“Procrastinatio odiosa est, sed procrastinatio meus modus vivendi est.”
One of my resolutions for 2009 is to stop procrastinating. I seem to have this idea in my head that if I tell myself I won’t do it anymore, I simply won’t, and life will be grand. Unfortunately, procrastination is a habit, which means that it is difficult to stop. The nature of habit is also such that I don’t always realize I’m doing it. Different people procrastinate in different ways, but I think most of us have patterns of procrastination that we repeat and can recognize. I’m probably avoiding doing something that needs doing, if…
• …I’ve checked Facebook fourteen times in the last two minutes.
• …I’m reading about things that seem vaguely relevant to the task at hand but are in fact not going to help me at all. For instance, I had to write a paper on Richard Nixon’s quality as a president, and ended up reading about his grades in college and his relationship with his wife.
• …I’m cleaning the kitchen. As a matter of fact, I think every time I’ve cleaned the kitchen this past semester, my explanation to my bewildered roommate has been “I’m not doing calculus.”
• …I’m spending more time eating than necessary, by cooking or eating out with my friends. This only works because I can’t work and eat at the same time. I can eat a bowl of Rice Krispies in five minutes, but then I’d have to get right back to work, and I just can’t have that, apparently.
• …I’m checking Facebook, Twitter, LiveJournal, deviantArt, all of my email addresses, FOXNews, and the Drudge Report, over and over again, until something catches my attention and my time.
• …I’m trying to organize my papers. More often than not, this is my way of “accomplishing something.”
• …I’m watching all of the music videos that I can find for a particular artist on YouTube. One time, I had a Mandy Moore marathon.
• …I’m having an impromptu dance party with my roommates.
You get the idea. It’s going to take some real effort (and probably the help of God above) to quit procrastinating, but I am optimistic. I’ll evaluate my progress at the end of the year.
Oh, and the translation for the opening phrase? “Procrastination is hateful, but procrastination is my way of living.”
2 comments:
Ah Rae. I am a Botsford, by marriage, which of course is not the same, but as I have been married WAY more than half my life, it is what it is. I connected with your blog through Google Alert, and I have to say, I SO agree with you about procrastination.
I am a teacher, and had the day off today, bcause we didn't use up our allotment of snow days. I had a huge long list of things to do, some around the house, some work for school, but I checked my Facebook account a bunch of times, talked to my daughter twice on the phone, talked to my husband on the phone, checked my email, got a few groceries, checked Facebook, waited for my daughter and friend to stop by, brought lunch to my hudband, finished a book I sytarted 3 months ago, well, you get the point.
I am way older than you, as a matter of fact, my daughters are older than you, but it was nice to "talk" to you.
Amy Botsford
Springville, NY
haha Nice to hear from you, Amy! My latest anti-procrastination technique is to limit myself to one half hour total of Facebook, Livejournal, Twitter (aside from small updates), e-mail, news websites, etc each day. I can't believe how much time that creates.
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