Procrastination (A Post I’ve Been Putting off)

I wouldn’t define myself as an overly tidy person but still there were times in my life when all the floors at my place would be shining, the dishes would always be washed, the laundry would be done and you wouldn’t find a stray object on my table. At the end of each varsity semester, just before the exams.

I found virtually every possible excuse not to start learning. It had to be something which could be found at least remotely useful. I couldn’t just read a nice book or play a game. The pretext not to learn had to be at least a bit unpleasant to me, otherwise a feeling of guilt would have kicked in. I knew I should have been studying, so whatever would prevent me from it had to be something important. Such as taking out the rubbish. Or washing the cup from which I had drank my tea. And drying it up. And putting it back into the cupboard. It would take me some years to find out there was a term for it – procrastination.

According to Wikipedia, procrastination ‘refers to the act of replacing high-priority actions with tasks of lower priority, or doing something from which one derives enjoyment, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time’.

During my studies, I had settled for that learning for exams was something which once started would eat almost all of my time, so I had postponed those unpleasant times for as long as reasonably possible. Fortunately, I had had a little alarm at the back of my head which had called red alert when it was time to stop fooling myself and really go for it. What perplazed me, however, was that I met the same problem not only later at work but also, and to a much greater extent, in my creative activites. Those were my spare time projects, my creative ambitions, my chances to realize myself – so what the hull? I was supposed to enjoy every single moment, right?

When I was about to learn for my exams, or prepare a presentation for my boss, that was something I wouldn’t like. In the end I just did what I had to and that was it. With my creative endeavours it was different. Once I actually began with them, I did enjoy them, just as I had hoped I would. I surfed on the wave for the given day and loved how I had taken off. Then the next day would come and I couldn’t kick myself to start again. And again. And again. And time and – yes, you’ve guessed it – again.

So I learned there was more than one kind of procrastination, and that they might have different causes. This post is actually meant only to introduce the topic and tell you that the articles on my war with procrastination will be tagged ‘Procrastination’. It’s not time to get into more detail yet. Or perhaps I procrastinated myself up to postponing it – you choose.

About Jason

I am a writer, reader, listener and occasional moviegoer. I was employed as a telco expert for eight years until I decided to shape my own future. Next to the usual 20th and 21st century hobbies, I've had an 8-bit computer (Commodore 64) for the last 22 years, which, as time went by, has made me become also a programmer, organizer, MC and writer.
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1 Response to Procrastination (A Post I’ve Been Putting off)

  1. HPak says:

    I have this short text open in my browser since about 4 months, but I keep putting the reading of it off. Funny how well that fits…
    Lately I feel like procrastinating all the time. Whatever I do, it feels like I procrastinate something else more important. And if I do the other, seemingly more important thing, it does not feel so relevant anymore compared to another thing.
    I think that I need to learn that to do lists and prioritization is not the solution to everything. I have to learn living for the moment, for the current task at hand, and stop caring too much about its priority. Otherwise I can’t get anything done.

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