I only registered them for one year.

Fast-forward to January.

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been ignoring renewal emails from GoDaddy. It actually took me a few weeks to even open the first email and when I did I saw that my first domain was going to expire on March 6^th. And so I made a mental note to go online that night and make sure that it would auto renew.

Last night, I finally sat down to handle all of the renewals and started to mentally kick myself when I realized I had missed the March 6^th cut off! I started to kick myself harder after I called customer service and found out that there was an $80 penalty fee for getting back an expired domain.

ARGGHHH!!!

I was informed that if I registered the domain for 5 years, GoDaddy would kindly discount half of the fee OR I could buy a 10-year registration and not pay any of the late fee. Ah, the catch.

So even though it scares my commitment phobic self to commit to 10 years, I went with option B because at least all of my money would go towards the domain and not to the fee. I thought maybe that would lessen the feeling of guilt and regret over having succumbed once again to my old ways. So far it hasn’t worked because even though I’m not paying the penalty fee, the 10-year registration cost me $199!

ARGGHHH!!!

The First Baby Steps are the Hardest, Especially in Ice Skates

One down – nine to go!

Even though the execution was far from spectacular, it was a glorious feeling to glide inch across the ice in my pair of rental skates this weekend.

You see it was a victory on more than one level. It’s been close to twenty years since I last laced up because I’ve always let my fear (of falling, hitting my head, my knee, any part of my body really) keep me away. But for the past few years, I’ve been hearing about the outdoor ice rink in the sculpture garden downtown and wanting to experience it firsthand. So I added it to my list of goals for this year, knowing that would be the motivation I needed.

So while this achievement may not seem like much to some people, it meant a lot to me. And even though I was probably not on the ice more than 15 minutes (thanks to the slowest moving line ever and impending dinner reservations) I felt great! I had overcome my fear, and ensuing procrastination, and accomplished a goal I had set for myself.

I may have white knuckled my way through it, but I’ll save letting go for the next time around.

Sometimes Only a Slap Will Do

Once the dust settled, I brushed myself off and vowed that I wouldn’t let procrastination stand in my way anymore. I had a long list of missed opportunities in my past but I promised myself that I wasn’t going to let history repeat itself...again.

But as the first few months passed by, procrastination slowly won out. I would spend a few days working on my dream business, followed by weeks of doing nothing. And the vicious cycle continued for months and months.

So as 2009 came to a close, I was more than a little depressed and anxious about the coming year. Most people were excited about 2010 and getting a fresh start, but I was consumed with worry that I was going to procrastinate another year away and find myself in the same position next year. Same unfulfilling job. Same puny salary. Same feeling of failure.

*SMACK*

Thanks, I needed that!