About

Welcome to procrasturbation – Overcome the fear that gets in the way of reaching the goals you want to achieve. 

Good things don’t only happen to people who are “lucky”.  More often, good things happen to those who make good things happen.

Who am I?
Hi, my name is Joe Smith.  If you want to learn more about me, my bio is below, so keep reading.

What is procrasturbation?
First off, let me get this out of the way.  I did not invent the term procrasturbation.  I don’t know who did.  Whoever it was should be held in high esteem.  As I see it, procrasturbation is a (fairly obvious) hybrid of words.  It is about putting off important tasks because of fear and replacing them with something that makes you feel better and allows you to stay in your comfort zone right now.  It brings a certain level of immediate pleasure, but never feels as good as just doing what you really wanted to do.  Procrasturbation usually leads to future disappointment and thoughts of how things could have been better.  It involves the excuses and rationalizations we make in order to cope with fear and make ourselves feel better about not taking the actions required for us to make the changes we really want to see in ourselves.

In this blog, procrasturbation is about how to overcome the fears associated with becoming the person you want to be and living the life you want to lead.

Timeline:

• 1974 – I was born and raised in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis.  Except for the first year or so, I spent my 18 most youthful years living in the same house in a town called Ham Lake.
• 1992 -  A few months after my 18th birthday,  I signed up for this thing called the Army – you might have heard of it.  Apparently, they were looking forward to my company so I left Minnesota and headed for South Carolina to complete Basic training.
• 1993 – Headed to Fort Gordon, Georgia to attend the Army’s Microwave Systems Operator/Repairer course where I learned all about electronic circuits, microwave radios, multiplexers, encryption devices, and some other interesting toys.  After spending about 8 months learning about all these cool, high-speed tools of communication, I was ready to use my skillz at the new job that I was headed to in Hanau, Germany.  As soon as I got to my new unit, I discovered that “my” position at the unit I was assigned to was no longer authorized and I had to find a new job!  I barely had a taste of Germany, but I liked it – a lot.  Luckily, the Army also liked the fact that I didn’t want to move because moving can be expensive.  They were able to find a position for me in the same organization.  I became the 18th Corps Support Battalion’s newest Personnel and Administrative Specialist.  It was official.  I spent 8 months of serious technical training to become an administrative clerk.  Talk about being out of your niche.  I had absolutely no administrative training or experience, but I could troubleshoot anything electronic in the office.  It was also during this assignment that I met my wife, Madalina and deployed to Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina.
• 1996 - After spending three years forgetting everything I learned about communication and communications security (COMSEC) equipment, I felt it would be best if I go back to school to learn a new skill set and get a job where I know what I’m doing.
• 1997 - Fort Hood, Texas was our new “home”.  We lived in a cute, little duplex that shared a lot with several fire ant mounds that nearly looked as if they trumped the duplex.  Not quite, but they were huge.  Our daughter, Dominique (Domi), was born while we lived in Texas (in 1999).  Whoever said that everything in Texas is big is full of shit, because Domi weighed one pound and 11 ounces (773 grams) when she was born thirteen weeks early.
• 1999 – Uncle Sam figured it was a good time to send Madalina, Domi, and I back to Germany and we weren’t arguing with him.  This time, I was stationed in Mannheim instead of Hanau.  While assigned to my unit in Mannheim, I spent about 8 months working at a Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) Standardized Tactical Entry Point (STEP) facility in Landstuhl.  Critical voice and data communications throughout Europe and back to Washington, DC were now under the watch and control of a kid who was going to total his ’96 VW Golf a few months into the future by rear-ending a Winnebago that was going about 80 miles per hour (Note: seat belts work).  Kinda scary, huh?  Our son, Nicholas (Nick) was born during this assignment (in 2001).  After spending 1999-2002 specializing in leadership and management; telecommunications and network installation, operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting; security operations; and vehicle and generator maintenance, I felt it was time to hang up my boots and move on to a more “civilized” career.
• 2002 – Madalina, Domi, Nick, and I moved back to Hanau to live with Madalina’s parents.  The house is big enough for all of us and we all get along.  It seems like the perfect place to live during out transition from being a military family to being a “regular” family.  I end up getting a job at the convenience store on-post and (almost) earning my keep.  I convince the company I work for to hire me as part of the management team for a new Subway restaurant they plan on building.  They sent me to Connecticut to attend the mandatory training for all new franchises, which was, surprisingly, one of the best courses I have ever attended (subjects taught included food preparation and safety, employee hiring and management, real estate acquisition and maintenance, equipment procurement, franchising info, marketing and sales, store and site security, etc.) and I ended up leaving Germany for a job offer at Fort Meade, Maryland before the Subway was ever built.  The ROI for sending me to this Subway school was much higher for me than it was for the company I worked for – Thank you!.
• 2003 – I moved to Maryland to work for the U.S. Army’s premiere counterintelligence agency.  It’s a far cry from a convenience store or fast food.  while working there, I learned that some things that you only thought happened in movies…do only happen in movies.  I also learned that some things I thought were constrained to the silver screen do happen in real life.  Madalina and I sent Domi to a private school because the public school Domi would have gone to sucked, to put it mildly.  Madalina, Domi, and Nick went back to Germany in May, 2006 and I followed in October that year.  I was hoping to land a job prior to leaving, so the Army would pay for the move.  It didn’t happen, so I headed across the Atlantic at my own expense (and it was an expense!) to be with my family.
• 2007 – Back in Germany and unemployed for a little while.  It was nice to be a “tourist” for a bit, but it didn’t take long for me to start feeling like a leach and find a job.  I worked for the Taco Bell on-post in Hanau for a few months, figuring a shitty job is better than no job (which is true – if you believe that you need a job).  I had a “bad” habit of pointing out ineffective practices and procedures while I worked there and did not receive any bonus points when I turned in my walking papers.  In August, 2007, I started working as the Training Coordinator for the US Army NATO Headquarters in Schwetzingen.  The pay’s not great, but it beats what I made at Taco Bell like a redheaded step-child (and I work with a lot of great people, too).

Why did I create this blog?

Procrasturbation was created to help people recognize when they are making excuses for not following their dreams and to help them overcome the fears they have along the path to their dreams.