It’s Procrastination Day!
Slate.com they have a bunch of articles devoted to procrastination up. I particularly liked Emily Brazelton’s attempts at Procrastinator’s Anonomous (they can’t get the meetings started on time). She also looks into the research on procrastinators:
Ferrari co-wrote Procrastination and Task Avoidance: Theory, Research, and Treatment and co-edited Counseling the Procrastinator in Academic Settings. The portrait that emerges from these books is pathological. Procrastination “merits extirpation,” it is a “nasty, unattractive” part of human behavior, and its “illogicalness is its salient feature.” Procrastinators are noted for their “impulsiveness,” “lack of persistence,” and “lack of self-control.” Self-reflection “is generally not a strong point with procrastinators,” and willpower “is a vital weak point” in their character. Sure, we sound like those FBI psychological portraits of serial killers or pederasts. Fortunately, our malady prevents us from carrying out any nefarious plans that we might have.”
I have struggled with being a procrastinator all my life. Always late, always putting things off till the last minute. Never getting as much done as I wanted. I have gotten so much better over the last few years. I’m still not great, but I generally get places about on time (how’s that for equivocation 🙂 ) and I get things done that I want and need to get done. What I have found, and I hate to say this, is that you just have to do it. When you do whatever it is you’ve been avoiding, you realize that it’s rarely as hard or bad as you anticipated. I also try to give myself more time than I think I’m going to need to do things. I always underestimate how long things will take. I now try to start getting into the car about 15 minutes before I actually need to leave because I can never make it out without 2-3 trips back in.
I also learned that perfectionism is a major cause of procrastination. I would not do things because I knew I wouldn’t be able to do them as well as I would like or keep them that way. But I’ve come to realize that doing something decently is better than wanting to do it perfectly.
The bad news is that I’m not sure this is a trait which ever actually goes away. I doubt it will ever come naturally to me to just dive in and get things done. I still waste too much time cruising the internet (research for my blog, see). But I’ve come a long way.
Anyhow, if you have something else you’re supposed to be doing, why not cruise on over to Slate and check out their helpful articles on procrastination (see? that’s called “enabling” 🙂 ).