Why the Hell Do I Procrastinate so much?

My personal remedy is simple. It consists of a single word and Billy Connolly explains it wonderfully...

 

I'm currently working on my Master's degree and my old mantra of "anything that can be done today can be done better tomorrow" has bit me in the ass on more than one occasion. In the many years between undergrad and grad, I also had this philosophy fail on me, sometimes with spectacularly bad results. I am, however, going to meetings now and getting better - Slackers Anonymous saved my life.

 

Revival of this thread. I need to study for the MCAT, so it's definitely time to somewhat fix my habits.

I've realized I've been able to procrastinate because I've had the luxury of relying on my intelligence to get me through so far. I usually can condense a hell of a lot of information in a short period of time, but considering that studying is going to get way harder from here on out, it's better late than never to do something about it

 

And now I am putting off writing by reading this thread on procrastinating.

 

Me too. I'm halfway through a research paper that's due by the end of the day. But the end of the day isn't until... Midnight! Alright, I'm done here, back to work.

 

OK... I'll just watch another five or six Bill Connolly extracts, and then I'll feed the cat...

(I did, and the cat had given up and gone out)

 

I procrastinate because I work better and more efficiently under some degree of pressure. The later I wait, the more pressure there is to succeed and the more effort I put in.

 

Terry Pratchet: "I love deadlines. I love the whirring sound they make as they go flying past."

I'm sure there is a law of physics that covers this: basic schoolboy stuff that I was always bad at. Isn't the work done, in the end the same? Are you not expending the same amount of energy to achieve that, but feeling that it is greater because you are having to do it in less time?

Somebody please provide the relevant formula!

 

You mean Douglas Adams. For Terry Pratchett, procrastination resulted in a tool to manipulate time. Both were geniuses though, and died before their time.

As for the magical formula, Pratchett had it. More or less. Which incidentally was called the Procrastinator.

 

Do I? I thought it was TP. I'd look it up right this minute, but... well... you know, maybe later



(thanks)

 

I've used the program and concepts from Vitamin-R (http://www.publicspace.net/Vitamin-R/). (No affiliation)

The idea is fairly simple. Set aside a short period of time to focus on the task. This might be 15 to 60 minutes. Then agree to work on the task, without interruptions or distractions for this period of time. If things are going well at the end of the time chunk, keep going. If not, agree to take a timed break (10 to 15 minutes) where you can do whatever you want until returning to the task.

This technique helped me read for law school and study for the bar exam. It introduced a rigor to the time management process and allowed me to build in down-time to do whatever I wanted during the breaks without getting stuck in a rabbit hole for hours. If I was experiencing flow at the end of a time chunk, I kept going. If the entire time chunk felt like running through molasses, then at least I could look forward to the timed break at the end.

 

I have to try this. I procrastinate more than I wish to admit...

 

Similar situation, my finals start on 16/5 and I haven't start revising yet...
Basically I stopped logging in to steam, blocked youtube and reddit on browser, and still managed to find something to do instead of studying.
Guess I will have to put SBAF onto the block list.
btw http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock/ is the block site software for firefox, I'm sure there's an alternative for chrome somewhere.

 

For me the work is different - I find that if I'm writing something I don't get any idea that I find good enough to be workable unless I want for it to come. Once it comes, I just go for it and it tends to work well enough. Could I benefit from getting the spark earlier and using more time to revise? Absolutely. But starting earlier isn't that helpful for me.

 

I've been taking my time before posting here. It seemed the right thing to do...

 

I take my time before doing most things: It always seems the right thing to do!

 

I learnt to procrastinate less mostly by practising sports, in particular modern fencing.

Modern fencing is at its core a martial art. When you become more serious with the sport you learn one thing: you either have the initiative or you do not.

There are always three options:

• Attack: take the initiative and attempt to score.
• Counter: follow your opponent's attack and try to score first.
• Defend-riposte: lose the initiative, defend and regain it by attacking from your defensive position to score.

Whichever option you choose, you must take the initiative at one point before you lose completely. Or to quote Iron Maiden : "die with your boots on."

 

When it comes to death, I think that Spike Milligan had it nailed: "I'm not afraid of death: I'd just rather not be there when it happens."

I will be very happy to procrastinate on that one. I have to be around when it happens, I hope for some degree of comfort with my boots off.

 

My DEX score gives me +2 to initiative rolls

 

Ironically Bruce Dickenson was the second best at fencing in Europe at one time....

Death metal in its most ironic sense of the word...