Procrastinator, know thyself
The Monster Blog asks whether procrastination is a gift. Of course it is. Whether it’s a gift from heaven or hell is up for individual interpretation.
They point to a recent WSJ article on procrastination (it highlights Paul Kedrosky of the excellent Infectious Greed), which has this great little quote regarding the most hard-core procrastinators:
…they create mental to-do lists because they’re not foolish enough to leave a paper trail to document their vice.
Heh. Amen to that, I guess. Judging from the article, I don’t think I actually qualify as a serious procrastinator. I think I’m more of a dabbler. It’s that little rush you get when you flirt with danger. Not quite on the same scale as lead climbing on natural pro (sorry, dropped into "rock climber-ese" there), or surfing double overhead waves. But hey, at least you don’t have to get out of the chair.
I find I procrastinate the most when I’m overloaded with too many things to do – it’s almost like my mind is forcing me to take a break. This also happens to be exactly when I can not afford to procrastinate. :-\
I read a neat article by Steve Pavlina on time management (http://www.dexterity.com/articles/get-more-done.htm) where he suggests artificially restricting the hours you work to focus on efficiency. You still have the same amount of stuff to do, but you are forced to do it in less time, so you can’t afford to procrastinate. Once your efficiency is up, you’ve effectively trained yourself not to procrastinate and can start increasing your working hours while maintaining the same level of efficiency/effectiveness.
So, remember to tell your boss you need to work less this week in order to become more efficient. How’s that for being a Slacker Manager? :-)
FYI – Steve also runs a great blog at http://www.stevepavlina.com/. Worth a look.
Procrastination may be a gift to some, but to others it can be a curse. What happens when your procrastination leads to shame, self-loathing, failure, or depression? What if it becomes a compulsion and you can’t stop procrastinating? Can procrastination become an addiction? Is there a way you can learn to accept it and accept yourself while at the same time working on changing the behaviours which are self-defeating or self-destructive?
Check out http://www.procrastinationsupport.com for more info.
Laura