At the moment, things are a disaster. My desk is a mess. Unsigned school permission slips and party invitations are piled high. Outlines of half-baked book ideas are strewn about. My desktop on my computer is a mess. My bedroom is a mess with a half finished task of sorting out the winter clothes. The bathroom is a mess because I have half-way pulled down the wall paper. The bathroom vanity is a petri dish of foulness. The e-mail inbox is full of smart messages that require thoughtful replies.
I need to pull myself together and tackle this mess, but first I shall procrastinate by reading James Surowieki's article on procrastination and then writing about procrastination. Priorities, people!
As someone who spent far too long in academia, I am well acquainted with procrastination. It's damn painful to cram for oral exams, write a dissertation and then later to write those stupid papers. And I am weak. There are stupid computer games to play and silly books to read. I often long for a job with a boss that tells me what to do and the job is simple, like stacking the shelves of Duane Reade with shampoo.
Yes, I know all the tricks to reaching the larger goals. Small steps. Time allowances for random events. Lists. Daily goals. Support groups. Those tricks do work, but procrastination still happens.
But, in my old age, I've decided to not get so caught up in productivity. The trick is to not procrastinate with useless things, like endless online word games, but to procrastinate with really fun stuff, like long chats with good friends. If we procrastinate more than we produce, then we shouldn't squander that time with guilt or with activities that are quickly forgotten. I'm also choosing to produce things that matter, rather than things that meet someone else's criteria of importance.
Well, off to tame the chaos beast that has overtaken my home.
Question of the Day: What should you be doing right now? How do you procrastinate?
Apt. 11d 
“The trick is to not procrastinate with useless things, like endless online word games, but to procrastinate with really fun stuff, like long chats with good friends.”
Agreed. We saw a production of The Screwtape Letters this summer, and the narrator (i.e., the devil) quotes one of the recently condemned souls in Hell as saying, “I now see that I spent most of my life doing neither what I wanted nor what I ought to have.” So if you’re not doing what you ought, at least be doing something genuinely pleasurable, not staring at the embers because you’re too lazy to go to bed or playing video games because you’re too shy to call someone up.
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what should I be doing right now? work
how do I procrastinate? look at 11D
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Yesterday, I was tired and had about 45 minutes before kid pick-up. I couldn’t think of anything mentally undemanding enough that I could manage, and I wound up frittering it away on the internet. A few hours later I remembered that I could have taken a few loops around the neighborhood instead, but I really didn’t have the presence of mind earlier to think of that.
I’m the last person to criticize the internet, but I think there is a clear difference for me between actual engagement and time-killing. However, I’m not going to be too hard on myself today, because 1) I’ve got a baby coming for me to watch this morning and 2) in the afternoon, I’m chaperoning a kindergarten/1st grade field trip 3) this is a big homework/kid hairwashing night. My basic plan for this morning is to get ready, sneak out for a walk to Starbucks, and then let the schedule take over, although things are usually a bit more free form.
There’s also the issue of spending the best time of the day on mindless, routine chores and not getting to important but less urgent chores. For instance, I always have several big baskets of laundry to process, but with minimal effort, there are always clean, appropriate clothes available, so that should not be my first stop. However, I had a box of photos sitting in my bedroom for three years, and just recently got around to sorting through them and getting them into albums. The only way I was able to get that taken care of was to secure my husband for a few hours and use his spatial ability, skill with the paper cutter, knowledge of who these people in the photos are, and total ruthlessness toward sentimental objects to deal with nine years of physical photos, Christmas cards, baby announcements, wedding announcements, etc. I literally could not have done it by myself. (And that’s something to consider before tackling some particularly daunting task–maybe it’s daunting and intimidating because it really isn’t a one-person job.) I’m hoping to incorporate physical photo management into our new Thanksgiving tradition of using the long break to edit the Christmas photobook for relatives and update the kids’ scrapbooks.
The next big project is a complete going-through of every drawer, closet, and box in the house before our next move, but it’s much more suitable for solo work.
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I’m trying to write another several hundred words in a novel while my 2-year old is entertained by Dora.
Instead? I’m reading blogs. That’s the thing– if it weren’t for the internet, I don’t think I’d ever procrastinate. I’m a task-master and Type A who, before the world wide web, knew nothing of procrastination.
You should see me now…
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I have 10 minutes until a meeting with a student, so I don’t think I *should* be doing anything, but if I were to be unprocrastinatey enough to do something, I could be:
* typing up an extra credit assignment I scribbled on a piece of paper while my students were writing an exam this morning
* editing my piece-of-crap paper for a conference next weekend
* writing a to-do list
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I should be planning for my upper school class tomorrow, but after a full day already, my brain is not functioning, so I’m reading blogs. I only have about 1.5 hours left here and the work needs to be done here because I don’t have the software at home.
I think I need some caffeine.
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I am a procrastinator, but not until I picked up a small book about the subject,(Eat that Frog), did I understand that the things I procrastinated about were the ones I dreaded the most — the things that caused me anxiety.
The title essentially lays out a metaphor that, each day, we all have frogs to eat (big frogs and little frogs), and sets out a challenge for readers “eat” at least one big frog each day. The bigger the frog, the larger the sense of accomplishment, and the easier it becomes to eat smaller frogs.
We teach study skills to middle and high school students at our learning center, and have recently introduce the Eat That Frog lesson.
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” I’m a task-master and Type A who, before the world wide web, knew nothing of procrastination.”
Wow, if there were many more like you, the WWW might be preventing a cure for cancer.
I’ve always been a procrastinator, and am pleased because the internet gives me a wider range of procrastinating activities that I enjoy.
I like the “Eat the Frog” concept, and will try to implement it for those things I really do *have* to do.
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