I have a really bad habit, I have friends and organizations who need help and I volunteer to help but hardly ever follow through. As a web developer I have friends or acquaintances who are in need of a web site or a ?little bit? of web work and they come to me for some help, which is of course free. I, in turn, happily volunteer because the deadline is months off but as the deadline approaches I start to get a stressed feeling about the deadline, I continue with paying work and never have time to do the volunteer work.

I have done this more times than I care to admit to but I keep doing it. I need to stop agreeing to do free work when I know I will never do it. I don?t knowingly take the work, aware that I won?t do it, but I should realize I am way too busy to even try. In the end, I have to tell the person I am letting down the news and they have to scramble to get the work done. It seems like a low-life thing to do. I think I have a problem saying no.

I know others take on volunteer work, how do you do it? Do you just commit to it and the heck with the work that pays the bills? I work a lot and the free time I have ends up being spent with the family. I don?t want to give up time with them.

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